Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com

Published - Friday, May 09, 2008

Man gets 10 years in prison for attacks on elderly women

By DAN SPRINGER | La Crosse Tribune

A La Crosse man who admitted sexually assaulting and attacking two elderly women in separate incidents last fall was sentenced today to 10 years in prison followed by 15 years of extended supervision.

La Crosse County Circuit Judge Elliott Levine said the sentence essentially guarantees Robert E. Clark, 63, of 1131 Shorewood Drive, will spend the rest of his life under some form of supervision.

Clark, who has various health problems including Parkinson’s disease and early-onset dementia, pleaded guilty in March to two counts of second-degree sexual assault.

Clark was convicted of fondling and beating an elderly woman in a home on the 1300 block of Park Avenue on Sept. 12, and committing the same offense against another woman in a home on the 4200 block of Cliffside Drive Oct. 7.

Friends and members of the victims’ families said in court today the assaults have caused both women ongoing physical and emotional pain and made it impossible for either woman to trust strangers again.

Clark previously served prison time for trying to abduct a woman from a La Crosse street in 1976 and, after his release, made sexual advances toward a 9-year-old girl in 1980, Levine said while sentencing Clark.

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