Caledonia man held on $10K bail after being
arrested on multiple child sex abuse charges
A Caledonia man is being held on $10,000 bail after allegedly sexually abusing a child.
Brand Augsbury has been accused of sexual conduct against a child, sex abuse, forcible touching, and endangering the welfare of a child.
He was arraigned and will answer the charges at a later date.
Man repeatedly forced girl to perform sexual acts
before he let her play video games, prosecutors say
Days later, she was interviewed at the Blount County Children’s Center.
“She was innocent,” said District Attorney Pamela L. Casey. ”She did not know the common words that adults or even teenagers would use to describe what had happened to her. She spoke as a child. As an innocent child. Dustin Peoples stole this child’s innocence.”
A grand jury indicted Dustin Lamar Peoples in Aug. 2019 and he remained out of jail until his trial started this week.
During his trial, prosecutors said that Peoples subjected the child to sexual contact by touching her private parts. They also presented evidence that Peoples forced the girl to perform oral sex on him at least four times.
Prosecutors also Peoples forced the child to perform oral sex on him before he would allow the child to play video games on her game console.
Peoples took the stand in his own defense and denied having any inappropriate contact with the child.
Peoples was found guilty this week on one count each of sexual abuse of a child under the age of 12 and sodomy in the first degree.
After the verdict was read, Circuit Judge Greg Reid remanded Peoples to the custody of the Blount County Sheriff’s Department pending sentencing.
Clinton man gets 23 life sentences in sexual assault of children, sex trafficking
The Henry County Circuit Court sentenced a Clinton man to 23 life sentences for 23 counts of sex crimes, including eight counts of sex trafficking, according to prosecutor LaChrisha Gray.
Charges against Derek Brett Roberts, 44, were initially filed in June 2022. Among other things, prosecutors said Roberts filmed himself performing sex acts on children in his home. He was found guilty for all counts by a jury in June 2024.
Charges also include two counts of promoting child pornography, and 13 counts related to sexual assault of a minor. The assaults included rape, sodomy and forcible oral sex, filmed and stored on Roberts’ cellphone, according to court documents. Some of the videos were shown in court.
Court documents show that the majority of Roberts’ victims were under 12 years old. Some were younger than 9.
Roberts attended Samford University in Alabama and was licensed as a pharmacy technician in Missouri, according to court records. He was also previously a licensed pharmacy technician in California.
Roberts was charged after an investigation led by the Drug and Crime Control division Missouri State Highway Patrol, according to a news release from Gray’s office. Investigators searched Roberts’ home and devices, finding the majority of the child pornography on his phone.
Three children, who were not named in court documents due to their age, provided statements to the court about being sexually assaulted by Roberts, according to court records. All three have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, court documents show.
This isn’t Roberts’ first time being convicted of crimes related to child pornography. Roberts pleaded guilty to possessing more than 20 pieces of child pornography in 2021, a case also prosecuted by Gray. He was sentenced to three concurrent sentences of 10 years, to be served in the South Central Correctional Center in Licking, Missouri.
Pleading “not guilty” to child sexual assault
in Fond du Lac County
FOND DU LAC – A Fond du Lac man accused of sexually assaulting and trafficking his girlfriend’s 12-year-old daughter pleads not guilty in court.
31-year-old Juan Carlos Rocha Mejia appeared in a Fond du Lac courtroom on Thursday, and entered the plea to four felonies: 1st degree child sexual assault – contact with a child under age 16, child enticement, false imprisonment, and strangulation and suffocation.
The charges come from an incident back in May when Rocha Mejia’s girlfriend 34-year-old Elia Antonio trafficked her daughter to Rocha Mejia, who assaulted the child. She escaped to a neighbor, who then called police.
No additional court information for Rocha Mejia is available yet.
Elia Antonio, the mother of the trafficked child, is due back in court on October 28.
Original Story:
OAKFIELD from May 29, 2024 – A Fond du Lac County mother has been charged with attempting to traffick her 12-year-old daughter earlier this month to the mother’s boyfriend.
A criminal complaint filed Wednesday alleges on May 18th, Elia Antonio drove her daughter from their North Fond du Lac home to the home of 18-year-old Juan Carlos Rocha-Mejia. There, Rocha-Mejia took over the van and drove to a location on Breakneck Road, where he attempted to blindfold the victim and taped her hand to the seat of the van before sexually assaulting her.
After fighting her way out of the van, the victim ran to a nearby home for help.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Girl escapes attempted assault in Fond du Lac County
While speaking to investigators, Antonio said she was told by Rocha-Mejia that he “buys people with money”, that he “has cops that work for him”, and not to talk with police because “he has control of everything”. The complaint notes at no point during the May 18th incident did Antonio call 9-1-1.
A search of the van found 272 dollars in U.S. currency.
The victim told investigators another incident involving Rocha-Mejia occurred in December of 2023. According to the complaint, the victim had told Rocha-Mejia about an upcoming field trip which he offered to pay for but then asked “what he would get in exchange” before touching her thigh.
“Sadly, human trafficking exists all over the world, including Fond du Lac County” said Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney. “We will always stand with law enforcement to protect our community from monsters that prey on children and ensure they’re held accountable in the justice system.”
Both Antonio and Mejia are in the United States illegally, and ICE has placed a detainer on both of them.
Antonio is charged with felony trafficking of a child, felony failure to protect a child, and two misdemeanor counts of bail jumping. Rocha-Mejia is charged with felony 1st degree sexual assault, child enticement, false imprisonment, and strangulation & suffocation.
Antonio and Rocha-Mejia are being held on a one million dollar cash bond, and face a combined 161 years in prison if convicted of all charges. They are scheduled for a preliminary hearing on June 7th.
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