Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Teacher Sobs After Sexting, 'Making Out' With 11-Year-Old Boy

Episode Date: December 27, 2025

Madison Bergmann, 26, was sentenced to six years in prison and six years of supervised release after pleading guilty to charges related to her sexting and "making out" with an 11-year-old student. Bergmann was engaged to be married and a teacher at River Crest Elementary School in Hudson, Wisconsin when her inappropriate behavior was discovered. Bergmann sobbed in court as she learned her punishment and the judge described her behavior as "unbelievable." Law&Crime's Angenette Levy has all of the details in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:Grow your own audience today – go to https://opus.pro/crimefix for 1 week free plus 50% off the first 3 months of Opus Pro.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest:Marian BracciaCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lawandcrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A fifth grader and his teacher. A middle school teacher who admitted to kissing her fifth grade student, a boy who was just 11 years old, will now spend her Christmas in prison. Madison Bergman appeared before a judge to hear the decision about her punishment for sexual misconduct. we're taking a closer look at what the victim's father had to say on his behalf and Bergman's behavior in this latest court hearing. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy, and this is crime fix. Have you ever wondered how we are able to share so many clips from breaking news cases

as they're unfolding? Well, here's a little secret. Opus clip is an all-in-one AI editor that makes it a breeze to cut, create, and upload videos across any platform. Through AI, Opus Clip generates B-roll. It reframes footage and even cleans up audio. Just visit opus.pro slash crime fix, sign up and upload, and within minutes, you are going to have perfectly edited clips ready to go. For TikTok, shorts, or reels, it's a one-stop shop. Having Opus clip means our producers can post viral updates instantly.

This is the most powerful tool for sharing ideas and editing. like a pro. So go to opus.pro slash crime fix to create your videos today. Back at the end of September, 26-year-old Madison Bergman took a plea deal in a St. Croix County, Wisconsin courtroom. She agreed to plead guilty to three counts, one count of child enticement, and two counts of sexual misconduct by a teacher or member of school staff. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to seek a sentence of no more than 12 years in prison. Well, on Friday, December 19th, Bergman sat before the judge in an orange jumpsuit where she heard details about her punishment confirmed for the court record. Now, before we dive into the specifics of Bergman's prison sentence, I want to give you a quick

recap of how we got here, and I'll warn you, the details are incredibly disturbing. Madison Bergman was a fifth grade teacher at Rivercrest Elementary School in Hudson, Wisconsin. She was engaged to be married. Life looked pretty good, but then it all came crashing down around her in May of 2024 when a young boy's parents brought printouts of texts between their 11-year-old and his teacher. Texts like this one, which was included in a criminal complaint against Bergman. The victim said, ha, bro, I just want to make out with you. Bergman said, I do too, like all the time. Bergman wrote, also today, when you said, I know you're mad, but I want to kiss you, oh my gosh, I wanted to grab your face and just push you to the floor and make out with you.

The victim wrote, ha ha, for real, I love to kiss you on the ground too. Ha ha. Bergman wrote, I almost kissed you when you were on the ground today, but I got distracted by your stomach. Those texts were apparently in reference to the first time Bergman had intimate contact with the boy. According to a criminal complaint, when the other kids left the classroom, she approached him and kissed him on the mouth. He described himself as sitting on the ground immediately after the kiss, as he couldn't believe that it happened and the fact that it was his first kiss. He then got up, gave Bergman a hug, and left the classroom to catch the school bus. According to the complaint, the victim admitted he and Bergman had kissed several times and touched each other in class, but in a way that no one could see.

A school resource officer testified during a preliminary hearing last year that Bergman and the 11-year-old shared more than 30,000 messages with one another. They also wrote love notes to each other, which police reportedly found among Bergman's possessions when she was arrested. In one of those letters, police say she wrote. one of my cousins is in the fifth grade, and I can't imagine a man talking to her how we talk. I know we have a special relationship, and I do love you more than anyone in the world, but I have to be the adult here and stop. At first, Bergman denied all the allegations against her, but earlier this year, she changed her plea, agreeing to admit her guilt on three charges

in exchange for a possibly reduced sentence. Ms. Bergman is going to enter pleas of guilty. to count three, child enticement. There is a lifetime supervision of serious sex offenders enhancer on that at this time. She's also admitting to that. Count six, sexual misconvict by school staff, and count eight, sexual misconduct by school staff. Based on those police, the state is moving to dismiss, but read in all of the other counts for purposes of sentencing. We are jointly recommending a PSI be done, and the state is to cap their in-custody recommendation at 12 years at the time of sentencing. Bergman teared up during her plea hearing and full on sobbed.

