A Merrill man accused of sexually assaulting an underage girl finally had his initial appearance in Lincoln County Circuit Court Wednesday. Both Lincoln County Circuit Court judges have recused themselves from the sexual assault case against 46-year-old David R. Hayes.
The case has now been assigned to Marathon County Judge Greg Grau. Hayes appeared in court last Wednesday and was released on a $10,000 signature bond. He was ordered to have no contact with the victim and no unsupervised contact with females under age 18, excluding his own children.
Hayes was charged in November 2014 with one misdemeanor count of having sex with a child 16 or older. That case was dismissed in Lincoln County Circuit Court Feb. 20. The case was then re-filed Feb. 25 with the addition of a felony count of 2nd degree sexual assault/use of force.
According to court records, the incident took place in August 2012 in Hayes’ vehicle while he was giving the 17-year-old victim a ride home from a party in the town of Scott. Hayes reportedly forced her to perform oral sex on him.