Man accused of assaulting girl who just turned 16

An 18-year-old Port Washington man was charged in Ozaukee County Circuit Court last week with sexually assaulting a girl just days after her 16th birthday.

The girl told a forensic interviewer last month that in August Trenton J. Jaeger gave her a marijuana cigarette that she believes was laced with something that made her feel like she could not move, then led her to a secluded outdoor area in Port Washington where he pinned her down and sexually assaulted her, according to the criminal complaint. 

The girl said she told Jaeger to stop, and when she tried to scream for help, he put his hand over her mouth and at one point choked her, the complaint states.

The girl said she passed out, and the next thing she remembered was being in the shower at Jaeger’s home where he was aggressively scrubbing her body. She said she still felt dazed and later woke up in his bed, according to the complaint.

Jaeger is charged with three felonies — second-degree sexual assault, strangulation and suffocation and child enticement. He is being held in the county jail in lieu of $25,000 bail.

During a preliminary hearing Monday, Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Sandy Williams ruled there is probable cause to support the charges against Jaeger and bound him over for trial. An arraignment hearing is scheduled for Dec. 4.

The girl told the forensic interviewer that she was introduced to Jaeger by friends in August, and although she had a crush on him she said she had no intention of acting on it because of the difference in their ages.

She said she told Jaeger she was 15, but that he instructed her to tell people she was 18 when they were in social situations, according to the complaint.

Jaeger, she said, talked about being in a gang and engaging in criminal activity. The girl said she believed he was making up stories to impress her but added that Jaeger told her he always gets what he wants, which caused her to worry about what would happen if she said no to him, the complaint states.

A few days before her 16th birthday, the girl said, she met Jaeger at Port Washington’s south beach. She said he brought alcohol and she became drunk. Jaeger then pressured her to have sex, according to the complaint.

The next day, the girl said, she met Jaeger at the beach and he again pressured her to engage in a sexual act, which she ultimately agreed to do, the complaint states.

On the day of the assault, the girl said, Jaeger took her to an apartment in Port where adults were using drugs. She told Jaeger she was uncomfortable, which is when he led her to a bedroom and gave her the marijuana cigarette, according to the complaint.

The girl said that when she later woke up alone in Jaeger’s bed, she looked at her phone and noticed all her communications with Jaeger had been erased, something she believed he did.

According to a Snapchat exchange obtained by detectives, a friend of the girl confronted Jaeger about having sex with her and Jaeger responded that he made a mistake, did not mean to harm her and said “he just gets lonely sometimes,” the complaint states.

When interviewed by authorities, Jaeger initially denied the girl’s allegations, but then admitted to having sex with her and confirmed many of the details she told investigators, although he said the intercourse was consensual and that she initiated it, according to the complaint. 

Second-degree sexual assault is punishable by a maximum 25 years in prison followed by 15 years of extended supervision. Strangulation carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison and three years of extended supervision, while child enticement is punishable by a maximum 15 years in prison and 10 years of extended supervision.