Jury finds Villareal guilty of assaulting students
GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - The verdict was swift in the trial of an elementary school teacher accused of sexually assaulting second-grade students. David Villareal, 48, was found guilty on all counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child under 16, sexual assault of a child under 13, and repeated acts of sexual assault of the same child.
The jury announced it reached its verdict barely an hour after receiving the case.
The first-degree sexual assault charges each carry up to 60 years in prison. Repeated sexual assault is punishable by up to 40 years.
A pre-sentencing hearing was scheduled for later in July.
ORIGINAL REPORT
GREEN BAY, Wis. (WBAY) - The former Green Bay elementary school teacher accused of sexually assaulting students took the stand in his own defense Tuesday. It’s testimony you’ll only see on Action 2 News.
The defense called David Villareal as its only witness after the prosecution rested early Tuesday afternoon.
Villareal was arrested in April 2021 and charged with one count of first-degree sexual assault of a child under 16 and a count of repeated acts of sexual assault of a child. The prosecution says the incidents happened as far back as 2016.
Villareal adamantly denied all the accusations. He said it was no secret he had “lunch dates” with girls and with boys.
“The boys never kept or never cared to be eating with the girls, and so we had boy-girl days,” he said.
In the criminal complaint, Villareal is accused of an incident happening in his classroom closet. Villareal testified he never went into the closet alone with a student.
“And you’re denying that you were ever alone with [a victim] in the classroom or in the closet?” prosecutor Wendy Lemkuil asked in rebuttal.
“Yes, I am,” Villareal answered.
At one point during the cross-examination, Villareal acted out a situation during one of the lunches.
“She brought mangos to the lunch period because she knew that was my favorite kind of fruit, but excuse me, the way that she came in --” Villareal stood up, cupping his hands below his chest, and the judge told him to sit back down. “She was not carrying supplies but she was just carrying her mangos by her breasts, said ‘Mr. V’ and went like this --” jiggling the imaginary mangos -- “and we both started cracking up. That is the extent of what happened with regards to that.”
Villareal spent more than an hour under oath answering questions from both sides.
Before the prosecution rested, several witnesses and experts took the stand for the State. The prosecution highlighted why some victims delay reporting what happens to them.
Susan Lockwood is a retired director of Family Services of Northeast Wisconsin. She testified, “It also happens sometimes because a person has manipulated that child in such a way that they don’t understand that something is wrong.”
Jurors will likely be handed the case on Wednesday after closing arguments.
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