Abigail Faust, 25, confessed in court Monday to sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy she babysat in Washington County, Wisconsin.
The former River Crest Elementary School teacher entered her plea as part of a deal with prosecutors, who agreed to drop a separate charge alleging she kissed a fifth-grade student in her classroom last year. Faust is being held in jail pending sentencing on Dec. 15, and prosecutors have promised not to seek more than 15 years in prison.
Faust’s arrest came during the investigation of her colleague Madison Bergmann, 26, another River Crest Elementary teacher who is now serving a six-year sentence for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old student. Police discovered the two teachers had been texting each other about their abuse.
Bergmann pleaded guilty last year to two counts of sexual misconduct by school staff and one count of child enticement. The boy’s parents had found lewd text conversations between Bergmann and their son on his phone.
In court Monday, Faust addressed her actions directly.
“What I did was not a mistake or a lapse of judgment,” she said, according to the Twin Cities Pioneer Press. She added that she is seeing a therapist.
The back-to-back scandals have shaken Hudson, the small Wisconsin town where both women taught at the same elementary school. River Crest Elementary, part of the Hudson School District, now faces questions about how two teachers in close proximity were able to carry out separate abuse schemes involving young students.
Faust’s babysitting arrangement in Washington County provided access to the 15-year-old victim outside school hours. The second case, involving the alleged classroom kiss with a fifth-grader, was filed last year but will be dismissed under her plea agreement.
Bergmann, 26, is currently incarcerated after her guilty plea. Her case drew attention when the victim’s parents discovered explicit messages on their son’s device, leading investigators to the teacher.
The Faust sentencing hearing is scheduled for Dec. 15 in St. Croix County.