By Mike Stoll, Austin Daily Herald

 

AUSTIN — An Albert Lea man was charged with three counts of felony first-degree criminal sexual conduct-penetration of a child under 13 on Monday in Mower County District Court.

Jeffrey Mitchell Weir, 50, pleaded not guilty to all charges.

According to the court complaint, an officer was dispatched Feb. 17 to a residence in the 200 block of Second Street Northwest regarding a report of sexual abuse of a child. The officer met with a woman who said the victim, an 11-year-old girl, had disclosed Weir sexually abused her on three occasions. The alleged abuse occurred while Weir was living in Austin.

A detective interviewed the victim, who was known to Weir, on Feb. 18. When asked if she knew why she was there, she said, “A guy named Jeff Weir raped me.” She disclosed the abuse first occurred when she was 8 years old, the second time when she was 9 years old, and the last in September 2018. The victim described the abuse to the detective, saying she was “scared” when it happened.” She also said Weir told her not to tell anyone.

The detective interviewed Weir, who said he used to live at a residence in the 600 block of Ninth Avenue Southwest before moving to Albert Lea. He indicated he did know the victim and that the victim had stayed with him in the past, but denied sexually abusing her. He said he did not know why the victim would accuse him of sexual abuse, saying she lied a lot and that he had to discipline her for her behavior.

A review of Weir’s criminal history shows he is a registered predatory offender in the state of Wisconsin, where he has a 2003 conviction for possession of child pornography. He also has a conviction in Minnesota for violating predatory offender registration requirements.

A pre-trial for Weir has been scheduled for Aug. 22.

 

See what happened over the weekend in the PM report here.