AA Sponsor Charged With Felony Sexual Abuse of Sponsee

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Trial set for Osage man accused of sex abuse

MARY PIEPER  mary.pieper@globegazette.com

April 26th 2017

 OSAGE — An Osage man sentenced to up to 35 years in prison last year for attempted murder and sexual abuse has a trial set in June on additional sexual abuse charges involving a second alleged victim.

Mark Retterath, 52, is accused of committing sexual acts against the will of a man while acting as his Alcohol Anonymous sponsor in May and June 2015.

Retterath was not only the man’s AA sponsor, but also served as an officer with the organization, according to the criminal complaint.

 He is scheduled to be tried June 6 on felony charges of third-degree sexual abuse and sexual exploitation by a counselor or therapist.

Those charges were filed in June 2015, around the same time Retterath was charged with attempted murder and solicitation to commit murder for allegedly plotting to kill another man accusing Retterath of sexually abusing him from the time he was a teenager.

Retterath was found guilty by a jury in August 2016 of attempted murder, solicitation to commit murder and third-degree sexual abuse.

 Investigators said Retterath decided to kill the accuser in the initial sexual abuse case with the poison ricin to prevent him from testifying against him.

Retterath allegedly got the idea for the murder method from a friend, who’d seen a TV character make ricin from castor beans and kill someone on AMC’s hit show “Breaking Bad.”

http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/trial-set-for-osage-man-accused-of-sex-abuse/article_b5479707-7ada-505a-95a4-a28e15d22ba0.html