Sobbed, I'm telling you, during the sentencing. The father of the 11-year-old victim, who is now 13, spoke on his son's behalf. My son actually asked that I read this, so I thought he was my subject. did this in the right spot. So my name's Tico, and I'm the father of the victim. And trying to capture the breath and death of the damage caused by Madison is impossible. There's no way in a few minutes to really fully convey how far her actions have reached into my son's life and into our family's life. But I will do the best to give a clear window into what we now live with every day. So since this happened, my son was just kind of a normal kid, doing a normal

kid things playing sports but now he has to live with the consequences of her decisions he's faced the things where he gets bullied in school on a regular basis over a year later they whisper as he walks through the hallway so is that the kid I was that the kid that got his teacher in trouble these are types of things that this 11 year old has had to deal with and then he had anxiety and he's had to go to counseling for that so So anxiety, nightmares, constant stress, constantly wondering, where did this simple childhood go?

And even most recently, and the thing I wanted to underscore to is like, this isn't a past tense thing. This is the last seven days. I'm not going to go into this ad nauseum, but just that I want to kind of convey the everyday impact. So we go to basketball practice and schedule. All of a sudden we look at the schedule, it's a schedule at Rivercrest Elementary, where he went.

both he and I were there was the big Ms. Bergman got taken out of the school right and pulled out of there so very triggering but then as a dad I have to ask him again are you okay having practiced there I've got to trust his judgment I have to then think about do I tell them to ask the coaches and give them a heads up because this isn't something that we necessarily want broadcast in our small community right and then the next day he's kind of off and then I'm like is it because he's just a kid or is it because something was triggering for him I mean so there's this whole cascade of things that you would think like, oh, we're going to basketball practice. And it gets exacerbated by this. And this was last week. This wasn't, you know, right after. These things still come up. And then, you know, I read the text, right? Because I have access to all these things too because they're on my son's phone. And the thing that to me is like about all this. So I wanted to say something where my son wanted me to say something his, you know, in his own words, he's like, I have to live with this forever. He's like, whatever punishment she receives should be forever. Right. I mean, he doesn't necessarily know.

that means, right, the whole context of it. But again, when I reviewed the text, too, it's very deliberate, talking about touching his leg, talking to my 11-year-old son about her period, you know, talking about his erections. I mean, like, very, very, very disturbing stuff. It wasn't like a, oops, like a fleeting thing. It was over a window of time and only got intercepted by parents that kind of cut it off. And so that's the other part in looking at, like, what do we want out of these things?

And so what I was asking for, you know, humbly and respectfully, is that we impose the strongest sentence that you believe is appropriate, including the maximum amount of time of confinement that's possible. And only you can determine what that is. But I think the sentence has to reflect the seriousness of the harm. We have to protect other children in this community and then recognize what's also been taken from my son because this will follow him and the family for the rest of our lives. Judge Scott Norstrand also asked Bergman if she'd like to give a statement. Your Honor, thank you for the opportunity to speak. I want to begin by expressing my deepest and most sincere apologies to the Huber family. I am so very sorry for the pain and stress that my actions have caused.

There's no excuse for my mistaken choices. and my mistaken actions. I want to make it absolutely clear that I take full accountability for every boundary that was crossed. 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 as well as mine. Your Honor, I do believe in the justice system in people being held accountable for their mistakes. I believe that that looks different. for every person. And in my case, there's not only the current punishment of being incarcerated,

but many life-want punishments to come. I have lost the teaching license that I studied and worked for for four years. I'll never again be able to pursue my passion of working with children in any sense. I will be on a sex offender registry for the rest of my life. This is going to greatly impact

the future I had envisioned for myself, including having a family and children of my own, new and different career paths, and even, sorry, we've been buying a home or deciding where to live. I fully understand and accept this consequence, but I also ask the court to recognize how profound and life-altering it already is. It is a daily reminder of my the intact clarifle choices have had on others and it will remain with me for the rest of my life. Additionally, because of the worldwide media coverage of my case, I will be facing ridicule from strangers and friends forever. The media coverage has not only already affected my life and feeling of security and safety, but also my entire families. My name is in connection to our family business, which has led to online harassment of not only me, but my whole family and their means of making a living.

