By Shereen Siewert
A former Wausau and D.C. Everest substitute teacher already facing enticement charges in Marathon County will face additional charges in Langlade County after he allegedly met a teen at an Antigo hotel for sexual contact.
David Faulkner, 50, will be summoned into Langlade County Circuit Court on Jan. 11 to face four counts of child enticement and four counts of having intercourse with a child older than 16, offenses that allegedly happened earlier this year.
David Faulkner, who was also the senior pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church and School in Marshfield, was the subject of a Wausau police investigation that began in August when a 26-year-old man reported that Faulkner disclosed he used his position as a substitute teacher to “meet freshly 18-year-old” men and was in a relationship with a younger man.
Police on Aug. 24 interviewed Faulkner, who acknowledged making the remark but said the statement wasn’t serious, according to an August Wausau Police Department news release.
Faulkner denied any inappropriate relationships through his substitute teaching or pastoral work and said the younger man he was seeing was a “friend” he met on the social media networking application Grindr, a dating app for gay, bisexual and transgender people.
That information led police to an Aug. 26 interview of an 18-year-old Antigo man who told police he met Faulkner when he was 17 and the two engaged in sexual activity, though Faulkner allegedly did not ask about his age. The Antigo man also told police Faulkner supplied him with marijuana vaping cartridges.
Then on Aug. 28, investigators arrested Faulkner at his home on Wausau’s northeast side and transported him to the Marathon County Jail to await formal charges. He is expected to face charges of child enticement, sexual intercourse with a child age 16 or older and delivery of marijuana.
School officials in Wausau confirmed Faulkner worked intermittently as a substitute teacher since August 2016 and in the D.C. Everest district since January 2012. Both districts conducted a criminal background check and reference check before hiring Faulkner.
Both districts conducted a criminal background check and completed a thorough reference check at the time Faulkner was hired, White said. He has since been removed from each district’s substitute teaching roster, and the matter has been referred to the Dept. of Public Instruction for license revocation review.
DPI records show Faulkner’s short-term substitute teaching license, which does not expire until June 2022, is now under review.
The teen Faulkner allegedly met at the Antigo hotel was a high school student, police said.
A tentative plea date for Faulkner’s Marathon County case is set for Feb. 15. Faulkner remains free on bond.
