The agency Thursday charged Jason Smith with sexual assault of a child while armed. According to a criminal complaint, Smith encountered a 13-year-old girl on the street in Beloit in 2000, displayed a revolver and sexually assaulted her.
The state crime lab notified police in March that a test of the girl’s sexual assault kit produced a DNA profile matching Smith, who is currently incarcerated after he was convicted in 2005 in a separate sexual assault.
DOJ spokeswoman Rebecca Ballweg declined comment on why the girl’s kit went untested for years. A DOJ website indicates most of Rock County’s untested kits went unanalyzed because prosecutors felt they didn’t offer any evidence or police chose not to investigate.