Before being arrested in May of 24, I was in a deeply unhealthy and emotionally abusive relationship that caused me to become isolated from friends and family. I allowed that emotional vulnerability and isolation to cloud my judgment. and alter my ability to process the reality of my inappropriate and harmful decisions. However, Your Honor, since I have begun to find healing and growth for myself through being back in the safety and support of my family, as well as participating in talk therapy and sex offender therapy. Lastly, Your Honor, I would like you to consider the time that I spent in the time I spent in the the community on bail. Excuse me. During that time, I was compliant with every

restriction placed upon me, including not having contact or communication with my three younger step siblings for months until I was approved by the court, not having contact or communication with anyone under the age of 18, which includes all of my cousin. I also remained off the internet, had no phone, and had no online or phone contact with anyone other than my lawyer for 17 months. I also stayed within the radius I was given while on and off of GPS monitoring. I'm not seeking to avoid punishment. I'm already facing lifelong consequences, but I am asking for the opportunity to prove that I am willing to and wanting to be a productive law-abiding member of society.

I will never be able to undo the damage I have caused, but I'm committed to doing everything I can to ensure that I never harm another person. Thank you, Judge Northshire. The judge addressed some of the prior statements and gave his thoughts on Bergman's actions. He also discussed some of the most twisted texts that Bergman and the boy exchanged. It gives us some insight into what was going on. And I have to warn you, it's really, really hard to hear these, especially when you think about the vulnerability of this 11-year-old boy. He was just 11.

Now, one could easily minimize the gravity of these offenses and make, I think, an effective argument to a limited degree that there was not the level of sexual contact, I think, Mr. Gamborino, that you were talking. talking about in these other cases and I think that's a fair argument that however has to hold up against the other the other reality in this case and that is what happened here it's not the same it's not like many of those other cases it's a different kind of terrible frankly So what do we know about the facts? We have an 11-year-old boy, a fifth grader, first contact with the defendant as a fourth grader, I think. That's what was reflected. The contact, the personal contact that's happening is happening in school, and it began to increase during his fifth grade year when Ms. Bergman became his teacher. She was even surprised that he was assigned to her class because there was some concerned about them being friends before that fifth grade started, but nonetheless he was.

First message, oh, I should say, emails that exchanged between the two were from November 29 of 23 to October 29 of 23, according to the investigating officer. there were 34 emails and nothing untoward specifically but nothing about and learning or I think that's the way the officer referred to it nothing about learning from the teacher to this student the 11 year old then a couple of months go by and we get to December 26 of 23 for the first message. The last message I saw was from about April 29. Total text, 35,429. So between those dates, I did some math, Mazotin,

and I came up with about 125 days or 283 texts per day. This is ridiculous on its face. Now, I'm a 67-year-old judge, so I may not text like some. But this level of contact between a 24-year-old teacher and an 11-year-old student going to an elementary school here in Hudson is unbelievable and then when you start reading what's in the text we've seen a lot of the details i don't want to go through that but i do want to just list off some of the topics that were discussed over time that i identified touching each other kissing pushing against each other

touching the victim's chest, feeling heart beating, physical characteristics of each other, dreaming about each other, female sexual arousal, female menstruation, devices used for sexual arousal, uh, licking body parts, touching victim's stomach, The victim's own sexual arousal, touching legs, expressions of love, I'm so in love with you. I see you in the morning. This is crazy, in a sense. I don't know why she did this, why she did it for so long. why she continued to bring up new and more salacious details to talk about with an 11-year-old boys I don't know what level of supervision will be necessary to prevent her from doing this again we have varying opinions about the need for incarceration about as varied as they can meet 12 years

one year. But I will say this. For purposes of my conclusions here today, I do believe incarceration in the Wisconsin prison system is necessary to protect the public. The judge also talked about an evaluation submitted by an expert on psychosexual behavior. It was included as part of the pre-sentencing investigation report. Yes, I writer says Ms. Bergman reported all of the things she and E.H. said to each other in their text messages did not actually happen. She said they pretended those things did happen, but she was texting the victim on how she wanted her significant other. I'm not going to use the name here to be with her. The defendant indicated she dissociated when she texted the victim and was thinking of an adult, specifically the fiance when she sent the victim messages. Ms. Bergman stated the messages were things she wanted the fiancee to do to her and how she wanted the fiancee to act toward her. The defendant reported the sexual contact that she

and the victim discussed in their messages did not occur. She stated they kissed each other only on the cheek and were creating a fantasy in their messages. when the right after reading the text to you or in some portion of the text obviously the PSI writer says the defendant indicated she does not remember sending them and felt lost and isolated from her family at the time she stated she was looking to feel wanted and was not getting that from her fiancee was Bergman said she's not sure how this situation with the victim of occurred and would never say any of these things she said to him to someone her own age.

