Buffalo Center man enters Alford plea to sexual abuse charges

BUFFALO CENTER — A Buffalo Center man accused of sexual abuse and stalking has entered an Alford plea in the case.

36-year-old Brandon Bassett was charged with second-degree sexual abuse, lascivious acts with a child, and sexual exploitation of a minor. A criminal complaint says a minor female reported a sexual assault to a school employee in October, with the school reporting it to the Department of Human Services.

A DHS agent and the officer accompanied the child and the child’s mother to a Child Protective Center interview a week later, where the child reported that she had been assaulted in the early hours of a school day in April.

A separate complaint states that Bassett admitted to authorities during an October 27th interview that he had placed a GPS tracker on his wife’s vehicle, with his wife saying she did not know anything about the tracker.

Bassett on Tuesday as part of a plea agreement filed in Winnebago County District Court entered an Alford plea to charges of third-degree sexual abuse, lascivious acts with a child, and sexual exploitation of a minor, all Class C felonies. With an Alford plea, a person does not admit guilt but acknowledges there is enough evidence for a likely conviction. 

The joint recommendation is that he be sentenced to ten years in prison on each charge, with the terms running consecutively. No sentencing date was immediately scheduled according to court records.