WARNING: This story contains material that some viewers may find disturbing due to its graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.
MILWAUKEE — Held captive and abused, two Milwaukee teenagers were left disfigured after prosecutors said a trio of men sexually and physically abused them.
Antwan Alexander, 28, Wesley Brechlin, 22, and Jarmon Turner, 21, each face the following charges:
- Mayhem, as party to a crime — two counts
- Child abuse — high probability/great harm, as party to a crime — two counts
- Sexual intercourse with a child 16 or older, actor 19 or older — two counts
Jarmon Turner, Antwan Alexander
According to prosecutors, the victims, two 16-year-old girls, said they were sexually assaulted by the men at an abandoned home. They said they were then taken to a different home — where prosecutors said they were burned with hot knives and threatened with a gun.
Neighbors condemned the actions prosecutors said happened there.
“I see people going in and out of that house,” said Peggy McMurray. “There shouldn’t be anyone there.”
McMurray said she wishes she could have stopped it.
“I could have let them know there shouldn’t be anyone there in that house,” she said. “I can’t get them kids out of my mind.”
According to a criminal complaint, the victims identified the suspects as “Country” (Wesley Brechlin), “Leon” (Antwan Alexander) and “JT” (Jarmon Turner).
The girls said after they were sexually assaulted near 24th and Chambers, in the early morning hours of Jan. 25, the men took them to a home near 7th and Galena — where one victim said “Leon” (Alexander) burned them after “heating up a knife from the stove.” She said “Country” (Brechlin) blocked the door. She then said “Country” (Brechlin) also burned her, and “Leon” (Alexander) threatened them with a gun. She said “Leon” (Alexander) rubbed salt into the burns and “JT” (Turner) poured lemon juice into them.
The second victim said “Leon” (Alexander) burned her and “Country” (Brechlin) held her down. She said at one point, “Country” (Brechlin) stuffed the other victim’s tank top in her mouth to prevent her from screaming. She said “Leon” (Alexander) poured salt into the burns and “JT” (Turner) poured lemon juice into them.
According to the complaint, at one point, Alexander “pulled the skin off of their legs,” and with the girls screaming and crying, threatened them with the gun, telling them they were being too loud.
The complaint said one victim suffered 11 burns, and the other two deep burns.
According to prosecutors, Brechlin called the girls, “little trap (expletive)” and “admitted to hitting them upside the head.” He also admitted to “consensual sex” with the victims.
Alexander made his initial court appearance Saturday, Jan. 16. Probable cause was found for further proceedings, and a preliminary hearing was scheduled for March 26. Cash bond was set at $50,000.
“Looking at this case in particular, with the need to protect the public, these are very serious charges,” said the court commissioner. “The defendant is facing — if you add up each count individually — over 100 years, essentially, in prison.”
Online court records show an arrest warrant was issued for Brechlin on March 15.
