By Shereen Siewert
WAUSAU — A 57-year-old former D.C. Everest Middle School science teacher accused of tying up and sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl is again in hot water, this time facing felony charges of battery or making threats to a judge, prosecutor, or law enforcement officer.
Peter Schmidt, of Mosinee, is also facing seven counts of bail jumping. The latest charges were filed Jan. 8 in Marathon County Circuit Court.
Schmidt had been free on a $1,000 cash bond since June, according to online court documents.
In the latest incident, Schmidt allegedly threatened a Marathon County Sheriff’s deputy who arrested Schmidt on bail jumping charges after discovering him in a tavern, which is against Schmidt’s bond conditions. Schmidt, while in the back of a squad car, allegedly told the deputy to pull over, take off his uniform and “settle it like men.”
“I’ll knock you out like a little (expletive),” Schmidt allegedly told the deputy.
This is the fourth time Schmidt has broken bond since his August 2018 arrest on child sex charges. In January 2019, Schmidt was booked on third offense drunken driving charges, along with charges of possessing dug paraphernalia and bail jumping. He was also charged with disorderly conduct and bail jumping in a case unrelated to the drunken driving incident, court records show.
Then in June, Schmidt was charged again, this time with possession of marijuana and three counts of bail jumping.
Schmidt is 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.
An investigation began in May 2018 after a girl and her parents contacted Mosinee police. The alleged victim told police 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.
None of the cases filed against Schmidt, including the sexual assault case, have yet concluded.
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.
On the day the charges became public, Everest Superintendent Kristine Gilmore issued a statement to parents explaining that although the child involved was not a student in the district, staff took immediate action and is cooperating fully with the investigation.
“The safety of our students is our first priority,” Gilmore said in August 2018.
At an initial appearance Wednesday, Circuit Judge LaMont Jacobson ordered Schmidt held on a $7,500 cash bond.
Schmidt’s next appearance is Feb. 4.
