RACINE, WI – A man was charged Monday in Racine County Court with two felony counts of sexual assault of a nine-year-old child over the course of at least two years.
Jose Trinidad, 45, of Racine, was charged by the Racine County District Attorney’s Office with repeated sexual assault of a child and first-degree sexual assault of a child under the age of 12. If convicted of both charges, Trinidad faces up to life in prison.
According to the criminal complaint, officers with the Racine Police Department were called to a report of a 9-year-old girl being sexually assaulted by Trinidad.
During the course of the investigation, the girl told police that he started abusing her when she was six or seven-years-old. He first started touching the girl’s vagina and then over time he started having intercourse with her.
Trinidad told the girl if she told her mom that he would deny it and she would be grounded.
The girl described to police six different incidents where he sexually assaulted her. In one incident Trinidad assaulted the girl with her siblings in the other room and played loud music so that they couldn’t hear her crying.
“(The girl) stated after the assault, she left the room and Jose acted ‘calm and happy,’” the criminal complaint reads.
Trinidad is being held at the Racine County Jail on a $200,000 cash bond. He is expected to have a preliminary hearing at 8:30 a.m. on Sept. 4 in front of Racine County Court Commissioner Alice Rudebusch.