VERNON COUNTY, WI
(WTAQ) - A trial date of September 25th has been set for a police chief in
southwest Wisconsin who faces nine charges of misconduct, sexual assault, and
obstructing investigators.
Readstown chief
Shay Larson is getting a two-day trial in Vernon County on 3 felony counts of
misconduct. A judge has agreed to deal with 6 other misdemeanor charges
separately.
The felony charges
accuse the 30-year-old Larson of looking the other way to crimes he witnessed,
and asking others not to report them. The misdemeanor counts are for disorderly
conduct, fourth-degree sexual assault, and obstructing officers.
Among other
things, those charges accuse him of improperly touching a drug informant, and
having a woman give him oral sex 3 times. Two other charges were filed after
Larson’s arrest that involved a 14-year-old boy, but they were later dropped.
Larson had been
investigated for six months before he was first charged in March. He was
arrested in Nebraska a day after the first 8 counts were filed.
He’s still
employed by the village, but he’s on unpaid leave. Larson had been Readstown’s
only police officer, and the Vernon County sheriff’s department has been
patrolling the village in his absence.