MAUSTON, Wis. —Wisconsin’s oldest inmate has died at 103.

An obituary for Ellef Ellefson in Saturday’s Tribune said he died Jan. 19 in Mauston.
Ellefson, who was born and raised in Vernon County and lived in La Crosse for many years, had been a resident of the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center in Mauston with other men who had been designated as sexually violent under state law.

In 1990, Ellefson pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree sexual assault after being accused of molesting three boys, a 4-year-old and two 11-year-olds. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.

As Ellefson completed his sentence in 2000, the state petitioned to have him committed under the state’s sexually violent persons law. A La Crosse County jury ruled against Ellefson, then 95, later that year. His repeated requests for supervised release were denied.

He had convictions from 1937, 1952, 1959, 1981 and 1984, all for having sexual contact with minors. During those years, he was a Boy Scout leader, owned a Karmelkorn store at 612 Main St. in La Crosse and was involved in youth hostels and bicycling.

A newspaper article from the 1940s then described him as the state’s largest tobacco grower. His obituary noted “he was known for the tobacco he raised.”

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