ANTIGO — A motion made by a local man charged with over 30 felony counts of sexual assault to lower his bond from $1 million to $80,000 was rejected by Langlade County Court Commissioner Brent DeBord Tuesday morning.
According to the criminal complaint, in May 2022 five different victims came forward to accuse Travis Huse, now 44, with sexually assaulting them during classes they took at the Apostolic Worship Center in the Town of Evergreen in the late 90s when they were all under 13 years old.
Huse taught four of the girls private piano lessons and was a teacher’s aide for another of the victims when the inappropriate touching occurred. A sixth underage girl also accused him in May 2022 of sexually assaulting her in a car when she was 17 years old in the mid-2000s.
“To be convicted on any one of these charges could result in significant prison time,” DeBord said of his decision to deny Huse’s request. “On many of the charges, a conviction on any one of those could result in, effectively, a lifetime imprisonment, because the maximum penalty is 60 years on Class B felonies. So there is a great incentive here to flee.”
Several victims also claimed Huse was a flight risk in statements they wrote which were read by District Attorney Kelly Hays at the hearing.
“In the past, his parents have moved him to different states after accusations of sexual misconduct were made against him. Due to this pattern of behavior, Travis has learned to run or hide from his problems,” one victim wrote.
The same victim’s statement also elaborated on emotional damage she and other victims would suffer if Huse were to go free on bond.
“I have struggled mentally and spiritually about coming forward,” she wrote. “All parties involved have been raised in the UPC (United Pentecostal Church) religion, which is very strict and fear-based. It has been difficult to navigate through the emotions…reporting Travis’ crime was necessary, but we have been judged, and some have called us bitter. We have been told that we need to forgive Travis as Christ forgives us. However, if Travis were to be released, it would be just another struggle for us.”
Hays argued the bond should remain at $1 million because the victims needed to be protected.
“There is certainly a large concern for interference with the victims,” she said. “I will also note that there are reports in the file that Travis or his parents did try to intimidate these victims. They did try to stop them from coming forward, and that contributed to the fact that this was a delayed report.”
Kevin Musolf, Huse’s attorney, disputed this and other claims made by the State.
“We totally disagree that there’s any attempted coercion or trying to silence any of the alleged victims in this case,” Musolf said. “One of the alleged victims claims that he’s got a sex addiction toward children, which I find rather odd when you’re talking about an allegation that is 20 or 30 years old, and nothing since then as an allegation.”
Musolf also disagreed with Hays’ portrayal of the reasons for his client’s movements over the past years.
“The true criteria [when determining bond amounts] is the showing up to future court appearances, which Mr. Huse will do, and the only reason he relocated to a different community was the pre-trial publicity in this case in the area in which he lived, which no longer really proved to be a livable situation, so we ask the court to grant the motion,” Musolf said.
DeBord sided with Hays in his decision.
“The allegations are extraordinary. The bond must be extraordinary. In the totality of the circumstances here, it would be unjust to modify the bond to the amount that is requested. Eighty thousand dollars is a significant amount — the court recognizes that. But we are dealing with a significant case that’s more significant than that,” he said. “I cannot in any good faith believe that Mr. Huse is a good risk to be released into the community with these charges.”
Huse’s father Scott Huse also has an open case in Langlade County for sexual assault against minors dating back to his days as a pastor at the Apostolic Worship Center.
Travis Huse has another hearing scheduled for May 7 at 8:30 a.m. and a jury trial scheduled for the end of June.
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