LA CROSSE (WKBT) — A 30-year-old La Crosse man has been charged with first-degree child sexual assault and resisting an officer in connection with a complaint that he groped a 10-year-old girl in a Walmart in Onalaska.
Josey M. Amann was charged in La Crosse County District Court on Dec. 15 in connection with the felony charge of sexual contact with a child younger than 13, which could result in up to a 60-year prison sentence if he is convicted.
A man allegedly groped the girl in a frozen food aisle near popsicles on May 22, and the girl told her mother, who then confronted him, according to the criminal complaint. He fled when she accused him, the complaint states.
An Onalaska police officer who responded to the call viewed surveillance video showing the mother chasing the suspect and the suspect driving out of the parking lot in a pickup.
On May 25, an Onalaska officer reviewed video from the Subway store inside of Walmart in which the suspect bought food at about 2 p.m. and sat at a table, according to the complaint. He walked out of Subway and into Walmart at about 2:10 p.m.
Subway provided a receipt of the transaction but the receipt did not have the name for the debit card used, the complaint states. Onalaska police had a subpoena for records served on Subway on Oct. 28 to request the video debit card information.
Records received under the subpoena implicated Amann, the criminal complaint says.
On Oct. 29, officers contacted Amann at his job in a La Crosse restaurant/bar where he worked. He denied being the person in still photos from Walmart security footage.
When an officer told Amann to turn around and with his hands behind him, he ran out the back of the restaurant and down an alley. He turned west on Pearl Street and ran, even as the officer called for him to stop. He slowed at Pearl and Third Street, when the officer grabbed the back of his T-shirt and arrested him.
The officer advised Amann of the cause for the arrest and asked if he was injured, according to the complaint.
“I don’t know,” he replied, adding, “I think I’m sick and I need help.”
When the officer asked what that meant — whether he was ill and was going to vomit or something else, Amann said, “Something else.”
The charge of resisting arrest is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 or a prison sentence up to nine months or both.
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