Rhinelander man enters no contest plea to 2018 sexual assault

Star Journal Staff

A Rhinelander man charged with the physical and sexual assault of an elderly woman in June 2018, has pleaded no contest to amended charges.

Isaiah Moren, 22, appeared in Oneida County Circuit Court Tuesday, facing charges of first degree reckless injury, first degree sexual assault causing great bodily harm, strangulation and suffocation, aggravated battery, burglary, criminal damage to property and misdemeanor bail jumping.

Moren entered a no contest plea to reduced charges of second degree sexual assault, a class C felony and second degree reckless injury, a class F felony. The charges of strangulation, burglary and bail jumping were dismissed; aggravated battery and criminal damage to property were dismissed but read in.

He will be sentenced March 26 following a pre-sentence investigation. The felonies carry a maximum term of 32 years behind bars and 20 years extended supervision. Moren has been in jail on a $500,000 cash bond.

According to the criminal complaint, an Ascension St. Mary’s Hospital emergency room nurse contacted the Oneida County Sheriff’s Office to report that an elderly woman brought in for treatment reported she had been physically and sexually assaulted. The woman’s daughter told the responding officer that she went to visit her mother and noticed things were out of place in her home and discovered her mother in the bathroom with severe bruising all over her body. The elderly woman said someone had come into her home the previous night.

Moren was identified as the chief suspect following an analysis of DNA recovered from clothing the woman was wearing at the time of the assault.