Two Barron County men sentenced for molesting children

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Two men were sentenced in Barron County yesterday for molesting children in separate incidents years ago.

Angel Toro, 57, a former Methodist pastor in Rice Lake, got 18 months in prison and three years probation.

Dale Soppe, 72, a former teacher, was given 60 days in jail and two years’ probation.

Authorities said Toro and a 17-year-old boy repaired a church fence in 1987. The pastor then bought beer for the teen and had sexual contact with him over the next several days.

Soppe began to molest a 13-year-old boy in 1968 in an Iowa school and it continued the following year in Barron County.

Soppe later wrote two books and left teaching to become a therapist. He also studied for the priesthood for several years.

Tags: wisconsin, news, barron, child, abuse, cases