Town man charged with sexual assault

A 56-year-old Town of Saukville man has been charged with second-degree sexual assault after investigators say he surprised a woman at 3 a.m. in her bed while she was watching television.

According to a criminal complaint filed in Ozaukee County Circuit Court:

The woman, 57, came home from her job at about 3 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 22, and was watching TV when a man crept into her bedroom and jumped on her bed with one of her T-shirts over his head.

The man, who smelled of alcohol, pinned her down and assaulted her, but she was able at one point to get a hand free and dial 911 on her cell phone. When the dispatcher answered, the man leapt up and ran out of the house.

Ozaukee County Sheriff’s deputies arrived a short time later and talked to the woman. While they were investigating, a neighbor, Patrick M. Gehr, came over wondering what the police activity was about and said he believed someone that night had damaged his holiday yard decorations.

Gehr’s wife, however, told deputies the decorations had been damaged long before that night. Deputies could smell alcohol on Gehr’s breath and he displayed signs of being intoxicated. When the alleged victim of the assault heard Gehr speak, she told deputies it was the same voice of her assailant.

Deputies reinterviewed Gehr, who confessed to deputies that he was an alcoholic and that he sometimes blacks out when he drinks heavily. Deputies also found a jacket in his home similar to one the victim described as being worn by her assailant.

Gehr is charged with second-degree sexual assault, false imprisonment and burglary, all felonies for which he could be sentenced to 35 years and six months in prison if convicted.