By Shereen Siewert
WAUSAU — A Marathon County judge forfeited a cash bond paid by a former D.C. Everest teacher accused of tying up and sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl and remanded him to the Marathon County Jail after a motion hearing Tuesday, according to court records.
Peter Schmidt, of Mosinee, was free on a $5,000 cash bond when he was arrested in January on suspicion of drunken driving. Police say Schmidt was arrested after an officer allegedly observed him driving erratically in Rothschild. Officers said Schmidt had glassy eyes and smelled strongly of alcohol. They also discovered drug paraphernalia containing marijuana residue in Schmidt’s possession, according to the police report.
Schmidt was already facing charges of first degree sexual assault with a person younger than 16, using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, child enticement, false imprisonment, intimidating a victim/dissuade reporting, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia when he was arrested.
Additional, unrelated charges of disorderly conduct and bail jumping stemming from a December incident at The Office, a Schofield tavern, were also filed in January.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Circuit Judge Greg Huber ordered Schmidt’s cash bond forfeited, set a new bond of $150,000 and sent him to jail. He must now post the first $50,000 of his bond in cash in order to be released while his case is pending.
An investigation began in May after a now-15-year-old girl and her parents contacted Mosinee police. The alleged victim said that she met Schmidt, who used the name “Kyle,” on a social media app called Whisper in the summer of 2016. Soon after, the two began regularly communicating on both Whisper and Snapchat, Schmidt began telling the girl he wanted to have sex with her and “make her purr like a kitten,” according to the criminal complaint.
At one point, Schmidt bought the girl about $300 in makeup and left it under a tree in a park near where the girl worked, police said, and continued to ask her to meet for sex. Eventually, the girl agreed to meet Schmidt in person and on a Friday in August 2016 he picked her up and drove her to his home. There, police say, Schmidt tied the girl to his bedpost using neckties and sexually assaulted her. He was arrested in August 2018; criminal charges were filed Aug. 24.
Schmidt spent more than 28 years as a teacher in the D.C. Everest School District and taught at Riverside Elementary before his most recent role at the middle school. The alleged victim is not a D.C. Everest High School student.
Schmidt is no longer a teacher in the district.
A review hearing is set for April 8.
