The state justice department is charging a man in a 10-year-old sexual assault case in Winnebago County, after a previously unsubmitted assault kit was tested.
It’s the first time that prosecutors are filing charges in connection with the statewide initiative to collect untested kits.
Twenty-nine-year-old Aaron Heiden of Eau Claire is facing counts of second and third-degree sexual assault for an incident with a woman in August of 2008. Prosecutors say the victim’s fingernail clippings were in the kit, and there was DNA on them. They say they found a match to Heiden through a database. They say Heiden told investigators he’s from Appleton, and he would visit during the summer.
Fox Crossing police were involved in the investigation, because the woman reported the assault happened in the former town of Menasha.
The state received a federal grant two years ago to test the kits. Attorney General Brad Schimel has said they should all be tested by the end of the year.
