Crime & Safety
Sussex Sex Offender to Stand Trial on Child Enticement Charges
Court commissioner rules Dennis Marth showed his intent with young boys at Nixon Park when he asked them where a secluded set of railroad tracks were located.
A Sussex man accused has been denied dismissal of four felony charges against him and is now bound over for trial.
Waukesha County Court Commissioner Laura Lau ruled Wednesday that Dennis C. Marth, 50, will stand trial on allegations he walked up to young boys in Nixon Park in July and asked them where the railroad tracks were located and kept interacting with them. A convicted sex offender, Marth was drunk at the time and told police about his prior conviction.
His attorney, Douglas Bihler, argued during the preliminary hearing that prosecutors didn’t show evidence of Marth trying to have sexual contact with the boys.
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But prosecutor Susan Opper said Marth told police voluntarily he had been convicted of a sex crime with a child and his odd behavior with the boys and asking them to show him railroad tracks in a secluded area of the park showed his intent.
“There was no reason for him to be following those boys,” she said.
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Judge William Domina released Marth from a mental commitment detention in May that Marth has been on since 2000.
Marth is convicted twice of molesting children, according to a 2007 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel article.
Marth will appear again in court Oct. 20. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges, which carry a maximum sentence of 100 years in prison.
He remains in custody in lieu of $250,000 cash bond.