By Shereen Siewert
One of four suspects accused of beating a 15-year-old boy and leaving him in the woods near the Wausau School Forest in an apparent attempted robbery will avoid prison time if he successfully completes three years of probation.
Mitchell Tesch, now 21, was 18 when he and three other teens allegedly took the boy to the woods and told him they planned a robbery as a way to buy drugs. Tesch was 18 at the time of his arrest in July 2019.
One of the suspects is accused of pulling a knife and threatening to kill the boy.
The alleged victim was beaten but was not stabbed. He was left in the woods without a cell phone and walked to nearby CTH KK, where he flagged down a passerby who called 911. The boy was transported to a local hospital and was treated for his injuries.
Tesch faced charges of child abuse, armed robbery with the use of force, criminal damage to property, bail jumping and disorderly conduct in the case, which was filed more than three years ago.
As part of a plea agreement, Tesch was convicted of substantial battery, child abuse and bail jumping in two separate cases. In the beating case, Tesch was given a withheld sentence for three years probation and ordered to spend three months in jail. He was sentenced to 12 months in jail in a separate case and given 245 days credit for time served.
One of the four defendants, Colton Bradberry, of Schofield, was previously sentenced to 12 years in prison followed by 12 years extended supervision; his sentence covered 10 separate cases filed in a 12-month span including the attempted armed robbery and assault case.
