Antonio L. Pope, the man accused of committing two sexual assaults last semester in the campus area, is set to begin a series of court cases over the next week, beginning Friday.
According to the Dane County District Attorney's office, Pope is set to make a court appearance tomorrow for an incident last November when he reportedly obstructed an officer and resisted arrest. Still, Assistant District Attorney Mike Verveer said the case will most likely be pushed together with Pope's second slated court appearance on April 19.
""[Today's case] is just an old case he had before he committed the acts against the students,"" Verveer said.
Pope faces charges of abduction and first degree sexual assault, according to the District Attorney's office, for his alleged connection in two separate high-profile sexual assaults on the UW-Madison campus. The first assault occurred Nov. 29 when Pope allegedly abducted a female UW-Madison student on Observatory Drive and assaulted her at an unknown location off campus.
The second assault Pope allegedly had involvement in took place just days after the Nov. 29 assault. Pope's actions mirrored the first incident, and Madison police later used evidence from the scene of both crimes to find a DNA match to Pope linking him to both crimes.
Verveer said a plea agreement has reportedly been reached in the case and that it will not go to trial. He said he did not know the terms of the plea bargain nor did he know how long or even if Pope would be sent to jail.
Still, Verveer said because Pope entered into a plea agreement, it means he has either decided to plead no contest or guilty on some of the charges he faces.
According to Wisconsin Circuit Court records, Pope has been found guilty in a number of other past incidents. Pope was twice found guilty of cocaine possession and THC—class I felonies—in August 1998 and again in September 2005.
District Attorney Carrie Cattanach is set to prosecute the case on April 19.
