FILE-Image of an empty classroom. (Photo by Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images)
HUDSON, Wisc. (FOX 9) - An elementary school teacher in Hudson, Wisconsin is facing child sex assault charges after being accused of having an inappropriate relationship with one of her students.
Madison Bergmann, 24, of St. Paul, is charged with first-degree sexual assault of a child under 13 years old. Police say the victim is one of her students, an 11-year-old boy in fifth grade at River Crest Elementary School. The school district said she was placed on administrative leave on May 1.
Bergmann is accused of touching and kissing the victim while at school, sending him explicit text messages and passing him handwritten flirtatious notes.
The criminal complaint filed in St. Croix County states that the victim’s mother caught him talking on the phone with Bergmann on Monday, April 29. She then talked to her son about "crossing boundaries" and emailed Bergmann asking her to stop talking to the victim outside of school.
The victim’s father then discovered text message conversations between the boy and Bergmann, which the parents reported to school authorities, who then called the police.
The criminal complaint details several text messages between Bergmann and the victim. The messages reportedly show Bergmann saying she wanted to kiss the boy during class and referring to times they touched each other.
When police asked Bergmann about the communication between her and the boy, she said it began when she was invited on a ski trip with the boy’s family at Afton Alps over winter break in 2023. She stated she got the boy’s cell phone at the time "in case they somehow got separated in the ski hills," and admitted he called her four to five times "for no particular reason."
The complaint states that once the subject of text messages came up, she "asserted her right to counsel and the interview stopped." She was then arrested.
While being interviewed by police, the boy said there were times that Bergmann touched his hand and leg during class when he sat next to her near her desk. The boy said he had also touched her hair, back and leg with his hand, believing none of the other students would see it.
The boy also told police that the two kissed after she told him to stay after class when the bell rang. There was reportedly more kissing in the classroom since March, often happening after class or during lunch, according to the complaint.
When asked how he felt about Bergmann and the situation, the complaint states he "made comments about really liking her, trusting her, feeling weird but also liking it."
Police then collected handwritten notes between Bergmann and the boy where she says she "loves" him and is "obsessed with him."
The criminal complaint states the notes also show Bergmann saying to the victim "One of my cousins is in the 5th grade and I can't imagine a man talking to her how we talk. I know we have a special relationship and I do love you more than anyone in the world but I have to be the adult here and stop."
Bergmann’s next court appearance is set for the morning of May 30.