Wausau West High School Coach In Love With 15 Year Old Teen Girl
A Wausau West High School teacher and coach who faces charges of sexually assaulting one of his players told the girl that he loved her and wanted to be with her instead of his wife, gave her money and gifts, and bombarded her with phone calls, e-mails and text messages, according to a criminal complaint filed Tuesday.
The coach, Mitch King, 40, could be sentenced to 191 years in prison if convicted of the nine felony charges filed against him in Marathon County court. King teaches social studies at the high school. Police, who have not yet spoken to King about the allegations because he was out of town over the Christmas holiday, have talked with his attorney and expect King to appear in court today.
King was suspended from his varsity girls basketball coaching duties Thursday after police told school officials about a complaint lodged against him by the girl's mother, and he was suspended Tuesday from his teaching duties after prosecutors issued a warrant for his arrest.
The criminal complaint details nearly a year of interaction between King and the girl, who is 15. The girl's mother told police she thinks King has known the girl since she was in junior high school, and the girl said that he began pursuing a sexual relationship with her in January. King told her that he thought they should be together, the complaint says, and began touching her in a sexual manner when he was with her on a trip to Madison for a sporting event, in his classroom and in his car and his wife's car.
Ultimately, police say, King forced sex on the girl in a hotel room during a sports team trip to River Falls in May - 15-year-olds are not legally capable of consenting to sex under Wisconsin statutes. He subsequently did the same a month later at her home. Prosecutors here cannot charge King for the assault that took place in River Falls, but police plan to forward the results of their investigation to police there so they can pursue charges.
According to statements given to police on Christmas Eve day by the girl and her mother, and records of electronic messages between King and the girl, she repeatedly told him to stop pursuing her.
After King sent the girl a text message Dec. 22 saying, "Please just tell me that you don't love me and I will stop," the girl replied with a message that read, "I f------ never said I did."
The girl's mother had been told on separate occasions in the past year - once by a former boyfriend and once by a parent of one of the players - that people suspected there was an inappropriate relationship between King and the girl. And a school administrator met with King about two weeks ago to ask him about rumors that he was involved with the girl, said Berland Meyer, deputy superintendent of Wausau schools.
The girl's mother, who was not available Tuesday for comment, went to police last week after she checked her daughter's cell phone for text messages and found a series of messages from King. "Good luck today beautiful," read one message sent Dec. 19, according to police reports. "Please left me be your lover and coach. I can take you higher."
Like many text messages, King's messages were not always properly punctuated, and some contained misspellings.
Deputy Police Chief Jeff Hardel, whose daughter plays on the West team, said that police had obtained a number of items that show evidence of a sexual relationship between King and the girl. Among them are the girl's cell phone, which still holds some of the text messages, a handwritten note from King that contains sexually explicit language, CDs and a key to a sport utility vehicle owned by King. He also gave her about $1,000 in cash over some time.
King bought the SUV, the girl told police, after asking her what her favorite vehicle was. She had said she liked black Denalis with leather interiors and chrome rims. About two months later, King bought a black Denali with a leather interior and chrome rims. He told the girl it was for her, gave her a key and said he would wait to give it to her to avoid arousing suspicion, the criminal complaint says.
The girl told police that she had not told anyone about the relationship with King, whose daughter also plays on the team.
As players filed out of practice Tuesday at Wausau West they said they were told by their interim coach, George Waldvogel, and school officials not to talk about the allegations. Waldvogel, however, did allow his daughter, team captain Amanda Waldvogel, 17, to say a few words about how the team is coping with the allegations.
"We are just going day in and day out practicing like we normally do," Amanda Waldvogel said. "Yes, we know what's going on. I think everyone has focused - like there's nothing that's out on the court. We're all going to stick together. No one has complained about it, but we're all fine. We're fine. We have become closer because of this."
George Waldvogel said King is a good friend of his and that he was going to support him while also trying to lead the team through a difficult time.
"It's a sad situation," he said. "We have to deal with this and move on. We've got basketball to play and we're going to drive on and move forward."
Hardel said that Detective Jeff Strobach, the lead investigator, continues to gather information about the case.
"There is still an awful lot of loose ends that have to be tied," Hardel said. "There are a number of investigative leads that have to be continued and so there's still an awful lot of work for our detectives."
Police and school district officials are cooperating in their separate investigations into the matter, and district officials will confer today with the school district's attorney to find out if they can stop paying King, who currently is on paid leave, because of the serious nature of the allegations.
Phone messages left Friday, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday by the Daily Herald at King's home have not been returned. A message left by the Daily Herald on King's cell phone Tuesday also was not returned. Jim Connell, King's attorney, did not return a phone message left Tuesday at his office.
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Originally Posted by RuKus
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