By Shereen Siewert
A 33-year-old Wausau man is facing multiple criminal charges after he allegedly gave a 15-year-old girl alcohol and other drugs before assaulting her over the course of several hours at a Schofield motel.
Patrick Finnegan is jailed on a $25,000 cash bond. He faces charges of second degree sexual assault of a child, child enticement, strangulation/suffocation, false imprisonment and child abuse in connection with the Sept. 6 incident. Charges were filed Sept. 9 in Marathon County Circuit Court.
Police say the girl met Finnegan at a downtown Wausau fast food restaurant and the two became friends. The two were at a motel the night of Sept. 6 when Finnegan became irrational, telling the girl he was God and talked about demons and “killing people,” according to court records. The girl told police Finnegan slapped her in the face, body slammed her, bit her in the neck and tried to strangle her multiple times before she escaped from the room. Finnegan also threatened to cut off the girl’s ear, according to her statement.
The girl’s father, who initially reported to police that he believed his daughter was being held hostage, took the girl to a local hospital for medical evaluation.
Finnegan is also a suspect in a fourth-degree sexual assault case filed in August in Marathon County
A preliminary hearing is set for Sept. 18.
