By Shereen Siewert | Wausau Pilot & Review
Editor’s note: The following story contains graphic descriptions that may be disturbing to some readers.
Arrest warrants have been issued for two men accused of brutally assaulting an inmate at the Marathon County Jail for more than 90 minutes in December.
Unclear is why no earlier intervention took place or what led to a delay in charges for the two men.
Ashton Dreiling, 21, and Shaye L. Zinser, 22, each face felony charges of first-degree sexual assault while aided by others and of battery by prisoners. The charges were filed May 18 in Marathon County Circuit Court, more than five months after an inmate reported he was beaten and was sodomized with a bottle of hot sauce mixed with cleaning solution that was then released into his rectum.
Video surveillance footage captured at the jail detailed much of the assault beginning at about 10:30 p.m. Dec. 8, when he was allegedly forced to rub another inmate’s feet and suck his toes. The inmate was allegedly given canteen money by Dreiling and Zinser for participating in the act.
Then, video footage shows Dreiling and Zinser putting hot sauce down the front of the pants of the alleged victim, who was then made to rub the hot sauce around in his groin area. The alleged victim was also forced to snort Kool Aid, lick hot sauce on the floor and lick another inmate’s nipples.
A witness told investigators Zinser and Dreiling wanted the man to perform homosexual acts on them so he “would know what it was like to be a victim,” according to the criminal complaint.
About 30 minutes after the assaults began, the inmate was led into the bathroom where the two men allegedly forced the hot sauce bottle into his body. Video surveillance footage also captured the man being grabbed by the throat, punched in the torso and strangled. Corrections officers finally entered the cell block at 12:14 a.m., when the inmate asked to be removed for his safety.
The alleged victim told investigators he thought he would be killed in the attack, according to court documents. On May 19, Judge Greg Strasser ordered body-only arrest warrants for both men.
You are advised that a charge is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
