The staggering number of explicit text messages a Wisconsin elementary school teacher is accused of exchanging with an 11-year-old boy have been revealed.
Madison Bergmann, 24, sent as many as 33,000 racy text messages to the young boy earlier this year, school resource officer Traci Hall testified Monday during a preliminary hearing in St. Croix County Circuit Court. according to the New York Post.
Those text messages became more sexually explicit as conversations between Bergmann and the student continued, eventually becoming so X-rated that the teacher bowed her head in shame as they were read out in court.
Bergmann, who was dumped by her fiancé because of her abhorrent actions, now faces 10 charges, including first-degree child molestation, child seduction and multiple counts of sexual misconduct.
But her lawyers have argued that the charges should be dropped, claiming the text messages were not specific enough to prove they touched.
24-year-old Madison Bergmann is said to have sent no fewer than 33,000 spicy text messages to an 11-year-old boy earlier this year
A Wisconsin judge heard arguments Monday to determine whether the charges should be dropped, when prosecutor Karl Anderson read aloud some of the disturbing text messages.
He noted that the text messages between Bergmann and her student became even more explicit on April 27.
‘There is talk about the fact that the victim was hard and whether she felt that during the hug. Did she acknowledge that she felt it?’ Anderson asked Hall as she took the stand.
“Yes,” the school employee testified, according to the Post.
“What else did she say?” the prosecutor pressed.
“That she would wear dresses more often because she liked the way he touched her leg,” Hall replied.
“Does Ms. Bergmann ever respond to sexual arousal in the text messages?” continued the prosecutor.
“She’s talking about being wet in class,” Hall admitted as Bergmann looked down.
The text messages became so spicy that the former teacher hung her head in shame when they were read out in court on Monday. She is pictured at an earlier hearing
In other text messages previously made public in court, the boy allegedly wrote: “You touched my chest a lot.”
In another, Bergmann is said to have told the boy, “I love having my hand on your chest.” I felt your heart beating so much hahaha.’
The victim later reportedly responded, “Haha, it made sense so fast. I was so surprised and I loved it because you kept kissing me.”
Another time, Bergmann is said to have written: “When everyone was cleaning up after reading, I stood at the front and you too, and I touched your chest,” she is said to have written.
“When I grabbed your shirt and pulled you against me, oh my god…I want to lick your abs haha.”
Bergmann’s lawyers have maintained that she is being charged too much for her alleged actions
But Bergmann’s lawyers have insisted she is being overcharged for her alleged actions, arguing in court that the text messages alone are not enough to support five counts of sexual misconduct.
“There is never any language where she says, ‘I want to have sex with you,’ or where he says, ‘I want you to do this with me,’” attorney Joseph Tamburino said.
‘They talked a lot about kissing, about lips and cheeks and about touching legs. They also talk about some sexual issues, obviously about a woman’s body and a man’s body.
“But there’s nothing like ‘this is what I want you to do to me’ or ‘this is what I will do to you’.”
However, a judge ruled that the text messages were admissible as evidence of sexual misconduct.
“It is clear to me that the state has fulfilled its burden of finding probable cause that the suspect committed a crime,” the judge ruled. “Obviously the detective has established probable cause today.
“The case will certainly go to trial.”
Bergmann’s alleged sexual misconduct first came to light on April 29, after the young boy’s mother overheard a phone conversation between the teacher and the victim.
Bergmann’s alleged sexual misconduct first came to light on April 29, after the young boy’s mother overheard a phone conversation between the teacher and the victim. His father then confiscated his phone and discovered the sexually charged messages.
He allegedly saw a message in which Bergmann said to the boy “I just wanted to grab (his) face and push (him) to the ground and make out with (him),” according to a criminal complaint.
In another text she allegedly wrote: “I almost kissed you today when you were on the floor, but I was distracted by your stomach.”
The child’s father then turned over printed text messages between Bergmann and his son to law enforcement officers and administrators.
She was fired from her teaching role when she was taken into custody in April
It was later revealed that Bergmann allegedly moved the boy’s desk out of sight so she could rub his legs during class at River Crest Elementary.
During a subsequent interview with police, Bergmann allegedly told authorities that the victim’s mother gave her the student’s phone number after the family invited her to the Afton Alps, a ski resort, over winter break.
While searching Bergmann’s bag, officers found handwritten notes between the pair, stored in a folder with the victim’s name on it, charging documents say.
“In her notes, she tells him that she loves him, wants to kiss him, that he turns her on and that she is obsessed with him,” the complaint said.
In a letter, Bergmann reportedly wrote: ‘One of my cousins is in the fifth grade and I can’t imagine a man talking to her the way we talk. I know we have a special relationship and I love you more than anyone in the world, but I have to be the adult here and stop.”
Police also spoke with the little boy, who “made comments that he really liked her, trusted her, felt weird but also liked it,” the complaint said.
When asked about the text exchange between her and the student, Bergmann invoked her right to an attorney, the documents say. She was subsequently arrested and fired from her teaching role.
The ex-teacher was due to marry her partner Sam Hickman in July, but plans were scrapped due to what Hickman has described as ‘f***** up behaviour’ from his now ex-fiance.
It was later revealed that Bergmann allegedly moved the boy’s desk out of sight so she could rub his legs during class at River Crest Elementary.
The fifth-grader told investigators that Bergmann would rub his thighs and calves during independent reading time, according to a criminal complaint filed in St. Croix District Court.
The boy also told investigators that they had kissed several times in class since March, that Bergmann’s was his first kiss and that they would secretly fondle each other, according to charging documents.
The ex-teacher was due to marry her partner Sam Hickman in July, but plans were scrapped due to what Hickman has described as ‘f***** up behaviour’ from his now ex-fiance.
“It has been postponed indefinitely,” a friend of the couple told the newspaper New York Post.
‘He’s really, really hurt. Not talking about it too much, just like “this is f*****d up”. He’s still in shock.
“She not only cheated on him, but also with a small child.”
She has pleaded guilty to all charges and is expected to appear in court on October 7 for her preliminary hearing. Bergmann faces up to 178 years in prison if convicted.