Deal discussed in Prairie du Chien case of suspected Venezuelan gang member

A plea deal may be in the works for a suspected Venezuelan gang member arrested in Prairie du Chien last fall.  

Alejandro Coronel-Zarate has three felony and three misdemeanor charges against him after his arrest last September.  The felonies involve 2^nd Degree Sexual Assault, Child Abuse and Strangulation and Suffocation.  

During an argument, he choked the woman he was staying with according to the criminal complaint. The woman’s daughter was hurt when she tried to intervene.  The woman said she was also sexually assaulted by Coronel-Zarate.

He’s currently in the Dodge Correctional Institution in Waupun. In April, a Dane County Judge sentenced him to one year in prison after he pleaded guilty to charges of false imprisonment and disorderly conduct.  

In Monday’s Crawford County hearing, online court records show that his attorney, Michelle Marie Dietrich, said there’s a plea offer that her client will likely accept, but that she needed to discuss it with him first.  

Crawford County Judge Lukas Steiner set a court hearing for July 14 to see if the matter is resolved.  

Prairie du Chien Police Chief Kyle Teynor, last fall, said that Coronel-Zarate is suspected of being affiliated with Tren de Aragua, what he called a transnational criminal organization.