Afton man gets probation in sexual assault case
Photo 
James Tracy
JANESVILLE — An Afton man was sentenced Friday to five years of probation after he pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a woman in July 2011 behind a Janesville bar.
As part of a plea agreement, James C. Tracy, 29, of 3631 W. Bass Creek Road, Afton, pleaded guilty to one court of third-degree sexual assault. The charged was reduced from second-degree sexual assault.
The probation will start after a 28-month prison sentence scheduled to end November 2013. Tracy was ordered to prison after his probation on a previous offense was revoked because of the sexual assault charges, according to court documents.
Tracy also must register for 15 years on Wisconsin’s sex-offender registry as soon as his probation starts.
He faces 10 years in prison if he violates the terms of this probation.
A jury trial had been scheduled for Monday.
According to court documents, Tracy was talking with a woman at bar time in the parking lot of Hammy’s Roadside Bar, 2131 Center Ave., Janesville. After a while, Tracy pulled on the woman’s arm and tried to get her to follow him, but she pulled away, according to court documents. The conversation was visible on recordings from the bar’s security cameras, according to court documents.
Eventually, the woman followed Tracy through a fence to an area at the back of the property, according to court documents.
The 39-year-old Janesville woman said Tracy pushed her to the ground face-first. Then he forced her to face him and forced her to have sex, according to court documents. The assault lasted for about four minutes, she said.
When he left, she was unable to get up. She screamed for help, and a man responded. The man got help, and four people helped the woman from behind the building, according to court documents.
Twenty-eight months in jail will serve as some punishment for the assault, but the trauma can last a lifetime for the victims of sexual assault, Judge James Daley said Friday.
“The crime is one that keeps on giving,” Daley said. “It affects permanently the victims.”
Daley in court Friday encouraged the victim to get mental health treatment.
“There is a path out,” he said.
