LACROSSE, Wis. – A La Crosse man accused of attacking an 82-year-old woman in her home was ordered held in lieu of $500,000 bail. Judge Elliott Levine set the bail after formally advising Christopher Ballog Pierce of the charges against him — attempted kidnapping, burglary and battery. The charges were elevated because the victim was elderly. The criminal complaint alleged that the woman, asleep in her South Side house, woke up to a naked man choking her. She said she thought the man was going to kill her. The complaint related these details: The woman managed to get the man off her and flee. The man then chased and tackled her as she ran to toward a neighbor’s house. Again she got away. “God gave me strength,” she said. She called 911 from the neighbor’s house. When officers arrived she was back home. They found a man’s underwear and socks. When arrested, Ballog Pierce wearing pants but no shirt nor socks nor underwear. The complaint quoted him that he had had too much to drink, blacked out, and couldn’t remember anything.
Ballog Pierce. Claims no memory.