Jury convicts former Baird Elementary School teacher David Villareal on all 4 counts of sexual assault
GREEN BAY ― A Brown County jury on Wednesday found former Green Bay School District teacher David Villareal guilty of all four counts of child sexual assault he was charged with for sexually touching four of his former students at Baird Elementary.
The jury deliberated for about an hour before reaching a verdict that was read shortly before 1:30 p.m. Wednesday in Brown County Circuit Court.
Villareal's family and friends cried and hugged one another after he was taken into custody. Villareal had no visible reaction to the verdict.
The parents of the student victims were crying as they exited the courtroom.
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The 48-year-old was convicted of sexually touching four female students between 2015 and 2016. The girls were about 7 or 8 years old at the time.
The Brown County District Attorney's Office called 18 witnesses while the defense called only one: Villareal himself ― something the state said strengthened its case.
Victims and their families were present during closing arguments, and about 18 family and friends were sitting behind Villareal for support.
Villareal's supporters brought signs, which had to be removed from the courtroom. One said, "We love you Mr. Villareal."
Brown County Deputy District Attorney Wendy Lemkuil declined to comment on the case until after sentencing, which is scheduled for July.
Villareal's attorney, Kirk Obear, also declined to comment on the verdict.
Green Bay School District spokesperson Lori Blakeslee declined to comment on Villareal's conviction or how Villareal continued to teach despite teachers and school personnel seeing warning signs of his behavior.
Prosecution said students are finally using their voices; defense argues the investigative process has skewed benign things.
Lemkuil argued that the students who came forward did so years later when they realized the touching was inappropriate.
"They came before you as 15- and 16-year-old-women who are ready to use their voice and stand up for what happened to them," Lemkuil said.
One of the key elements the state had to prove was that the touching was for sexual gratification, which Lemkuil argued was the case.
The defense argued in closing arguments Wednesday morning that incidents that were thought of as benign at the time are now being seen in a different light because of the investigation.
Obear asked the jury to focus on the burden of proof of beyond a reasonable doubt. He did not tell the jury that the students were lying or that because they're children, they shouldn't be believed.
But he cautioned that society's view toward sexual assault has changed through the "Me Too" movement. He said it's led to a remedying of the past when victims of sexual assault were less likely to be believed.
While that's not a bad thing, it isn't something to rely on in the case, he said.
He also told the jury not to make its decision based on the emotions of the witnesses or just "in case" the touching happened.
"No one would ever want you to render a verdict for what we call a 'just-in-case situation,'" Obear said. "That would not be justice."
Villareal testified on the stand that he never inappropriately touched any of his students, saying that the four child victims who testified in the case were not telling the truth.
"I believe that there's quite a bit of conspiracy against me," Villareal said.
The state called 18 witnesses, including the 4 child victims.
Lemkuil called the four victims to testify about the sexual abuse over the first two days of the trial.
The students, who were 7 or 8 years old at the time of the abuse, are all now 15 years old.
The first student to take the stand broke down crying during her testimony, causing the court to take a recess. She detailed how Villareal would touch her on her buttocks "almost every day," and it wasn't until she told a family friend about it years later that she realized it was abuse.
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The state called the three other child victims as well as teachers at Baird Elementary who worked with Villareal and the parents of some former students.
A teacher who used to work with Villareal testified that even back in 2015 and 2016, she observed concerning behavior with Villareal. A parent of a former student also testified that she made a complaint to the school's principal six years ago about an incident with Villareal and her daughter that she found inappropriate.
Baird's school resource officer Scott Asplund and Green Bay Police Department special crimes Detective Craig Brey took the stand, along with a forensic interviewer at Green Bay's local child advocacy center.
Lemkuil also had an expert witness, Susan Lockwood, testify to the reasons behind the delayed reporting of abuse and the characteristics of grooming.
Villareal testified, disputing the children's testimony.
Villareal was on the stand for over an hour, and he adamantly denied all the accusations of sexual abuse.
He verified many of the general facts of the case, such as the layout of his classroom and that he had regular lunch "dates" with his female students in his classroom, usually with the lights off.
Villareal said he was never alone with any of victims in the case.
"It's your testimony here, and you want this jury to believe, that all these girls came forward giving consistent information about what you agreed to 80% of, you just disagree that you touched them inappropriately?" Lemkuil asked Villareal on cross-examination.
"I'm confident that's the case," Villareal said.
More about the charges and abuse:
Originally charged with five counts, Lemkuil dropped one of the charges Monday morning due to the inability of a victim to be present for the trial.
The trial, which began Monday morning with jury selection, had been delayed multiple times since his arrest in April 2021, partly due to Villareal's struggle to secure and maintain counsel.
He's had five attorneys and fired his public defender in November due to a disagreement in defense strategies, according to court records. He was being held on a $50,000 bond.
Villareal was a bilingual teacher at Baird, where he mainly taught second grade from 2014 until the spring of 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 erect penis against her chest. When she tried to leave, Villareal pushed her back into the closet multiple times.
The student said that was not the only time Villareal inappropriately touched her.
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 found guilty of 4 counts of sexual assault
