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Less than four months after he reached a cushy plea deal with Jefferson County District Attorney Susan Happ's office in a controversial sexual assault case, criminal defense attorney Daniel Fay donated $750 to her campaign for attorney general.

Family members for the victim this week called on Happ to return the cash, saying the contribution was inappropriate given that the assault case has not yet closed.

Josh Lease, campaign manager for Happ, responded by saying the Democratic candidate would not keep the Fay donation. She is running against Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel, a Republican.

"There was nothing improper about that contribution, but to eliminate any question, the campaign is donating the $750 to the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault," Lease said in a statement.

He noted that Schimel had done the same in March with a $500 donation from former Assembly Majority Leader Bill Kramer, who is now facing two felony counts of sexual assault.

Earlier this month, Happ came under fire from conservatives because her office gave a favorable plea agreement in a child sexual assault case to Daniel J. Reynolds, with whom Happ and her husband had previously done a real estate deal.

Reynolds, 36, received a deferred prosecution agreement fromJefferson County prosecutors after being charged with felony counts of first-degree and second-degree sexual assaults of a child. Under the deal, Reynolds' offense would be reduced to a disorderly conduct violation if he stays out of trouble for 12 months and completes other requirements.

Records show Happ and her husband sold a piece of property to Reynolds under a $180,000 land contract that was executed in 2009 and paid off three years later.

Happ's campaign has said she was not involved directly in the case, referring it instead to an assistant district attorney. The deferred prosecution agreement was reached in March.

On July 2, records show, Fay, who represented Reynolds in the case, donated $750 to Happ's campaign.

Told of the contribution, two members of the victim's family said Happ should not keep the money.

"Obviously, there's a connection," said the victim's sister, who is divorced from Reynolds. "I don't think it's right."

Said the victim's brother: "I was unaware of that. With everything that's going on, it looks very bad."

But Fay said he did nothing wrong. He said he likes both Happ and Schimel and has given to both. He chipped in $425 to Schimel's AG's campaign in 2013. Fay said he gave him $1,000 in an earlier contest to be Waukesha County's top cop.

Fay said his client got a light sentence only because the case fell apart. He accused the victim of fabricating her story of abuse.

"How the hell would I know why she's making this up?" Fay said. "There was a custody fight going on with her sister."

The victim's sister said this week that the allegation is just not true. There was no custody battle, she maintained. She said she brought the matter to authorities when she first heard about the abuse.

The criminal complaint charged Reynolds with one count of first-degree sexual assault for touching and kissing the victim -- now 25 -- when she was visiting him and her sister while in fifth grade. He was charged with second-degree sexual assault for another incident in which he was accused of making out with the sister, touching her breasts and forcing her to touch his penis when she was several years older.

The complaint said the assaults became "a daily occurrence."

Happ has largely kept silent on the matter.

But she went on the left-leaning Devil's Advocates program on Madison radio earlier this week to defend her actions in the case. She said the issue was a matter of small-town politics.

"When you have a district attorney's office, especially in a smaller county like Jefferson County, you're going to have interaction with people who you know, on a personal level," Happ said. "So you need to recognize those relationships, you need to screen yourself off so that you're not involved, so that people can have confidence that the case is handled appropriately.'"

What is clear is that Fay continues to have frequent interaction with Happ and Schimel's offices.

Records show that he has three open criminal cases in Jefferson County and more than 20 in Waukesha County. Waukesha County is more than four times larger than Jefferson County in population.