How Could You? Hall of Shame-Kenneth S. Conrad

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Adams County, Wisconsin, adoptive father Kenneth S. Conrad,46,  “was convicted of first-degree sexual assault of a child in October during a drawn-out legal process that never seems to end for Hanley and her siblings. The victim was 11 years old when Conrad molested her in Adams County. She’s now 16, still waiting for him to be sentenced on March 15 after two previous court dates were canceled.

Hanley and her siblings feel as though they’ve been victimized not just by Conrad, but also by the criminal justice system. Investigators talked to family members numerous times and heard two sisters describe multiple incidents of sexual assault, according to police reports, but most of those allegations failed to result in charges. In the one instance where Conrad was charged, the case has taken years to get through the court system.

All the while, Conrad has been out in the community, where Hanley and her siblings fear they could encounter him at a local park or grocery store.

It was the frustration of delayed justice that inspired Hanley and another of Conrad’s adopted daughters, Kerra, to tell their story to USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. Kerra Conrad reported to police that she, too, was one of Kenneth Conrad’s victims. Hanley and Kerra Conrad said it was painful to tell the family’s story to a reporter, but they hoped to expose a justice system that’s difficult and frustrating for abuse victims, and maybe spur changes in the way families like theirs are treated.

‘I thought it was only me’

Hanley’s family was formed in a nontraditional way. At age 32, she is the oldest of her siblings, but none of her brothers and sisters is biologically related to her. Her mother could not have children after Hanley was born, so a good friend served as a surrogate to give birth to Hanley’s oldest brother. The rest of her siblings originally came into the family’s home as foster children. Hanley’s mom and Conrad eventually adopted eight children — four sets of siblings.

They lived in a rural area just outside Marshfield, and Hanley said she thought Conrad was a good guy. He worked hard and would do things with the kids.

Hanley, who now lives in Wisconsin Rapids, has followed in her mother’s footsteps. She has adopted six children from the foster care system and has one biological child. Foster children often bring problems into new families such as abuse from their past, Hanley said. Like her mother, she feels strongly these children deserve a real home.

That sense of a secure home life was shattered for Hanley’s siblings shortly after Thanksgiving 2012, when her mother reported to police that she had walked in on Conrad inappropriately touching the buttocks of one of Hanley’s sisters. Her mother ordered Conrad out of the house, according to police reports.

Kerra Conrad said that when she heard about the incident, she felt ashamed and guilty. Kerra, who also was adopted in 2007, said she had experienced the same type of inappropriate touching but hadn’t told anyone before then.

Kerra Conrad, who is 20 now, said it was shortly after she was adopted by Kenneth Conrad that he grabbed her inappropriately while giving her a hug in the family’s kitchen. She said it continued to happen, so she would make sure Kenneth Conrad went through doors first, to limit the unwanted touching. She didn’t tell anyone, she said, because she had just been adopted and was afraid she would lose her newfound family.

“I thought it was only me,” Kerra Conrad said. “I feel bad that I didn’t say something sooner. If I had said something sooner, (her younger sister) wouldn’t be hurt as much.”

A Wood County Sheriff’s Department investigator thought she found enough evidence to request charges — in connection with the alleged assaults of both Kerra Conrad and her younger sister — but a prosecutor chose to offer what’s known as a deferred prosecution. The assistant district attorney informed Kenneth Conrad that if he stayed out of trouble, he wouldn’t be charged. This was in 2013, a year after the girls’ mom went to police with allegations in late 2012.

“In my sister’s eyes, he got away with what he did,” Hanley said.

Wood County Assistant District Attorney Elizabeth Constable, who was assigned the case, has since moved on to become the Langlade County district attorney. But Wood County District Attorney Craig Lambert said he reviewed Constable’s notes and agrees with her conclusion that there was not enough evidence to prove the crimes beyond a reasonable doubt.

Lambert said he has since told his assistant district attorneys not to use deferred prosecution in cases like Kenneth Conrad’s.

“We either have enough evidence or we don’t, and these types of cases are not appropriate for such agreements,” Lambert said.

