Community rallies around family affected by offender placement

Danielle DeMali, mother of the 1-year-old, talks with supporters Terri Tobias, Harry Tobias and LaVerne Tobias during a peaceful protest Saturday in the Town of Wheatland (Jason Arndt/The Report).
Danielle DeMali, mother of the 1-year-old, talks with supporters Terri Tobias, Harry Tobias and LaVerne Tobias during a peaceful protest on the placement of a sex offender Saturday in the Town of Wheatland (Jason Arndt/The Report).

Couple fortunate for Town of Wheatland support

By Jason Arndt
Staff Writer

On a warm Saturday before Memorial Day, dozens of local residents and elected officials silently protested a Department of Health Services placement of a violent sex offender, who will reside next door to a Town of Wheatland family with a 1-year-old.

Mark Rogers, 32, the father of the 1-year-old, expressed gratitude for the outpouring of community compassion since the community learned 55-year-old Michael McGee of Racine was ordered released from Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Facility in Mauston.

“It is very overwhelming, it is very, very overwhelming,” Rogers said. “There are so many great people here, including the Town of Wheatland.”

Wheatland resident Chris Borre displays a sign to passing motorists on Highway 50 in the township Saturday (Jason Arndt/The Report).
Wheatland resident Chris Borre displays a sign to passing motorists on Highway 50 in the township Saturday (Jason Arndt/The Report).

The mother, 28-year-old Danielle DeMali, stated the community support has given her family the strength to move forward and hopes it brings reform in future cases.

“We appreciate it so much and we feel it is our responsibility to make sure this does not happen to anyone else in the community,” DeMali said.

The peaceful protest comes after a Racine County judge rejected a Town of Wheatland motion to overturn the release of McGee, who had been convicted in 1987 of second-degree sexual assault of a woman, and a count of burglary in Racine County.

McGee later had his parole revoked after he allegedly molested a 10-year-old nephew, leading to a civil commitment at Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Facility in Mauston.

Pending an 11 a.m. Tuesday motion hearing in Kenosha County, barring McGee from residing next door, the Racine resident could take official residence at 32200 Geneva Road that day.

The full story will appear in the June 3 print edition of the Westosha Report.


Posted

in

,

by

Tags: