MADISON, Wis. — A Wisconsin appeals court says a circuit court judge acted correctly in sending a registered sex offender to prison after he violated his probation in another case by visiting a bar where his sexual assault victim worked.
Mark Peterson, of Rockford, Ill., was originally sentenced to three years of probation for a 2006 theft. A judge revoked that sentence after Peterson visited a bar where the victim of a 1995 sexual assault was working in 2010 and gave him a new sentence of up to six years in prison.
Peterson claimed his visit to the bar had nothing to do with the victim.
But the 2nd District of Appeals said Wednesday that the judge's decision is appropriate because Peterson failed his probation.
Peterson's defense attorney declined to comment.
