By Naheed Rajwani
The Dallas Morning News
ELLIS COUNTY, Texas —A proposed plea deal in the case of five volunteer firefighters accused of sexually assaulting a colleague in an Ellis County firehouse last year would result in one of them pleading guilty to a misdemeanor assault count and charges being dropped against the others.
Eight people were arrested after the January 2015 attack captured in a cellphone video that was allegedly shared with people through a group text.
Five volunteer firefighters and the woman suspected of filming the attack were charged with aggravated sexual assault and attempted aggravated sexual assault. The fire chief and his assistant were charged with tampering with a witness, a first-degree felony.
In court Friday, prosecutors announced that a plea deal had been reached.
If the deal is finalized, Keith Edward Wisakowsky will plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of assault while all other charges against him and the other suspects will be dropped, Ellis County District Attorney Patrick Wilson said.
In the cellphone recording, believed to have been made by Wisakowsky’s girlfriend, the men could be heard “yelling and laughing with excitement” as the victim was held down and assaulted, court records state.
The men first tried to use a broomstick, but then one of them retrieved a sausage from the station’s refrigerator, authorities say. The humiliation continued after the assault when someone stole the victim’s clothes and towel after he showered, the records say.
The victim, Jason Waldeck, declined to comment on the plea deal Monday.
In an interview last year, he said he was planning to start firefighter training in Hillsboro and hoped to return to North Texas as a paid firefighter.
“The tables have turned,” Waldeck said in the interview. “All those years they picked on me, and now I’ve taken the control from them. Now, they’re facing charges.”
Copyright 2016 The Dallas Morning News