Editor’s note: This article may contain disturbing content not suitable for children and/or those who are survivors of sexual or domestic violence.

A River Falls man has been charged with sexually assaulting a vulnerable adult.

William Wyatt Qualls, 28, was ordered to pay $1,500 cash bond Aug. 8 in St. Croix County Circuit Court on felony second degree sex assault/mentally ill victim and two felony second degree sexual assault/sex organ injury charges. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 40 years in prison and/or fines up to $100,000.

According to the complaint:

St. Croix Valley Sexual Assault Response Team (SART) informed police of a sexual assault that occurred May 10, 2023 in River Falls, after performing an exam on a woman at Hudson Hospital. The woman was a vulnerable adult.

The woman, whose mother described as having an intellectual disability with a fifth grade level of understanding, met a man online on a dating app. They had been talking on and off for over a year, but she told police she didn’t like how “sexual” he was. She agreed to meet with him at a River Falls coffee shop before getting into his vehicle. She thought they were going to a park, but they went to his house to play video games where he sexually assaulted her vaginally and anally after pressuring her to take of her pants and underwear.

After obtaining a search warrant, police searched Qualls’ townhouse, where they found hair from the woman in the bedroom. They also confiscated an iPhone, a shotgun, a cased .22 caliber rifle, drug paraphernalia, THC wax, a computer, a black handgun, and the victim’s hair from the floor beneath a clothes rack where she said she was assaulted.

During a physical exam, the doctor noted the woman’s anus had been torn in the assault. The woman’s family reported she was undergoing care for PTSD, flashbacks, anxiety, panic attacks and suicidal thoughts after the incident. She had been hospitalized for psychiatric care as well. A doctor determined the woman was not capable of making her own decisions.

Qualls is scheduled to appear at a preliminary hearing at 10 a.m. Sept. 13. He was previously charged on June 22, 2023 with felony second degree sex assault/mentally ill victim, but that charge was dismissed July 2 and charges refiled.