The defendant reported she felt stupid and like a pushover at the time, but the victim told her it was not a big deal and to keep exchanging messages with him. Now this is all completely backwards. The adult in the room is telling the PSI writer that, you know, I was kind of a pushover to the 11-year-old. So I kept texting. I kept messaging. I kept talking about inappropriate things. Anyway, I just wanted to express my concern about this sort of.

of devolving into fantasy situation when it comes to deliberate, specific, sexualized texts for months, hundreds of times a day to an 11-year-old boy. It's a fantasy, and I was thinking about my fiancé, not good enough. The last thing I'll say about that was, you know, when I was reading those texts, honestly, I couldn't tell who the 11-year-old was sometimes. I know that sounds crazy, but both sides of the text messaging seems like an 11-year-old in the behavior that is going on there. The sheer quantity and lurid content of the defendant's text belie any concern for the victim.

For position of trust, for school, for community. It was intentional, deliberate, purposeful. What was the endgame? And I think Ms. Otten alluded to this. Where were we going with this? I suspect something much more serious. That's not to say we aren't here for very, very serious criminal behavior, but I suspect that it would have gone farther had it not been stopped by the parents.

And there likely would have been a physical relationship that would have resulted in much, much greater harm to the victim in this case. What I saw in those texts, and I'll conclude here on this topic, is an exercise of control by a 24-year-old woman who should have known better, and for reasons I don't understand, continued to do this for months on end, despite her consciousness of guilt. According to local reporters in the courtroom, Bergman started crying the moment she entered the courtroom, but when the judge confirmed she would be going. to prison. Bergman started bawling. While we are here today and are extremely frustrated and concerned about these facts and this case and the terrible impact of the tech. I also have to be mindful that there are cases even more extreme with defendants who have long records of that kind of behavior.

And in that light, I think that a more appropriate sentence and the sentence that I will hand down here today is I'm going to order that Ms. Bergman be incarcerated in the Wisconsin State Prison System for six years. And that she served six years on extended supervision thereafter. That's on count three. With regard to counts 6 and 8th, I'm going to order one and a half years of incarceration on each. That's the maximum sentence.

And two years of extended supervision on each. And I am going to run all of this concurrent. I think essentially the outcome here is six years in the state prison six years of extended supervision is an appropriate sentence given everything I've heard here today

and what I've discussed with you now, Ms. Bergman, you're going to have to calm down for a minute because I have to give you some warrant. So according to the plea deal, Bergman will spend six years in prison, followed by another six years, of what's called extended supervision. And there are lots of rules that Bergman has to follow when she's out.

For example, she's not allowed to have any contact with the victim or any of his family members. In fact, she can't have contact with anyone under the age of 18 without prior approval from her case officer. The conditions also state, that Bergman won't be allowed to use the internet or any kind of social media without permission. She also has to register as a sex offender, and she owes more than $1,000 in court costs.

And in a bizarre twist, Bergman isn't the only Rivercrest Elementary teacher to be accused of sexual misconduct. No. When all the details about Bergman started coming out, another fifth grade teacher, Abigail Faust, resigned. Bergman's alleged victim told police that Faust knew about what Bergman was doing, but didn't try to stop it. That boy also revealed that Faust also had an inappropriate contact with a student. Faust was charged in St. Croix County with failure to protect a child, causing mental harm to a child, child enticement, and sexual misconduct by school staff or a volunteer, and her alleged crimes spanned at least two states. As news of those charges spread, A family in nearby Washington County, Minnesota, just across the state line, realized that was their nanny.

