MatiChek reaches plea deal on sex charges

Prosecutors are recommending five years behind bars for a former Sheboygan alderman after he pleaded no contest to several felony charges, including sexually assaulting a minor and bribery.

Kevin MatiChek was arrested in February for repeated child sexual assault and was later charged with bribery and five counts of child pornography in Sheboygan County. He was also charged with two counts of child sexual assault in Ozaukee County stemming from incidents around 2002 and 2003. The Ozaukee case was consolidated into the Sheboygan cases.

In court Friday, MatiChek pleaded no contest to one instance of child sexual assault in Sheboygan, another second-degree child sexual assault charge in Ozaukee and the bribery charge. The rest of the charges were dismissed by District Attorney Joe DeCecco but will be read in for the purposes of sentencing.

MatiChek briefly attempted to enter a so-called "Alford plea" on the bribery charge — a plea indicating the defendant maintains his innocence but believes the evidence against him could result in a conviction.

Sheboygan County Circuit Court Judge L. Edward Stengel denied that plea, saying he rarely grants such pleas and saw no reason to do so in this case.

After some further discussion in chambers, MatiChek changed his plea to no contest.

The state is recommending a sentence of five years in prison and three years extended supervision — something that the family of one of MatiChek's victims reacted to with head shaking and signs of disappointment in court.

DeCecco said afterward that while the sentence is on the lighter side of what MatiChek could receive from Stengel, he said that had the case gone to trial, the outcome would have been unpredictable.

"There's always a problem when you have a sexual act, which is consensual in fact and not consensual in law," DeCecco said. "Particularly when you have someone who is almost 16, because when they hit 16 that same act would be a misdemeanor, not a felony. Also, what often happens is, and I'm not blaming victims, but sometimes victims will initially deny it and that happened in this case. ... If we had to go to trial, we could have gone to trial, but the reason I wanted to plea to this is that you don't know what's going to happen at trial."

DeCecco also said in court that a different victim tied to the child pornography charges didn't want to pursue prosecution and was only three months from his 18th birthday at the time the photos had been taken.

MatiChek's defense attorney, Casey Hoff, indicated in earlier motion hearings that he was planning on bringing up statements that the victim in the sexual assault case made up previous sexual encounters and had initially denied sexual contact with MatiChek. Hoff had also attempted to obtain counseling and school records for the victim, something Stengel blocked.

MatiChek's sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 9 — a year to the day after his arrest — while two separate pre-sentence investigations are conducted.

Stengel is not bound by the plea deal and can still hand down a sentence beyond the the state's recommendation.

Based on the conviction MatiChek received, he could face a potential maximum of 53 years behind bars.

Reach Jason Smathers at 920-453-5167 or jsmathers1@sheboyganpress.com.