By EVAN REID

Staff Writer

CRANDON, Wis. – One of the remaining two defendants accused of beating a Wisconsin man and leaving him in the woods to die last year has been sentenced to serve over a decade in prison.

Justin Bey, 22, of Wabeno, Wis. was convicted after accepting a plea agreement in May.

Bey pleaded guilty to one felony count of second-degree attempted homicide, one felony count of false imprisonment, one felony count of kidnapping/seize or confine without consent, and one misdemeanor count of bail jumping.

Pursuant to the agreement, a charge of first-degree attempted murder was amended to the second-degree charge to which Bey pleaded guilty.

In addition, one felony count of aggravated battery with intent to do great bodily harm, two felony counts of intent to contribute to the delinquency of a child, one felony count of strangulation and suffocation, and one misdemeanor count of bail jumping were dismissed by read into the record for the purpose of sentencing.

On the count of second-degree attempted homicide, Bey was sentenced to 25 years in prison, consisting of 15 of initial confinement followed by 10 years of extended supervision.

On the count of false imprisonment, he was sentenced to five years in prison, consisting of three years of initial confinement followed by two years of extended supervision, to be served consecutively.

Bey also received concurrent sentences of 18 years of prison on the count of kidnapping/seize or confine without consent, and nine months in jail on the count of bail jumping.

He received credit for 517 days already served in jail.

Extended supervision conditions include the payment of $44,000 to be paid with 25 percent of any prison wages or money Bey is entitled to. Restitution is joint and several with codefendant, Raymond Jones.

Jones, 46, of Wabeno, was convicted of three felonies following a four-day jury trial in May.

Jurors found Jones guilty of one felony count of attempted first-degree intentional homicide, one felony count of aggravated battery-intend great bodily harm, and one felony count of kidnapping-seize or confine without consent.

Prior to the start of the trial, Jones pleaded no contest to one felony count of false imprisonment, one felony count of strangulation and suffocation, two misdemeanor counts of intent to contribute to the delinquency of a child, and one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.

A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt, but is treated as a guilty plea by the court for the purposes of sentencing.

Jones has been scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 14.

Charges were also brought against Samantha McClellan, 20, of Antigo, Wis., and April Jones, 39, of Wabeno.

Both women pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges last year. April Jones was sentenced to nine months in jail and McClellan’s jail sentence was withheld pending the successful completion of 18 months probation.

The charges stem from a series of incidents in early March of 2014.

Authorities said that a 40-year-old Prairie du Chien, Wis., man was found in a snowbank by two ATV riders near Bug Lake in Forest County.

The man’s pants were around his ankles and he had severe frostbite on one leg and the other foot. He also suffered fractures to his face, a broken nose and jaw, and two broken ribs, among other injuries.

The victim identified the people who assaulted him to law enforcement and said he was held against his will at a Wabeno residence and beaten over the course of two days. He was then dropped off at the end of Bug Lake Road, where he remained for more than 20 hours, authorities said.

According to the Forest County Sheriff’s Department incident report, April Jones told deputies she had met the man on the internet, and that he had been picked up in Prairie du Chien and brought to a Wabeno house shared by the four defendants.

Authorities said the four defendants attacked the man based on a belief that he had inappropriately touched a child.

Under questioning, April Jones told deputies that the man was choked, had his head slammed against a wall, was kicked in the groin area while his legs were held apart, and beaten in other ways before he was left to sleep on the floor.

Jones told deputies the man tried to escape the following day by running out of the front door, but was then chased down and brought back inside the house.

Prosecutors said the man was left in the woods near Bug Lake because the defendants hoped he would be attacked by wolves.

While speaking with authorities, April Jones denied that children were present at the time the man was dropped off on Bug Lake Road, though she did concede that they had participated in the assault.

According to the report, a child in the Wabeno house told deputies that the last time they had seen the victim he was “bloody in the woods crying.”

Evan Reid’s e-mail address is ereid@ironmountaindailynews.com.