That's right. This family had actually hired Faust back in 2021 to help watch their children, reportedly a baby who was only a few months old, a girl who was around nine, and a boy who was 15. When he claims Faust started sexually abusing him, unbelievable. When the family realized that Faust was being accused of disturbing conduct with minors, they contacted police, the teen son identified as victim one, sat down with the detective for a forensic interview and divulged sick details. Quoting from her criminal complaint here, later, as her sexual abuse of victim one escalated, victim one recalled Abigail framing it as, you know, this is bad, I know this is bad, and we'll both get into trouble if you tell

anyone. When the two exchanged nude photos on the Snapchat app, he recalled her messaging him, I can't believe I'm looking at a picture of a 15-year-old's genitals. He remembered her also saying through Snapchat, I'm feeling grossed out at myself. Victim One recalled many instances where Abigail Wood, in summary, voiced to him her realization that she was doing something improper. charges were filed against Faust in September of 2025, according to court records. It appears Faust's parents helped her post a $200,000 bond as part of her bond conditions. She is forbidden from having any contact with the victim and has to wear a GPS monitor and cannot leave her home without permission and cannot use the internet,

with the exception of virtual court appearances, meetings with her lawyers, and virtual medical appointments. It's unclear when Abigail Faust will be in court next. So I want to bring in Marianne Bracha. She is a former sex crimes prosecutor, also a professor of law at the Beasley School of Law at Temple University. So Marian, thank you so much for joining me. You know, the sentence, I'm a little surprised by it. I am and I'm not.

Six years in prison, six years supervised release. I feel like a lot of times with these female teachers, we see sentences that are more lenient, maybe no jail time, no prison time. Why do you think the judge in this case said, no, you're going to prison? Yeah. And it's surprising because this was a guilty plea. So a lot of times there will be some consideration given to the fact that a defendant has exercised, excuse me, has waived their right to a trial, has waived their right to have all the charges proven against them beyond a reasonable doubt. And there is some consideration given to the judicial economy and the system utilization of not proceeding with a full trial and having to call the victim to the stand

and having to impanel a jury. So the fact that jail time was issued is certainly within the discretion of the sentencing judge, so long as it is an available penalty is envisioned by the statute. But this judge, after having heard the facts of the case and after having heard the victim impact statement, exercised their discretion and did, in fact, issue a jail sentence. So I don't think it's an illegal sentence. It's within the statutory maximum of what could be imposed. But you're right. It is somewhat surprising that ostensibly a first offender or a first time offender would get a lengthy state sentence. You know, a part of me wonders. if the sentence is sending a big time message. Also, you know, this was an 11-year-old child at the time.

We're not talking like a 16-year-old and there were 35,000, I guess, messages sent. I mean, this was an 11-year-old. I mean, I know my son is 10. I would come unglued. I don't know how I just would be so upset. I just can't even imagine. I'm like, you are a young woman in your 20s, like, mid-year-old. you know, early mid-20s, and you're sending all these messages to an 11-year-old.

So does that maybe, are those like major red flags if you're a judge and a prosecutor? You're like, this isn't like a teenager. That would be very wrong, too. That would still be wrong. This is an 11-year-old. Well, I agree that the age difference and that the age of the victim is taken into consideration. I think that goes into kind of that discretion that we talked about, the discretion that is within the sentencing judge's power to exercise.

Oftentimes in sex crimes cases and in sexual offenses, there is an evaluation that is done pre-sentencing, mental health evaluation, substance abuse evaluation, and something that at least in Pennsylvania, where I practice, is known as a sex offender assessment board evaluation or an F-O-A-B. I am confident that there is a similar or an analogous evaluation that is done in this teacher's home state. And so we have to remember that we haven't, at least I haven't seen the feedback that came from that assessment, how the defendant presented herself at that assessment or, you know, with those members of the assessment board.

And that documentation, the content of those pre-sentencing evaluations, is also taken into consideration by the sentencing judge. So there must have been something particularly egregious, either limited to or in addition to the age difference between the parties here, the defendant, and the victim. But something certainly was egregious enough to depart from, again, essentially a first-time offender. give such a lengthy prison sentence. You know, I'm hoping this little boy, you know, he's a little older now, I guess, you know, a couple years older. But I'm hoping this kid is getting the help that he needs because basically in a victim impact statement, this child said, you basically ruined my childhood.

I mean, you're an 11-year-old kid and you're getting messages like this. You know, you may feel like ick factor and stuff like that. that, but we know that a lot of times they feel compelled to go along with it. I agree. And that is part of what forms the case law around rape and sexual offense, the statutes around the country, that it's not just physical compulsion or forcible physical compulsion, that there are certain factors like mental and emotional and psychological force as well, that can and should be considered when we're considering the voluntariness of contact like this.

Of course, an 11-year-old, I don't think by any state statute is of an age to consent. But those, again, emotional, psychological, even intellectual factors do come into play when we're talking about forcible compulsion. Well, Marian Bracha, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time. Thanks for having me. Happy holidays, Antoinette. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Annette Levy. so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.