Mar. 22—CHIPPEWA FALLS — A Boyd man has been charged with repeatedly sexually assaulting a young girl over a five-year span, beginning with the girl was 8 years old.

Michael S. Gregory, 60, 433 E. Patten St., was charged in Chippewa County Court with repeated sexual assault of a child. By state law, that means at least three different sexual assault encounters. Gregory appeared in court Tuesday before Judge James Isaacson, and he will return to court May 3.

Gregory was released from custody after posting a $5,000 cash bond. As terms of his release, Gregory cannot have any contact with the girl or her family, or any unsupervised contact with juvenile females.

Eau Claire County assistant district attorney Angela Beranek is handling the case, as Chippewa County District Attorney Wade Newell has recused himself because he knows Gregory's family.

According to the criminal complaint, an officer from the Stanley Police Department interviewed the girl, who is now 13, in February. The girl had told family members that she "had been sexually assaulted over the previous five years," and it happened while staying with family members in Boyd, and she no longer wanted to go there. The girl's biological father lives in Boyd; Gregory is unrelated to the girl.

The girl described to authorities how Gregory would sexually assault her in her bedroom. Based on her descriptions, it is believed the offenses occurred between June 2017 and June 2022. The girl explained that she didn't report the assaults because she believed Gregory is a police officer; he isn't but he wore a uniform that the girl confused for a police outfit. She was able to identify certain events that happened when she was eight that coincided with when the first assaults took place.

"(The girl) said that she had a mirror in her bedroom and starting around this time and kept a tally of when she was inappropriately touched by Michael. (She) would also write the year on the mirror. (She) did this in case she wanted to speak about it someday," the complaint states.

When police interviewed Gregory, "he categorically denied that sexual contact ever happened." Court records show no prior criminal charges or convictions for Gregory in Wisconsin.