A Manitowoc man pleaded no contest May 6 to assaulting a woman on a walk in Kimberly, over 10 years after he was convicted of attacking a woman running on Newberry Trail in Appleton.
Milan Stewart, 28, was charged in April 2025 with stalking when previously convicted of a violent crime – a felony that carries up to three years in prison and three years’ extended supervision – as well as two misdemeanors: fourth-degree sexual assault and disorderly conduct.
Stewart pleaded no contest to all of the charges May 6, including a repeater enhancer on the stalking charge. He returns to court July 17 for sentencing and faces up to eight years in prison. The prosecution stipulated to capping their sentencing recommendation at five to seven years between incarceration and extended supervision.
Shortly after 8 p.m. April 16, 2025, a woman told Fox Valley Metro police she was taking a walk near her home in Kimberly when she felt someone grab her buttock, according to a criminal complaint. She said she screamed and ran, and when she turned around, she saw a man running away.
The man the woman described matched Stewart’s description, the complaint said. Stewart was taken into custody in Manitowoc County Jail on a probation hold shortly after the incident.
Surveillance cameras captured a vehicle Stewart was believed to be driving near the victim while she was walking on Maes Avenue in Kimberly, the complaint said. A man matching Stewart’s description got out of the vehicle, chased the woman from behind and grabbed her, the complaint said.
Nearly 10 years before the Kimberly assault, Stewart attacked a woman who was going for a run on Newberry Trail in Appleton. He pleaded no contest to second-degree recklessly endangering safety and strangulation and suffocation; charges of false imprisonment and substantial battery were dismissed through a plea agreement. Stewart also pleaded to felony bail jumping in a separate case.
On July 4, 2015, according to a criminal complaint, Stewart was riding a bicycle on Newberry Trail when he passed a woman on a run. He got off the bike, started following the woman from behind and put her in a chokehold when he reached her.
The woman said she could not breathe, lost consciousness and remembered falling over with Stewart on top of her, according to the complaint. When she woke up, Stewart was gone.
Between the trail attack case and Stewart’s bail jumping case, he was sentenced in May 2016 to a total of eight years in prison followed by eight years on extended supervision. In 2020, he was sentenced to an additional year in jail and three years of probation when a deferred prosecution agreement related to the 2015 assault case was revoked.
Stewart was released from prison onto extended supervision in June 2023, according to state records. He still has seven more years of extended supervision to complete from his sentence in the Newberry trail attack, according to discussion from the plea hearing.
Vivian Barrett is the public safety reporter for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. You can reach her at vmbarrett@usatodayco.com or (920) 431-8314.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Manitowoc man convicted in 2015 trail attack pleads to Kimberly assault
Reporting by Vivian Barrett, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Appleton Post-Crescent
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