Shawn Jaco
Following two independent competency hearings that found Shaun Jaco competent to stand trial, he changed his plea to not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect in Iowa County Court on Thursday, September 3, 2026. Jaco appeared in custody with his attorney, Kyle Reimann. District Attorney Zachary Leigh represented the State before the Honorable Judge Matthew Allen.
Jaco, of Mineral Point, is charged with three felony counts, one count a Class B 1st Degree Child Sex Assault by use or threat of force or violence with a person under the age of 16, one count a Felony H of Strangulation and Suffocation, and one count a Felony H of False Imprisonment.
According to the criminal complaint, on Friday, July 26, 2024, Mineral Point Police Chief Bob Weier, received a report from Madison Police at approximately 6:50 a.m. that a 15-year-old female Jane Doe had been sexually assaulted earlier that day in Mineral Point.
At the preliminary hearing, Attorney Leigh called Officer Weier to testify. He testified that police officer William Ottoway, from his staff, interviewed the girl in Madison later that same morning. Jane Doe stated to Officer Ottoway that at approximately 1:00 a.m. on the morning of July 26, 2024, she woke up on a couch she was sleeping on and that Jaco grabbed her by the arm and forcibly dragged her down a set of steps into his basement bedroom.
In the criminal complaint, Jane Doe stated the victim held her down by her wrists without consent. She said Jaco let her go temporarily to remove her clothes, then again held her down and had sexual intercourse. She said she tried to push him off then he choked her, and she could not breathe for about a minute. Officer Weier stated that Jane Doe said Jaco told her not to tell anyone because he did not want to go back to prison. Officer Weier said she had a visible scratch on her neck and a hickey.
Officer Weier stated that the victim and her parents were friends with Jaco and that they were in town visiting him from Missouri and spending the night at his home. The girl’s parents were upstairs sleeping in another bedroom during the alleged assault. Officer Weier continued saying the girl said at approximately 3:00 a.m., after Jaco fell asleep, she gathered her clothes, went to the bathroom, and stayed there for a while overwhelmed by what just happened.
He then testified the girl went upstairs, called a friend on her cell phone, and told her what happened. Her mother woke up and heard her daughter talking to her friend about the incident. Her mother and father then drove her to UW Children’s Hospital in Madison where a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) examination was conducted.
At his hearing on September 3, Judge Allen found Jaco competent and ordered an evaluation to his latest plea to be prepared by Attorney Leigh. A status conference is scheduled for October 7, 2026, at 10:15.
The Felony B count of 1st Degree Child Sex Assault by use or threat of force or violence with a person under the age of 16 is punishable with up to 60 years in state prison. The Strangulation and Suffocation and False Imprisonment counts are Felony H charges each punishable by up to 6 years in state prison, a maximum fine of $10,000, or both.
Judge Allen remanded Jaco back to the Iowa County Jail on a $300,000 cash bond. Jaco has been in the jail since the alleged incident happened on July 26, 2024.
