Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
Leader Photo by Tim Ryan Darwin Davis, seated beside his attorney, Paul Zilles, awaits sentencing Tuesday in Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court on four counts of child sexual assault.
A former Shawano bar operator was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison on four counts of child sexual assault and other charges after a hearing Tuesday in Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court.
Darwin R. Davis, 48, was found guilty after a weeklong jury trial in November of having sexual intercourse with a 15-year-old girl in the basement of a Shawano tavern he once operated and on multiple occasions at his home in 2012.
He was sentenced to 20 years on those counts and an additional 1 1/2 years on two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a child for trying to get his two children, who were 13 and 11 at the time, to lie to authorities about his relationship with the girl.
Davis will also have to serve 10 years of extended supervision after his prison sentence.
Assistant District Attorney Catharine White had asked the court for 41 1/2 years in prison and 20 years extended supervision.
White said the most important aspect of the case was the youth and vulnerability of the victim.
“He flattered her, he gave her attention, he told her he loved her,” White said. “He groomed her because he saw her as vulnerable.”
The girl’s father read statements from the girl and the girl’s mother, along with a statement of his own, detailing the psychological toll the relationship with Davis had taken.
“She is scared. She does not trust people,” he said, reading a statement from the mother. “I am asking the court to put away this monster for a time period that he will never get out to steal another little girl’s childhood.”
The girl’s statement asked the court to “please put him in prison forever. If you let him out, regardless of his age, there will be another victim.”
Davis said he felt bad for the victim, but in his statement to the court continued to maintain his innocence.
“By no means do I want to downplay anything,” he said.
Davis said that as a business owner he “brought friends and family together in a safe environment” and held benefits and made donations that benefited the community.
“I’ve worked hard to be a good person,” he said.
Davis blamed his wife for influencing his children to testify against him and asked that “God and this court have leniency on me.”
Judge James Habeck said, however, that he and God had different duties.
“I believe God is always willing to forgive, but my function is different — it’s to impose consequences,” Habeck said.
Davis was also sentenced on a number of other counts, including felony counts of possession of marijuana and bail jumping, and misdemeanor counts of possessing drug paraphernalia and resisting or obstructing an officer. Those sentences were imposed concurrently with the others.
The trial garnered particular attention because of Davis’ connection to a Shawano woman who went missing in 2013.
Heather Szekeres, 32, disappeared in June 2013 after last being seen at the Final Lap Tavern, the bar Davis operated.
That case remains under investigation.
Davis was previously convicted of second-degree sexual assault of a child in Langlade County in 1994 and was sentenced to five years in prison.