Judge sentences former firefighter accused of assault

CUDAHY (WITI) — A Milwaukee County judge sentenced Robert Shimeta on Friday, June 28th to nine months in jail, ordered him to pay a $2,500 fine, serve 500 hours of community service, and register as a sex offender.

Shimeta is the former Cudahy firefighter of 18 years who pleaded no contest to sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl. He was charged with second degree sexual assault of a child.

Judge David Borowski made it obvious on Friday how he felt about Shimeta -- and the crime to which he admitted.

"Because you've embarrassed your community, because you've embarrassed firefighters, because you embarrassed your children," said Judge Borowski. "Something, somewhere is wrong, Mr. Shemeta, with you. And that's despite your 25 years as a firefighter. That's despite you raising a good family. That`s despite you being a productive member of society."

Those statements came after statements on Shimeta's behalf by his ex-wife, more than a dozen letters written by members of the community, and an apology directly from Shimeta himself.

"I'm in counseling to try to figure out why this all happened," said Shimeta.

The mother of the victim in this case asked for a harsher punishment based on what this has done to her family.

"This is so emotional. I would have never dreamed the impact this would have on my daughters, myself, my entire family," said the mother.

Judge Borowski said prison time wasn't necessary in this case. But he stressed, that does not take away from just how serious Shimeta's actions were.

The judge also indicated Shimeta is not to have any contact with the victim or her family. He's also not to have any contact with children under the age of 16 -- with the exception of adult-supervised visits of his own grandchildren and other young family members.