An Adams County prosecutor reached a different conclusion in another incident the family said took place there. That assault involved the same girl that Hanley’s mother accused Kenneth Conrad of fondling in Wood County. This time, he was accused of sexually molesting the girl at a campground.

Adams County District Attorney Tania Bonnett charged him with first-degree sexual assault of a child in October 2014. It took until October 2016 to go to trial, but it took a jury less than two days to convict Conrad, according to records.

It’s not unusual that prosecutors in different counties would reach different conclusions about whether a case should be prosecuted, said David Schultz, University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of law emeritus. It also is not uncommon for there to be delays in sentencing.

Kenneth Conrad’s attorney, David Grace, said it would be inappropriate for him or his client to comment on the statements Hanley and Kerra Conrad made. However, Kenneth Conrad’s case file in Adams County contains letters from his mother, sisters, fiancee and employer stating that he couldn’t have committed such crimes.

“There is no way I would have let my daughters spend time with him, if I thought he was capable of this,” wrote one of his sisters.

‘Where’s the justice?’

Conrad has been out of jail on a signature bond, and a judge told him he cannot have contact with the girl he was convicted of assaulting, or the family’s home, or minor females. But the bond restrictions do not prohibit him from contacting Kerra Conrad. She said he has shown up at her workplace, causing her to seek refuge in her boss’s office and to burst into tears.

The family originally looked forward to a Dec. 7 sentencing, Hanley said. Because they know Conrad is in the Marshfield area, the siblings’ mother won’t allow them to go anywhere unless they’re in a group. They worry that they’ll have to see him out in the community, or that he might return to Kerra Conrad’s job site, Hanley said. They wanted the sentencing to be over, so they could relax and enjoy their holiday.

“The kids and us got excited because, by Christmas, he’d be put away and we’d be saved,” Hanley said. “Then we got told they were postponing it again. It was four years after it got reported.”

Ian Henderson, associate director of the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said it’s common in sexual assault cases for children, who are unfamiliar with courtrooms and the justice system, to feel stressed or intimidated by having to face a perpetrator in court. In many cases, the defendant would have been grooming the child for years, causing the child to feel responsible for what happened.

A drawn-out case can compound the harm done to a sexual assault victim, Henderson said. A child has to wait to see what is going to happen to a defendant, who often is a family member and someone the child cares about. It’s difficult for anyone to live with that uncertainty, he said, especially those who might already feel a sense of guilt and shame around the case.

After the December sentencing was delayed, the judge scheduled the new sentencing for Jan. 11 and hopes were again high as the day drew near. On Jan. 9, Hanley learned the sentencing had once again been postponed.

“Where’s the justice?” she asked. “How am I going to tell my mother, my sister?”

Conrad’s attorney, Grace, requested the most recent delay, said Bonnett, the Adams County DA. Bonnett said she objected to the postponement but the judge granted the extension to March 15.

Hanley said the sister listed as the victim in the court file, as well as her other siblings, have had to live for four years with the turmoil and uncertainty of what will happen with Kenneth Conrad. Defendants deserve their due process, she said, but she noted that victims need to get the court process done to feel safe again.

“I decided to go public because the system was failing,” Hanley said. “The system has failed my sisters in so many ways.”

Hanley and Kerra Conrad also want other families and other victims to know there is help available.

The Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault has 54 sexual assault service providers across the state to help victims, Henderson said. The agency trains providers and lobbies state legislators to change Wisconsin laws to improve the system for victims. During the last state legislative session, the group helped to create a state law that allows sexual assault victims to have an advocate with them during all key medical or criminal justice proceedings.

For her part, Kerra Conrad now volunteers to help victims of sexual assault with a group known as Promoting Awareness Victim Empowerment at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

Hanley said she is trying to cope by spending as much time as she can supporting her sisters through the process. She also keeps busy with her own family of seven children, while she awaits the sentencing date.

She said she hopes that Kenneth Conrad will be imprisoned for at least four years, the same amount of time she and her sisters have waited for justice. The maximum sentence for the charge is 60 years.

“I hope and pray that they protect the children, that they are vigilant on protecting the kids, because this is serious stuff,” Hanley said.”

Sisters await justice for years in abuse case[Wisconsin Rapids Tribune 3/2/17 by Karen Madden]

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