Charges imminent in Patty rape case

The Dane County District Attorney's Office is at long last on the verge of charging Joseph J. Bong, 26, for the sexual assault of a Madison woman named Patty on Sept. 4, 1997. Hal Harlowe, Patty's attorney, says District Attorney Brian Blanchard has told him that Bong will be charged at an initial appearance this Friday, May 17. The prosecutor is Deputy DA Judy Schwaemle.

"I'm gratified that Brian Blanchard and Judy Schwaemle have taken a personal interest in this case," says Harlowe, who served as Dane County DA from 1983 to 1988. "I think this marks a significant first step in undoing a great injustice."

Nearly a year has passed since Bong was implicated in the assault--in which Patty, a legally blind woman, was raped at knife point in her east-side home. Blanchard has explained the delay by noting that the case presents unusual circumstances. These include that his office previously charged Patty with a crime for reporting the assault, after Madison police came to doubt her story and used lies and deception to pressure her to recant.

The charge against Patty was dropped in August 1998, following the belated discovery of semen at the crime scene. Last June, a federal data bank matched DNA from that semen with a sample from Bong, a convicted sex offender now serving an 18-year prison sentence for robbing a motel and taking hostages eight days after Patty was raped.

Prior to this discovery, Patty filed complaints against the officers who handled her case with the Madison Police and Fire Commission and a lawsuit in federal court; both were thrown out. Madison Police Chief Richard Williams and Mayor Sue Bauman subsequently claimed that a state probe cleared the officers of any wrongdoing. In fact, the state refused Patty's request that it review the officers' handling of the case.

If Bong is charged Friday, a preliminary hearing would be held within ten days.