Former Kewaskum High School resource officer charged with five counts of bestiality
FOND DU LAC, Wis. (WFRV) – A former Kewaskum High School resource officer once tasked with enforcing the law now finds himself on the other side of the law in a shocking case as he has been charged relating to multiple crimes sexual in nature.
Steven Rosales, 37, became the center of an investigation spanning two counties when the parents of an 18-year-old female student at the high school saw an inappropriate text on her phone, according to the Washington County criminal complaint. Alarmed, they reported it immediately, and the investigation began on April 5, just days after Rosales had received a promotion to lieutenant on April 1.
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Due to a conflict of interest, the West Bend Police Department was assigned to the investigation.
According to the criminal complaint, the relationship began when the student was 17 years old at the end of her junior year when she began eating lunch in Rosales’ office. It evolved in January 2024 when Rosales gave the victim his phone number and they began texting.
The complaint states that “the communications evolved from appropriate and professional to inappropriate and eventually sexual.” Rosales allegedly described sexual acts he would like to perform on the victim, and even sent her nude photos of himself.
Between January 25, 2024, and April 5, 2024, more than 9,000 text messages were sent between Rosales and the victim, according to the complaint.
According to the document, Rosales is married and also had a relationship with another girlfriend that he was attempting to conceal from his wife.
The girlfriend explained that Rosales used a “TextNow” communication app to text with her because “he didn’t want his wife to see the text messages.”
Rosales also allegedly made sexual advances towards a Kewaskum High School lunch lady, according to the criminal complaint, and abused his authority after she left her job at the school in June 2023.
In September 2023, Rosales “pulled her over in the Citco gas station parking lot. He said that he pulled her over because of an error on her vehicle registration, but [the lunch lady] was confident that no error existed,” the complaint reads. “[The lunch lady] suspected that he pulled her over so he could learn what her address was.”
The lunch lady and Rosales stopped communication after a brief text exchange days later.
When Rosales was questioned by officers on April 5, he said that “he wanted to provide a full explanation and said he has been under a lot of stress lately at home,” the complaint said. “He said that his wife is pregnant and her pregnancy was high risk. He said that he has felt like he was walking ‘on eggshells’ because of the pregnancy.”
Rosales explained the reason behind his relationship with the 18-year-old victim was because his wife’s stress takes precedence over his.
He “uses his conversation with [the 18-year-old victim] as “a stress release,” the complaint states. “He said that he struggles to communicate with his wife about his stresses as she generally has her own that they try to work through first.”
Rosales was charged with one count of sexual misconduct by school staff or volunteer, and two counts of misconduct in office, excess of authority in Washington County. He was due back in court on May 28 for a preliminary hearing, but he requested a new judge, so that case has been postponed.
“He posted $40,000 cash bond in that case, and the charges there stem from his time as a school resource officer in Kewaskum,” Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney said.
The investigation into the alleged relationship with the student sparked a bestiality case in Fond du Lac County, where Rosales resides. According to the Fond du Lac County criminal complaint, an investigator searching Rosales’ phone found conversations between Rosales and his girlfriend, with him describing how he has allegedly engaged in sexual acts with his dog.
Rosales has three golden retrievers and says that he only engaged in sexual acts with one of them, a four-year-old female, according to the complaint. He said that he texted his girlfriend his sexual acts with his dogs to make her “aroused.”
Because he admitted to this happening on multiple occasions as well as taking pictures of the acts, Rosales was charged with three counts of bestiality, engaging in sexual contact with an animal, as well as one count of photographing sexual contact with an animal and one count of distributing sexual contact with an animal.
“The state is asking for a significant cash bond of $100,000 to $200,000 as well as no possession or contact with any animals and no viewing of pornography,” Toney requested.
“Your honor, we’re asking for a cash bond of somewhere in the $10,000 range,” Rosales’ defense attorney Conner Helvig said.
Ultimately, Fond du Lac County Judge Tricia Walker sided with the prosecution.
“I do have concerns about return to court,” she said. “The court will grant $100,000 cash bond.”
Should Rosales post bond, he is ordered not to have contact with livestock or domesticated animals by the court. He is due back in Fond du Lac County court on May 31 for a preliminary hearing.
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For Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney, he admits it is a one-of-a-kind case, and while he condemns abuse towards animals, he wishes sexual abuse of children was also prioritized more.
“The statute that we’re dealing with is rare, it certainly gets a lot of attention, understandably why,” Toney said. “Sometimes we wish this attention were given to children that were sexually assaulted, we don’t always see this level of attention in those particular circumstances.”
