Leader Staff
A Seymour man was sentenced to prison Thursday for sexual assaults that took place in Shawano and Calumet counties.
Norbert DeGroot, 73, was given 15 years in prison and another 10 years extended supervision for repeated sexual assault of a child.
DeGroot was sentenced in Calumet County in a case that was consolidated with the Shawano County charges.
In handing down his sentence, Calumet County Circuit Court Judge Jeffrey Froehlich called DeGroot “the monster that haunts children’s dreams.”
DeGroot was previously convicted of second degree sexual assault of a child in Shawano County Circuit Court in February 1989. He was sentenced to five years probation.
Shawano County sheriff’s deputies started investigating new allegations in 2006 involving sexual contact with two children. However, the children involved did not disclose the alleged assaults until 2012, according to the criminal complaint.
Several agencies subsequently joined Shawano County authorities in the investigation, including the state Department of Justice, the Calumet County Sheriff’s Department, and the Seymour and New Holstein police departments.
DeGroot pleaded no contest in October to sexually assaulting a 4-year-old child on at least three occasions from January through May of 2006. Another charge of first-degree sexual assault of a child was dismissed as part of the plea agreement.