School aide accused of beating disabled Marengo woman; defense calls it ‘roleplaying’

McHenry County prosecutors allege a Milwaukee man beat a partially paralyzed Marengo woman he met online and texted her that he wanted to sexually assault children, but a defense attorney said the couple were dating and engaging in roleplaying and fantasizing.

However, Judge Cynthia Lamb agreed with prosecutors Thursday detained Johnny Latiker, 51, in county jail.

Latiker, who said in court he works as a paraprofessional with special-needs children at Cedarburg High School in Cedarburg, Wisconsin, is charged with aggravated battery, Class 3 felony, grooming and domestic battery, according to Lamb and records in the McHenry County court.

Latiker also said that for the last 28 years, he’s worked with a sky gliding company at festivals during the summer.

Assistant State’s Attorney Daniel Conroy said the woman, who is is partially paralyzed, “mostly” uses a wheelchair and has kidney cancer, had invited Latiker over and he attacked.

The prosecutor read from a proffer written July 13 by an officer who interviewed the woman in the hospital after the alleged beating.

Conroy said the woman told authorities that she began dating Latiker in May and that on the day she was attacked, he locked her bedroom door, put on fingerless leather gloves and began punching and strangling her. As he strangled her, she told police, he demanded she look him in the eyes. He also put a pillow over her head, attempted to sexually assault her and threatened to kill her, authorities allege.

The woman said he also punched her several times on her side and that she suffered five broken ribs, bruises and contusions, according to the prosecutor, adding Latiker threatened that if she told anyone what he had done he would come back and hurt her.

Conroy also read lewd text messages Latiker allegedly sent the woman in which he told her he likes “naughty stuff” and said he had a “fantasy” involving children as young as 4, a 10-year-old girl he once saw on a trampoline and the high school girls he at his job in Cedarburg. Conroy said Latiker wrote, “I can actually start grooming” the high school girls, and that he also wrote that he wanted to kidnap a child from Marengo because “no one would know.”

Conroy said Latiker is “extremely dangerous” to children, noting both of his jobs giving him “limitless contact” with children.

Assistant Public Defender David Giesinger, appointed only for the initial court appearance, argued Latiker has no criminal history, scored zero on a dangerousness evaluation and could be safely released with conditions.

The public defender described the texts as a couple “talking about sex fantasies,” and pointed to texts where Latiker asked what her “hard line” was so he didn’t cross it. When she wrote that he hurt her, he asked what he did that hurt her so he wouldn’t do it again, Giesinger said. Latiker also texted the woman that he “can’t do this fantasy stuff” because he was “starting to creep myself out.” In one text, he referred to their encounters as “playing that game.”

There also are messages where the woman talked about “engaging in facilitating” Latiker’s fantasies, Giesinger said.

Latiker has “no qualms” abiding by a no-contact order and other court-imposed conditions, the public defender said, adding Latiker has had no contact with the children he fantasized about.

Giesinger said the state is trying to paint Latiker “as a predator” but that roleplaying and sharing fantasies “was the nature of their relationship. These are two individuals engaged in roleplaying and fantasy.”

The judge and the prosecutor rejected that argument and said they didn’t believe the nature of the relationship included the woman suffering broken ribs and contusions on a cancerous kidney.

In the detention order, Lamb addressed the grooming allegations, saying Latiker “used his cellphone multiple times to coerce this victim to ... give him sexual access to a minor ... attempting to seduce, solicit, lure, or entice, a child to engage in sexual offenses.”

No one from Cedarburg High School or Cedarburg School District could be reached for comment or confirmation of Latiker’s job status.