Charges added in rape cases
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Serial rape suspect Michael Huber (r) consults with his attorney William Hayes before the start of his preliminary hearing on Wednesday morning. Huber waived his right to the hearing, but based on additional charges, his bond was raised.
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Michael R. Huber
JANESVILLE — Michael R. Huber, now formally charged in two of the incidents in Janesville’s so-called serial-rape case, waived his right to a preliminary hearing this morning and had not guilty pleas entered on his behalf.
His next court date has yet to be scheduled. Judge James Daley will preside over the case.
Huber, 31, of 2133 Ontario Drive, Janesville, stood mute. Court Commissioner Stephen Meyer entered not guilty pleas on his behalf.
Assistant district attorney Mary Bricco filed an amended criminal complaint that added six sexual assault charges to the one that Huber had been charged with previously. The new criminal complaint dropped a charge of burglary against Huber that stemmed from a home invasion in 1998
Meyer added a $10,000 cash bond to each of the new charges, so Huber would have to post $160,000 cash to be released from custody at the Rock County Jail.
“My client can’t make $10,000 bond, let alone $100,000,” Huber’s attorney, Bill Hayes of Beloit, told Meyer. “You can add a million dollars. He’s not going anywhere.”
Victims, their relatives and friends filled nearly four rows in the jury assembly room at the Rock County Courthouse this morning. Many dabbed at tears.
Huber is implicated in six incidents dating to 1998.
But the criminal complaint against him cites only the two cases in which police and prosecutors say they have DNA evidence: a home invasion and rape in 1998 and similar crimes in 2003.
The 1998 assault led to three charges of first-degree sexual assault. The criminal complaint alleges that Huber had three separate sexual contacts with the victim, who was then 27.
The 2003 home invasion and rape led to one count of sexual assault of child younger than 16 and three counts of first-degree sexual assault. The victim in the alleged crimes was 13 at the time.
The criminal complaint alleges four separate sexual contacts in the 2003 incident.
In both the 2003 and 1998 incidents, Huber threatened the victims that he had a gun, the complaint charges.
The serial-rape case involved six home invasions, not all of which included a sexual assault, but police think one person committed all the crimes because of a distinct method of operation, what investigators called “almost a signature crime.”
But because DNA evidence was not collected in crimes that occurred in 1999, 2000 and 2001, those crimes are probably outside the state’s statute of limitations.
A 2005 home invasion, which did not include a sexual assault, falls within the statute of limitations. No charges have been filed in that incident.
Arguing that the statute of limitations had run out on the 1998 case, Hayes filed a motion to dismiss those charges. Judge Daley eventually will decide the motion’s merits.
After the hearing, Rock County District Attorney David O’Leary said he and Bricco are reviewing the incidents in 1999, 2000 and 2001 to see if charges can be filed in those cases.
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