An engaged teacher who confessed to ‘making out’ with an 11-year-old boy in her classroom was sentenced to just half the jail time that prosecutors had requested.
Madison Bergmann, 26, who taught fifth grade at River Crest Elementary School in Hudson, Wisconsin, sobbed as she was sentenced to six years in prison on Friday.
The perverted ex-teacher exchanged more than 35,000 texts with the victim between February and April of 2024 – with the boy’s father making the sickening discovery.
In the disturbing conversations, she detailed how she enjoyed touching and kissing him.
Investigators also discovered nearly 100 handwritten love letters between Bergmann and the child in a folder with the victim’s name on it in her classroom.
At Friday’s hearing, her lawyer had pushed for just one year in prison followed by probation, while prosecutors demanded that she be locked up for 12 years.
In addition to jail time, Bergmann will also be subjected to six years of extended supervision upon her release, KARE 11 reported.
Her sentence was the result of a deal she entered with the prosecution in late September, in which she pleaded guilty to one count of child enticement and two counts of sexual misconduct by school staff.
The sex offender had several charges dismissed, including first-degree sexual assault of a child, exposing a child to harmful descriptions, using a computer to facilitate a child sex crime and additional counts of sexual misconduct by school staff and child enticement.
Madison Bergmann sobbed in court on Friday as she was sentenced to six years in prison
Sam Hickman and Bergmann were engaged when her sickening sexual abuse came to light. They were supposed to get married in July 2024, but the wedding was called off
‘I want to make it absolutely clear that I take full accountability for every boundary that was crossed,’ Bergmann tearfully told the judge on Friday.
‘I hope that your family has been able to begin to heal and find some peace in your lives again.’
The father of the little boy she sexually abused told the court how his son has been bullied as a result of Bergmann’s crimes.
He reiterated that the text messages he reviewed between Bergmann and his son were ‘very disturbing’ and graphic.
When the outraged father first discovered the inappropriate texts Bergmann had sent, he printed them out to show the school.
‘Learning about a school staff member and alleged inappropriate conduct that breaches trust is deeply troubling for all of us,’ the school previously wrote in a statement. Bergmann resigned from her teaching position in May 2024.
After the despicable abuse she inflicted on the child was revealed, she not only lost her teaching job but also her fiancé.
The pedophile was set to marry Sam Hickman in July last year but was dumped because of her ‘f**ked up behavior,’ a friend of Hickman’s told The New York Post.
‘[The marriage] probably won’t happen. Sam is really upset and heartbroken. He’s embarrassed and pissed. He didn’t deserve this. Everyone is pissed,’ the anonymous friend said.
Join the debate
How should society balance justice for child victims with rehabilitation for offenders like this teacher?
Bergmann, seen crying in court on Friday, and her attorney had requested only one year of jailtime for her sentence
Bergmann taught fifth grade at River Crest Elementary school in Hudson, Wisconsin
The news of Bergmann’s six-year sentence has not gone over well with local community members and beyond.
‘What message does six years send to other creeps like her? This criminal justice system is a joke,’ one Facebook user reacted.
‘She gave a life sentence to the student who will have to deal with what happened to him for the rest of his life. She should get a sentence that fits the lifetime anguish he will have to overcome,’ another wrote.
