Former Green Bay teacher convicted of sexually assaulting students sentenced to 50 years
GREEN BAY ― Former Green Bay School District teacher David Villareal was sentenced to 50 years in prison Friday for sexually abusing four of his former second-grade students between 2015 and 2016.
Given Villareal is 48 years old, it's effectively a life sentence, according to Brown County Circuit Court Judge Donald Zuidmulder.
Villareal was a second-grade teacher at Baird Elementary School, and the girls were about 7 or 8 years old at the time of the abuse.
He was convicted in April of four counts of felony child sexual assault, but still maintains his innocence. Zuidmulder said in court that Villareal has previously indicated that he might appeal the conviction.
More: Trial of former Baird Elementary teacher charged with 5 counts of child sexual assault starts Monday
Because Villareal maintains his innocence, that likely means he'd offend again, Zuidmulder said.
"If I let you walk out of my courtroom tomorrow, you'd do the same thing. That's what that points to," he said. "I consider you to be very dangerous."
One of the victims and her family were at the sentencing. Villareal had touched the girl's buttocks every day at Baird Elementary's running club during the 2015-16 school year.
"My daughter had been permanently impacted by the actions of someone she was supposed to trust," the mother said in court. "We will never know what (she) was going to be and the type of person she would be in her future because David took that from her. He stole her innocence. He made her more anxious and negative and shattered her ability to trust others."
Probation agents who spoke with Villareal during the presentencing investigation wrote in the report that Villareal was taking no responsibility for the abuse, according to Brown County Deputy District Attorney Wendy Lemkuil.
"This is an individual who is not facing what he's done, not facing that he's wrong," she said in court.
Villareal did not speak at the sentencing. He walked out of the courtroom in handcuffs with a blank expression.
More about the April trial and charges:
In April's jury trial, Lemkuil called 18 witnesses, including the four victims. The defense only called Villareal.
During his testimony, Villareal denied inappropriately touching any of his students, saying there is a conspiracy against him.
Originally charged with five counts, Lemkuil dropped one of the charges shortly before trial because one victim couldn't be present to testify.
The trial had been delayed multiple times, partly due to Villareal's struggle to secure and maintain counsel.
Villareal was a bilingual teacher at Baird, where he mainly taught second grade from 2014 until April 2021 when he was arrested for sexually assaulting three of his former students.
In March 2021, he was accused of pinching and squeezing one of his student's buttocks every day between September 2015 and May 2016.
In that same school year, Villareal also touched the genitals of another second-grade student on the outside of her pants when she went up to ask him a question at his desk.
After Villareal's arrest in 2021, two more students came forward saying he sexually assaulted them during the 2015-16 school year.
One of these students said that he cornered her in a classroom closet, pushed her up against a wall and rubbed his groin against her chest. When she tried to leave, Villareal pushed her back into the closet multiple times.
The other student who came forward after Villareal's arrest told police that he would grab her buttocks every day at the after-school running club at Baird Elementary.
Villareal resigned from the district in April 2021, shortly after his arrest.
Danielle DuClos is a Report for America corps member who covers K-12 education for the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at dduclos@gannett.com. Follow on Twitter @danielle_duclos. You can directly support her work with a tax-deductible donation at GreenBayPressGazette.com/RFA or by check made out to The GroundTruth Project with subject line Report for America Green Bay Press Gazette Campaign. Address: The GroundTruth Project, Lockbox Services, 9450 SW Gemini Drive, PMB 46837, Beaverton, Oregon 97008-7105.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Former Green Bay teacher sentenced to 50 years in sexual assault case
