State won't place new sex offender in Hanover home
Photo 
William Stuit
HANOVER — The state does not plan to replace a sex offender who has died while under civil commitment in a home in Hanover, according to a spokeswoman for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.
The state will not move new residents into the home and is attempting to discontinue the use of the home, Department of Health Services spokeswoman Stephanie Smiley wrote in an email to The Gazette.
William H. Stuit, 65, died Nov. 22 at Mercy Hospital and Trauma Center, Janesville, according to court documents. He died from a brain injury after falling from his wheelchair in his home, according to court documents. The death was ruled an accident.
Stuit was committed under Wisconsin's sexually violent offender law March 2000, according to court documents. He was convicted of sexually assaulting boys in 1972, 1978 and—after treatment—in 1986, according to Gazette archives.
Stuit and another man, Clayton J. Smith, 51, were moved in May under their commitments into a house at 8121 W. Mill St., Hanover.
Hanover is about 10 miles southwest of Janesville.
Residents of the rural community, population 181, were upset when they learned the men would be living in Hanover. At a public meeting in May, Rock County Sheriff Robert Spoden said deputies would stop at the home at least once per shift to check on the men.
Those patrol stops will continue, Sgt. Mark Thompson said this week.
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services, which oversees placements for sexually violent offenders, does not plan to put another person in the Hanover home, Smiley wrote in an email to The Gazette.
Smith's placement will continue, but the state plans to phase out the use of the Hanover home, Smiley wrote.
The department has 29 people on supervised release around the state, she wrote.
