A newly engaged elementary school teacher who confessed to “making out” with an 11-year-old boy in her classroom broke down in tears as she was sentenced to six years in prison, just half of what prosecutors had wanted.
Madison Bergmann, now 26, was a fifth-grade teacher at River Crest Elementary School in Hudson, Wis., until a student’s father discovered 35,000 text messages she’d shared with his son over just three months last year — in which she gushed about how much she loved them touching and “making out.”
Cops then searched her classroom and found a folder with the victim’s name on it containing handwritten love notes discussing how much they kissed.
Bergmann — who had been just months from getting married — pleaded guilty last year to one count of child enticement and two counts of sexual misconduct by school staff.
She started crying as soon as she entered court for sentencing on Friday, where prosecutors were pushing for 12 years in prison, according to KARE.
The now-ex-teacher pushed to get just a one-year sentence despite fully owning up to her perverted behavior, which court docs show involved multiple encounters inside her classroom during lunch or after school.
“I want to make it absolutely clear that I take full accountability for every boundary that was crossed,” she sobbed to the judge. “I hope that your family has been able to begin to heal and find some peace in your lives again. I know the journey will be long for your family.”
She then crumbled in tears, holding her face in her handcuffed hands as she was sentenced to six years in prison.
The boy’s dad told the court how “disturbing” the texts he found were.
“To his own credit, [my son] is like ‘I have to live with this forever. Whatever punishment she receives should be forever,’” he said, according to KARE.
“When I review the texts too, it’s very deliberate — talking about touching his leg, talking to my 11-year-old son about her period, talking about his erections … to me it’s very disturbing stuff.”
Bergmann pleaded guilty in a plea deal that saw several other charges being dropped, including first-degree sexual assault of a child, using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime, exposing a child to harmful descriptions, and additional counts of sexual misconduct by school staff and child enticement.
Once done with her six years in prison, she will get another six years of extended supervision, with no contact with minors without approval, mandatory registration as a sex offender and restricted internet and social media use.
Bergmann was engaged and due to be married in July 2024 — less than three months from when she was arrested — but her groom-to-be scrapped the wedding amid the gross allegations.
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