Marshfield Police Investigating Sexual Assault at Recently Closed Homeless Shelter
Friday, December 8th, 2017 -- 10:16 AM
(USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin) -Police are investigating a report that a minor staying at a Marshfield homeless shelter sexually assaulted a toddler there shortly before its operators decided to shut down the facility.Tabera Israel, a former resident of the Frederic Ozanam Transitional Shelter, told reporters from USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin this week that she was babysitting the girl Oct. 30 when she witnessed a juvenile male resident assaulting the girl. Less than a week after the incident was reported to Marshfield police, officials from St. Vincent said they would close the shelter on Dec. 5 because of financial and staff problems. Israel said she thought something was off when she saw the girl sitting on the boy’s lap in the shelter’s dining room. Israel rose from where she was sitting and said she found the boy touching the girl under her diaper beneath the table while whispering inappropriate things in her ear.
Israel said she immediately informed a shelter employee about the incident, as well as the girl's parents, who filed a report with the Marshfield Police Department. This is not the first accusation made against the male resident, who had lived at the shelter for nearly a year, according to Israel. She said he also was caught coming out of a closet with a different 3-year-old girl a few weeks prior to the Oct. 30 incident.
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.