Dodge Center man sent to prison for sex abuse case

William Patrick Wyttenback, of Dodge Center, spent his 55th birthday in a Dodge County courtroom, where he was sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexually assaulting a child.
A jury convicted him in March of one count each of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and third-degree criminal sexual conduct. He was found not guilty of a second count of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.
District Court Judge Debra Groehler handed down concurrent terms of 360 months and 140 months, with credit for 553 days already served.
Wyttenback must serve at least two-thirds of the longest sentence, or about 20 years. His time served knocks about two more years off that time, leaving him with a term of about 18 years to serve.
Wyttenback was formally charged in December 2024; he remained in custody in lieu of $250,000 conditional bond since his arrest Oct. 31, 2024.
Change 
of venue
In March 2025, he demanded a jury trial; the case was scheduled for trial several times in the past year.
In January, jury selection finally started; the next day, the identity of two potential jurors was “leaked” to one of the prosecution’s witnesses.
The witness claimed a victim’s advocate told her the names; the victim’s advocate denied the claim.
On Feb. 9, the proceedings for a jury trial began in Mantorville a second time.
During jury selection, a potential juror said he and other jurors “shared his opinion that it was not possible for (Wyttenback) to receive a fair trial in Dodge County,” the defense said in its motion for a change of venue.
Another juror said Wyttenback’s “ex-wife was talking about the case to other people in the community,” and that information about the case was “all over Facebook.”
In her ruling about the change of venue, Groehler wrote that she has “no confidence in these potential jurors’ ability to refrain from discussing the case with others in Dodge County.”
This, she wrote, “combined with what occurred during the January trial setting, causes the Court to find that a fair and impartial trial cannot be ensured in Dodge County.”
The proceedings remained in the Third Judicial District, but were moved to Austin.
The charges
Criminal charges were filed after MNPrairie interviewed the victim in the case in December 2024.
According to the criminal complaint, the victim said Wyttenback engaged in sexual activity with her for more than two years, including oral, digital and genital penetration.
The first alleged assault occurred when both were camping in July 2022; the girl said she was awakened by Wyttenback touching her genitals under her clothing, which included penetration, the complaint says.
The girl said she confronted him the next morning; Wyttenback allegedly replied that “he didn’t know what he did, but if he did, then he did, and if he didn’t, then he didn’t.”
He also reportedly told her if she told her mother, he would go to jail.
The victim went on to say that Wyttenback had her touch his genitals and perform oral sex on him, court documents say.
The documents also outline the girl’s claims of sexual intercourse with Wyttenback, always without protection.
During the interview with MNPrairie, the alleged victim also said Wyttenback used a sex toy on her. She estimated the sexual contact occurred 20 times, the complaint says.
Previous case
Wyttenback was first arrested Oct. 31, 2024, when he was accused of multiple instances of child abuse.
In that case, he waived a jury trial, opting instead to have Groehler hear the evidence. She did, and on Dec. 23, 2025, found him guilty of two counts of terroristic threats; two counts of third-degree assault, past pattern of child abuse; and one count of domestic assault by strangulation, all felonies.
He was also convicted of one count of gross misdemeanor malicious punishment of a child, and two counts of misdemeanor domestic assault.
A single felony count of third-degree assault, past pattern of child abuse, was dismissed.
He was sentenced in April to 28 months in prison.
In that case, video footage from inside Wyttenback’s own home revealed him saying he would beat two children with a belt until they were no longer breathing; told the oldest child — who was under the age of 12 — to stop what they were doing or they would be breathing through a tube; and also told that child, “your last day is on my list,” the court documents say.
Later, that child can be seen lying on the floor, crying. When Wyttenback stands up from the couch, the child begins crawling backwards, seemingly afraid.
Wyttenback grabs the victim by the hair and drags them, uses a wooden object to hit the child multiple times, then picks the child up by the neck.
That’s when the younger child tells Wyttenback not to choke the victim, so Wyttenback throws the wooden object at that child and says, “you’re next.”
The older child is then thrown to the floor; when they stand up, Wyttenback shoves the child and “bends (their) wrist to an extreme,” the documents say.
Assistant County Attorney Kailee Thompson wrote that Wyttenback blamed the victims “when he was arrested and continues to blame them for his own actions,” and that he “turned their lives into a living hell.”