Former Suring trustee, substitute teacher gets 25 years for sex with teen
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GREEN BAY – A Suring man accused of sexually assaulting a teen over a five-year period was sentenced Thursday in federal court to 25 years in prison.
At the time of his arrest in February 2021, John E. Fredenburgh, 37, was in his first year as a trustee on the Suring Village Board and had worked for about two months as substitute teacher for the Suring School District – while the victim was a student there – after working for human services departments in two area counties for a year.
“I look at what he could have been, versus the actions he took and why he did them,” U.S. District Court Judge William C. Griesbach said. “Those things, he did them out of selfishness, a disregard for the friendship and love and affection of others in the community, the trust that was placed in him."
“I want to send a very strong message that you cannot do this to a child,” he added.
The now 18-year-old victim said “the man I trusted like a second dad” began grooming her at age 8, then began having sex with her at age 12. She asked Griesbach to impose the maximum sentence.
“This man preyed on me for eight years, and the effects of what he did will last far, far longer,” she told the courtroom packed with more than 50 people, many of them her family and friends.
Fredenburgh was originally charged in March 2021 in Oconto County Circuit Court with two dozen felonies, most of them related to child sexual assault, over incidents from mid-2016 to early 2021.
He pleaded not guilty to all the state charges the following month, but in June was charged by the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin with two counts of traveling interstate with the intent to engage in a sexual act with a minor and one count charge of using a computer to entice a minor to engage in unlawful sexual activity.
One of the traveling charges occurred on Oct. 27, 2020, while the other two counts occurred on Jan. 22, 2021, the indictment states. Those incidents occurred at a motel in Menominee, Michigan, while she was ages 16 and 17, respectively.
As part of a plea agreement, Fredenburgh pleaded guilty to the child enticement charge – which carries of sentence of at least 10 years to life in prison – and one of the interstate travel counts, which has a maximum term of 30 years.
The other interstate travel charge was dismissed. The Oconto County District Attorney’s Office agreed to dismiss the state case as well as a second-degree sexual assault of a child charge that was filed after a second victim came forward regarding an incident when she was 14 years old in 2008.
Before the victim spoke, a friend, her pastor and several family members addressed Griesbach to describe how the assaults affected the girl and to criticize Fredenburgh.
“I feel sorry for all the people you manipulated over the years that thought you were a good man,” an aunt said.
“You clearly you were a smart man, who served his country and went to college, yet you chose to prey on young women and chose to victimize them,” the aunt added. “I feel sorry for your family that they though so highly of you, and believed you were innocent. … I feel sorry for your children, for them to have to go through all of this … because you’re a selfish monster.”
The victim’s mother said being blind to what Fredenburgh was doing to her daughter “will haunt us the rest of our lives.”
“During hard times, like every family has, he took it upon himself to take her in, gain her trust and take her innocence,” she said, adding, “I do hope they make an example of you.”
Her father said Fredenburgh was a friend to many in the community, and always had a smile on his face. He contended that Fredenburgh sought and won election to the village board “just to cover up what he had been doing.”
“I feel guilty every day that I couldn’t see the evil in this man,” he said.
The victim described how Fredenburgh groomed her, including driving her home when she was 11 when it was close enough for her to walk, and telling her that they would get married and move to California when she turned 18.
During a sleepover she attended at his house, she said she woke up to a Snapchat message that said now was her chance to meet him upstairs.
“It’s now or never and if you don’t come up now, you can’t come over anymore and be friends with my daughter,” she said the message stated.
The teen said she started crying before composing herself. She subsequently said she “found herself going up those stairs almost every weekend.”
She said Fredenburgh soon began giving her alcohol, and she began cutting herself at age 13. At one point, the school principal asked her about Fredenburgh, saying people had observed they were spending a lot of time together. They stopped being together in public, and he instructed her to deny everything if someone questioned her, she said.
At least once, Fredenburgh sneaked her in a bathroom window of his house to have sex with her, she said. Another time, she believed she was drugged.
Fredenburgh was later erratic, she said, once holding a gun to her head when she was 16. At one tryst when she was 17, said described him as acting paranoid.
“He told me he was going to end it once and for all. … He was going to shoot me and then himself,” she said, though his behavior improved when she started to call 911.
“Times like this made me afraid for my life if I ended things (with him),” she said. “He threatened to hurt me and my family.”
The teen said she lost her middle school and high school years, even quitting sports so she’d have more time to spend with Fredenburgh.
