Marengo man accused of sexually abusing 2 children released pretrial with GPS monitoring

A Marengo man accused of sexually abusing two children under the age of 10 was released from county jail Thursday pretrial with conditions, including that he wear a GPS and have no contact with the two minors.

Kyle Wolf, 34, is charged with two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of child younger than 13 and aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a child younger than 13, according to jail records and Judge Justin Hansen, who presided over his initial court appearance hearing.

Assistant State’s Attorney Anthony Marin argued Wolf is dangerous and should be detained in county jail while awaiting trial. He said one of Wolf’s alleged victims reported Wolf assaulted them “more than 10 times” and provided details of the alleged assaults. After the first child reported abuse to their mother, the second child made allegations they too were being abused, Marin said.

“No children are safe around him,” Marin said, arguing GPS nor any other conditions would be effective in mitigating Wolf’s dangerousness. “He is reckless and doesn’t care about others. [He] chooses the most vulnerable people.”

Assistant Public Defender David Giesinger said Wolf could be released with conditions, including GPS, that would alert police immediately should he go inside any exclusionary areas. GPS would keep the alleged victims and any other child safe. He also said he there is no information suggesting he is a danger to other children and he scored low on a dangerousness evaluation. “He stands before you innocent until proven guilty,” Giesinger told the judge.

Furthermore, Wolf works as a mechanic, which does not require he be around any children, and the mother of the alleged victims has put an order of protection in place to keep him from them, Giesinger said.

In considering whether to jail Wolf pretrial, Hansen said the state convincingly showed “he does pose a threat to the kids.” However, the judge also said there are conditions to mitigate the threat to the children and the community.

In referring to the allegations the state presented, Hansen said: “It goes without saying this is terrible and disgusting.” But he said has to consider the statute and that Wolf has minimal criminal history with no sex-related crimes. The judge also noted the children have a mother “who called proper authorities” upon learning of the allegations and is protecting them. “I can’t find there is no condition” that would mitigate the dangerousness,” Hansen said.

Hansen allowed Wolf to be released with a GPS with a 5-mile exclusionary area around the children’s school and home. He also ordered a sex offender evaluation.