ANTIGO − A 44-year-old Merrill man was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting children while he worked at Apostolic Worship Center in Langlade County in the 1990s and 2000s.
Travis L. Huse, pleaded no contest to and a judge found him guilty May 7 of four counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child, one count of second-degree sexual assault of a child, five counts of child enticement, one count of sexual assault of a student by school staff and one count of enticing a child by exposing a sexual organ. An additional 19 felony counts were dismissed, but considered during sentencing as part of a plea agreement.
Four counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child, four counts of child enticement and one count of second-degree sexual assault of a child all occurred prior to 2000, according to online records. Langlade County Circuit Judge John Rhode sentenced Huse to 25 years in prison for each of the first-degree sexual assault of a child counts and 20 years in prison for each of the remaining five counts. Under the law, for charges prior to 2000, Huse is eligible to apply for probation after he has served a quarter of his sentence.
The remaining three counts he was found guilty of occurred after truth-in-sentencing was put in place in 2000. With truth-in-sentencing, the judge sets the amount of prison time, called initial confinement the inmate must serve, and he cannot have the prison time reduced with parole. The judge also specifies a time of extended supervision once the inmate is released from prison. Rhode sentenced Huse to three years in prison and three years of extended supervision for sexual assault of a child by school staff, 15 years in prison and 10 years extended supervision for child enticement and 15 years in prison and 10 years extended supervision for child enticement by exposing a sexual organ.
Rhode ordered all of his sentences to be served concurrently with each other. Rhodes gave Huse credit for 783 days already served.
Travis Huse's father, Scott L. Huse, 66, of Wautoma, faces one count of child enticement, four counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child and seven counts of second-degree sexual assault of a child. Scott Huse is scheduled to go to trial on the charges against him in October.
According to the criminal complaint, eight women came forward to accuse the father and son of assaulting them when they were youths at the church. In May 2022, six women spoke to deputies about Travis Huse. Five of the women said Travis Huse sexually assaulted them during the 1990s and one victim said he assaulted her in 2006.
Another woman said Travis Huse was working as a teacher's aide at the Apostolic Worship Center when he assaulted her during class when she was 12 and 13, according to the complaint. She said that her cubby-like desk was in the front of the class, against a wall. She said he would place her out of sight of the other students and inappropriately touch her, according to the complaint.
The sixth victim said she was 17 years old when Travis Huse was working as a youth group counselor at the Worship Center, and he called her and told her to meet him at the Worship Center at 1 a.m. When she got there, Travis Huse asked her, "Your car or my car, front seat or back," according to the complaint.
The woman said she didn't know what Travis Huse meant at the time, so she said, "OK, your car, backseat." The woman said she had gotten into the car with Travis Huse and he kissed her, then put his arms around her, according to the complaint. She said he inappropriately touched her and tried to go further in the assault, but she fought him.
Also in May 2022, a woman reported that Scott Huse began touching her in ways that made her feel uncomfortable after her mother died when she was 11. She said when she was 15, she was in a crowded vehicle traveling from the city of Antigo to Apostolic Worship Center in the town of Evergreen and Scott Huse was sitting right behind her. The girl said Scott Huse reached around, put his hand under her shirt and bra and touched her inappropriately, according to the complaint.
Another woman told a Langlade County deputy that, when she was 11, Scott Huse would rub up against her daily and touch her inappropriately, according to the complaint. She said when she was sitting at a cubby-type desk, he would push his body into her while they were secluded in the cubby. She said other students couldn't see what Scott Huse was doing.
Contact Karen Madden at 715-345-2245 or kmadden@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KMadden715, Instagram @kmadden715 or Facebook at www.facebook.com/karen.madden.33.
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