Sex Offender Granted Release from Treatment Facility

RIPON, Wis. (WRPN) – A Fond du Lac County judge has granted a 54-year-old sex offender’s release from a state treatment facility for sexually violent offenders.

James Thelen had petitioned the court for release from the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center in Mauston. A hearing was held Wednesday and Judge Anthony Nehls order for supervised release was issued yesterday.

According to court records Thelen was convicted in Fond du Lac County Court in Oct. 1999 of first-degree sexual assault of a child. In November of 2010, he was convicted of being a sexually violent person. That also happened in Fond du Lac County Court.