A Manawa man is in jail after a 15-year-old girl accused him of forcing her to have sex with his friends.
Jeremiah B. Holbach, 33, is charged with child sex trafficking and sexual assault of a child as party to a crime. He is also charged with felony child abuse.
Holbach remains in custody after Assistant District Attorney Veronica isherwood requested and Judge Raymond Huber ordered a $20,000 cash bond.
On the morning of March 18, Weyauwega Police Officer Justin Malueg met with a Weyauwega-Frmeont High School student who “was extremely distraught and crying and reporting that she was afraid.”
The girl named at least half a dozen area men. Some of them have prior criminal records, but none of them have been charged yet with sexually assaulting this girl.
According to the criminal complaint, one of the men admitted to having inappropriate sexual contact with the girl.
On April 27, the girl sent an email to her school counselor, saying she cannot go on anymore. The email’s subject line read, “help.”
Law enforcement was contacted, and Manawa police brought the girl to the police station.
On April 28, the counselor received a second email from the girl’s account. It reportedly said the girl could not have any more contact with the counselor, the principal or the police. When the counselor spoke to the girl, she said she did not send the email.
The complaint says the girl told the counselor that after she left the Manawa police station, Holbach called her a “whore,” forced her to log into her school email account, then changed her password. She said she no longer had access to her email and that Holbach now controlled it.
The girl also accused Holbach of taking control of her Facebook account.
On Sunday, May 8, the girl called her school counselor and said she was afraid. She said she was being forced to stay at the Marion home of two boys, ages 14 and 15, for most of the day.
“I believe that money is exchanged every time I am sexually assaulted,” the girl told investigators.
Officer Stephanie Butzer and Cpl. Adam Rogge, with the Weyauwega Police Department, interviewed Holbach.
Holbach told police he was unaware of sexual activity between his friends and the girl, the complaint says.
Butzer reported finding Facebook messages from Holbach to one of the Marion boys regarding giving him a ride to Manawa.
When the officer questioned Holbach about his relationship to the boy, he reportedly said he wanted to act as a counselor between the boy and the girl.
When asked why he would encourage such a young girl to date, Holbach said he thought the boy was “a good kid.” When Rogge asked Holbach how well he knew the boy, he said, “Well, I really don’t know who he is,” according to the complaint.
Holbach is currently in custody on a $20,000 cash bond.
He was convicted of disorderly conduct as an act of domestic abuse in November 2013 and assessed $605 in fines and court costs.
Holbach was convicted of disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property as acts of domestic abuse in March 2012 and placed on 18 months probation.
In June 2008, he was convicted of disorderly conduct as an act of domestic abuse and placed on 18 months probation.
In October 2007, he was convicted of disorderly conduct as an act of domestic abuse and fined $299.
In November 2006, he was convicted of the same crime and placed on one year of probation.
In February 2003, Holbach was convicted of battery and disorderly conduct in a domestic abuse incident and placed on one year of probation. His probation was extended for six months in February 2004, then revoked in July 2004, which resulted in five months in jail.