Sheriff: sexually violent offender no longer moving to Lanark

By Brandi Makuski

Portage Co. Sheriff Mike Lukas saya a sexually violent offender will not be moving to the Town of Lanark.

“I was just waiting for confirmation, but he will not be moving to 9001 Boelter Lake Dr. in Lanark,” Lukas said Wednesday afternoon.

Ronald A. Stewart, 62, has spent the past 30 years in Sand Ridge Secure Treatment Center near Mauston after serving prison time for sexually assaulting three females—two small girls in 1989, and a woman in 1990—in Dane County. He had been cleared for release from that facility, and was expected to move into a home in Lanark later this month.

A public notification meeting had been scheduled for the night of March 7; Lukas said that meeting has now been canceled.

“After further evaluating their options, the holding company who purchased the property where Mr. Stewart was going to be housed, withdrew their offer to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services,” a news release from Lukas’ office read in part.

Anderson was declared a “sexually violent person” in 1997, when the Dane Co. DA’s office petitioned a judge to have him committed to a state facility for Wisconsin’s worst sex offenders. Stewart was deemed fit for release on Feb. 13.

“I’m glad the vendor contacted me to listen to my concerns, and thought the best for Portage County and the Town of Lanark,” Lukas said.

The sheriff added he would still be at the Lanark Town Hall on Wednesday night, in case some residents weren’t aware the meeting had been canceled. He plans to bring literature on sex offender safety and neighborhood watch groups.

It was not immediately known where Stewart would be moving. No other sexually violent persons will be house at that residence, the release said.