“Now I’m 18, and though my life should just be beginning, my whole life is on hold,” she said. “I stopped going to school because I can’t make it through a day without somebody making comments to me. … I no longer feel I belong in (Suring), and when I’m in public, I’m constantly alert and worried that I might run into members of his family or others who are convinced I am a liar. I can’t eat, can’t sleep, can’t focus.”
Fredenburgh addressed the court prior to being sentenced saying that “my actions, while horrible, were not intended to be malicious. I’m attempting to be the adult, even if it is too late. All I can do now is ask for forgiveness and accept the consequences for my actions.”
Fredenburgh said his goal was “to try to take responsibility and give apologies to all those I have hurt by my actions,” including the community and his family, saying his choices were very selfish and made without consideration of how it would affect them.
“But most importantly, I’m sorry to (the victim) and her family," he said. "Not only did I betray a sacred trust, but I also feel devastated for what I’ve done to (her) mental health. I can only hope this admission allows them to try to begin to obtain closure and help the long road to healing.”
The prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel R. Humble, requested a sentence of 320 months, which is more than 26½ years.
“Over half of her life was affected by the manipulations of the defendant,” he said.
Assistant Federal Defender Krista Halla-Valdes said cases with that amount of time usually involve trafficking or prostitution of the victims. She noted that Fredenburgh did not want to make things worse by fighting the charges, and recommended a sentence of 15 to 20 years.
“It’s not a slap on the wrist,” she said.
Griesbach said the federal sentencing guidelines in this case call for a prison term of 235 to 293 months, though they are not binding.
“The idea that he spared (her) is true, and I acknowledge that,” Griesbach said. “But I think he spared himself even more, because he didn’t want you to hear what you heard … from the witness stand under oath. And he could have demanded that today … if he was really challenging her account. But you heard his attorney say he didn’t want to challenge that. He doesn’t want to get on the stand and be cross examined. He let her tell you what happened.”
Griesbach said he found the victim’s recounting of her experience credible, and took time to address the belief by some of Fredenburgh’s family, citing letters to the court, that he was innocent.
“Why a young girl would describe the depravity … that he imposed on her, and that being a young girl didn’t realize what was going on, it makes no sense,” he said. “The idea that he would plead guilty to offenses that he did not commit is also absurd.”
“For those of you who believe that (the victim) is making this up — get a life," he said. "Use your head. She didn’t make this up, this is what he did. He lied to you, and he’s lying to you now.”
Griesbach also called it “sad” that Fredenburgh is only admitting in this case “the minimal amount he could get away with in hopes to convince you that he made a mistake,” as law enforcement obtained copies of hotel bills, text messages and sufficient other evidence that he couldn’t avoid criminal liability.
“Eight years is not a mistake … five years, however long this went on ... is not a mistake, it’s a lifestyle,” Griesbach said. “It’s a predatory lifestyle. That’s what he engaged in, and he did it to a young girl. He started with her when she was so young, so innocent."
Griesbach noted the victim, after she finally disclosed the abuse to her mother, didn’t want to turn him in to police.
“This isn’t the behavior of a vindictive person,” he said. “This is the behavior of someone who loved him, loved him even when he treated her like trash, and used her like you’d use a Kleenex to throw away. Think hard about what you think of this man … and look at … how he’s made the community look."
Griesbach called it a “horrible offense” because while one assault would be enough for a conviction, “we’re talking hundreds (of times) over a period of years, which compounds the magnitude of the offense."
While the circumstance of this case would frighten any parent, he said he didn’t know how the victim’s parents could blame themselves for trusting someone, including a friend “who’s even thought so highly of they elect him a trustee of your community.”
“I suppose we can all second guess ourselves,” Griesbach added. “The fact is Mr. Fredenburg played on people’s innocence, trust in community, and he played it for all it's worth, and he’s still playing it, and my suggestion is no one should let him get away with it. And certainly, the court can’t let him get away with it, because he has finally been brought to justice. Thanks to (the victim), he’s finally been brought to justice.”
Griesbach sentenced Fredenburgh to 180 months, which is 15 years, in prison on the interstate travel charge and a consecutive 120 months for the child enticement.
Griesbach also addressed the victim, saying that while the damage of what occurred is serious, the letters in her support and the courage she showed in addressing the court provide “a real hope, and a reason to be believe this is not irreparable, that you will recover from this, and you will grow stronger."
“Listen to those around you ... you have a life ahead of you, don’t throw in the towel, don’t believe this defines you,” he added. “This can make you the strongest person, you have so many lessons now you learned and you can help others. … You’ve already helped a great number of other people.”
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Contact Kent Tempus at (920) 431-8226 or ktempus@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Former Suring trustee, substitute teacher gets 25 years for sex with teen
