The person arrested and charged alongside Morgan Geyser’s escape from a Wisconsin group home is Chad “Charly” Mecca, a close friend of the woman charged in the 2014 Slender Man stabbing.
Mecca, 43, and Geyser, 23, were arrested at an Illinois truck stop on Nov. 23 after Geyser left Madison group home YoYo Quality Care, where she fled the day before after cutting off her Department of Corrections monitoring bracelet. Mecca told Madison TV station WKOW the escape was a way to keep Geyser safe.
In that interview, Mecca, who goes by Charly, said the two met in church. They developed a strong relationship, and, over time, Mecca was cleared to meet with Geyser at her group home. The two would meet almost daily, Mecca said.
Mecca’s visitation rights were going to be removed, prompting Geyser to want to flee, Mecca said. Mecca was unaware of that until after the two fled, according to WKOW.
“I was scared and I was nervous, and I still chose to (flee with her) for my friend, who I knew wasn’t going to make it on her own,” Mecca told WKOW.
The two were arrested after a person called police when they were found loitering behind a truck stop in Posen, Illinois.
Posen police told Chicago media that Geyser initially resisted identifying herself, telling them she had “done something really bad.” Posen Police Chief William Alexander told Chicago’s ABC7 that Geyser asked if she could say a “final goodbye” to Mecca.
“Because she knew she was never going to see this person again,” Alexander told ABC7.
Geyser is expected to be extradited to Wisconsin.
After that occurs, Dane County prosecutors will decide whether to charge her with escaping and disconnecting her monitor, since those alleged crimes took place in Madison. Dane County District Attorney’s office said on Nov. 24 that charges had not yet been referred to its office from Madison police. Escaping custody is a felony in Wisconsin.
Mecca was charged under the legal name Chad Mecca and faces criminal trespassing and obstructing identification charges, but those records were sealed by an Illinois judge, a clerk of courts spokesperson told the Journal Sentinel. Mecca was released from custody, Posen police told Chicago media.
Geyser’s attempted escape came about 11 years after she and Anissa Weier stabbed a classmate in the Waukesha woods. The two, who were both 12 at the time, said they believed they were appeasing Slender Man, a fictional online figure. They were found not guilty by reason of mental defect or disease in 2017 and sentenced to mental confinement, Weier for 25 years, and Geyser for 40 years.
Waukesha County Circuit Judge Michael Bohren granted Geyser conditional release earlier this year after he said he saw no risk to the public in her release.
This story has been updated to include new information.
David Clarey is a public safety reporter at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached at dclarey@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Chad Mecca, 43, arrested alongside Morgan Geyser in Illinois
Reporting by David Clarey, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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