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Teen charged with sexual assault

Waupaca County detectives report three victims

Cayleb T. Zander, 19, Manawa, faces three felony sexual assault cases involving three teenage girls.

He is currently in custody on a $250,000 cash bond.

On Nov. 2, 2021, Zander was charged with second-degree sexual assault, child enticement, false imprisonment, felony strangulation and felony child abuse.

On Sept. 8, 2021, a 16-year-old girl told a child advocacy investigator that the then-18-year-old Zander sexually assaulted her the previous day.

She said she had been Snapchatting with Zander, while at the Shawano County Fair with some friends.

The girl said Zander seemed sad and depressed, so she agreed to meet him at a home in the town of Helvetia.

According to the criminal complaint, she noted that Zander acts sad and depressed when he gets drunk.

When she arrived at his home, he was drinking hard iced tea and blaring music.

“After a short time, Cayleb was becoming louder and starting to scream out songs as he recorded himself,” the complaint says. “At this point, for no reason, he reached over and grabbed her throat with his hand and was choking her.”

She told investigators that he choked her two more times, then asked her to stay the night.

The girl left and went to her car. Zander allegedly followed her and sat in the passenger seat.

“She said at this point he was trying to get sympathy from her by saying she hated him and he was ugly,” the complaint says.

The girl said she told him to go back into the house and go to bed.

Zander reportedly responded that she needed to tuck him in.

She then pulled him out of the car, took Zander back to his bedroom and “‘literally tucked him in but he said it was not good enough,” according to the complaint.

Zander then allegedly locked the bedroom door, grabbed her and threw the girl onto the bed, then began kissing her and groping her.
The teen told investigators that she managed to kick him off of her, ran to her car and drove away.

While returning home, she received several Snapchat messages from Zander, saying she hated him and that he was slashing his wrists.
The following day, she said Zander blamed her for what happened.

After his arrest but before charges were filed, Zander was released from custody on a $2,000 magistrate’s bond on Sept. 10.

Second criminal case

On Nov. 11, 2021, Zander was charged with second-degree sexual assault of a child and felony bail jumping.

While further investigating the Sept. 7 incident, Waupaca County Detective Sgt. Jon Loken obtained a warrant to search Zander’s Snapchat records.

Loken found Sept. 11 Snapchat conversations, the day after his release, that reportedly identified his victim by her first and last name.

According to the second criminal complaint, in the Snapchat Zander said in a Snapchat that he planned to move to Little Rock, Arkansas, and change his identity to avoid the pending charges.

Loken also learned the identity of other possible victims.

When Loken met with a girl identified as Victim 2, she told him “she was not surprised to learn Zander had been arrested for a sexual assault as it had happened to her, too.”

The girl told Loken that in 2019, when she was 15 years old, Zander offered to give her a ride home. Instead he took her to the end of a dead end road and stopped the truck, the complaint says.

Victim 2 said Zander attempted to have sexual intercourse with her without her permission.

“During the assault, she was telling him no and pushing him away. Eventually he stopped and took her home.”

She accused Zander of sexually assaulting her a second time a couple weeks later.

In 2021, Zander allegedly grabbed her by the neck from behind and choked her.

She said Zander was intoxicated at the time and is much more aggressive when he is intoxicated.

Third criminal case

On March 9, 2022, Zander was charged with sexual assault of a child, sexual assault by threat of violence, felony intimidation of a victim, felony child abuse and felony bail jumping.

On Dec. 9, 2021, Loken interviewed Victim 3, who said she and her family were staying in their camper while attending a horse riding event in Caroline on Oct. 3, 2021. They were parked at the Colorama grounds.

Describing him as an ex-boyfriend, the girl said Zander called her and asked her to come to his truck to talk.

When she entered the truck, she found Zander in his underpants.

According to the third criminal complaint, Zander said he spilled alcohol on his trousers.

He locked the door after she entered the truck, the complaint says.

Zander reportedly said he wanted to start dating again, but the girl said no.

They kissed each other, then Zander tried to force her to touch him inappropriately, the complaint says.

When Victim 3 attempted to exit the truck, Zander allegedly grabbed her, pinned her to the dashboard and forced her to have intercourse.

The girl accused Zander of sexually assaulting her on a previous occasion in the fall of 2019 when she was 15 years old.

She told Loken that she and Zander were together in his bedroom, watching a movie and cuddling.

Then Zander allegedly began groping her and sexually assaulted her.

She also reported that Zander choked her in March 2021, then prevented her from calling her mother to go home.

Victim 3 said she was afraid to leave the relationship because Zander threatened to kill himself and she was afraid he would hurt her.

She told Loken that the day following the assault, Zander said you hate me, I’m ugly and threatened to kill himself.

Zander is scheduled for a jury trial before Judge Raymond Huber on July 11-13.

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