Released Sex Offender Back Behind Bars

Convicted, and recently released, sex offender Michael Fink is back behind bars Tuesday on a Department of Corrections hold.

Online inmate records indicate Fink is in custody for "possession of items appealing to children," a violation of his release conditions.

Fink was approved for supervised release in December and was going to move to a home that turned out to be just two blocks from one of his victims. His release was stayed after Patch contacted the Department of Human Services about the location and representatives there were unaware of the home's proximity to the victim.

Fink spent several years at the Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center in Mauston after serving time in prison first for the rape of a 15-year-old girl in 1987 and then for the sexual assault of two, 12-year-old girls who were babysitting his wife's children in 1993.

The state moved to have Fink committed under the Chapter 980 law for sexually violent offenders, but he successfully petitioned the court for an order of supervised release. Another location - this time on Memorial Drive - was found for Fink, and he moved in March.

Under the conditions of his release, Fink wears two monitoring bracelets; one that alerts if he steps outside and another that alerts law enforcement of his actual location. He is not allowed to step foot outside his residence without a chaperone, and even then, that person cannot be more than an arm's length away from Fink at any time.

His victim - the same woman who lived just doors away from the first proposed location - is wondering how Fink got hold of anything he shouldn't.

"He's supposed to be chaperoned at all times so did someone bring something to him? This makes me very uneasy especially because I wasn't notified that he had been arrested," she told Patch. "I want to know who and where the ball got dropped on this."

But a spokesperson from the Department of Human Services said victims are only notified when an offender has a change in legal status.

"If a judge makes a determination, that is considered a change and that is when we would notify victims," they said. "Revocation of release would be a change in status."

As for the charge under which Fink is being held, DHS would only say the situation is under investigation.

An audit of how victims are notified was recently completed at the urging of Rep. Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, and new policies and procedures are in place. Still, those guidelines would not effect whether or not victims are notified in cases like this, when their offender is re-arrested while they remain under DOC supervision.