By Tracy Ouellette
Staff writer
A 37-year-old Muskego woman is accused of sexual assault and exploitation of a child after allegedly sending explicit pictures and video of her sexually assaulting a 4-year-old child to an individual via email.
Annmarie C. Schulte is charged in Waukesha County Court with two counts of first degree child sexual assault of a child under 13 and two counts of sexual exploitation of a child. She faces a sentence not to exceed 200 years and up to $200,000 in fines.
She pled not guilty on all counts at her preliminary hearing Oct. 12 in Waukesha County Court.
Schulte grew up in Wind Lake, attended Drought Elementary School in Franksville and graduated from Waterford Union High School.
She made national news in July 2009 when she gave birth in the front passenger seat of the family car while driving with her husband on the I-43 freeway.
Schulte’s husband reported the alleged abuse to the police after seeing some suspicious emails on her email account.
According to the criminal complaint, the woman met an individual on a fetish website who identified himself as a man named “David Webb.” He encouraged her to take sexual pictures of several underage females and send them to him. He was particularly interested in the 4-year-old girl.
Though the man had requested more pictures of the other girls, he said he first wanted to focus on the 4-year-old, according to the criminal complaint.
The woman sent the man pictures and webcam videos of a sexual nature, including those showing her assaulting the girl.
The man also asked the defendant to order an animal collar and a leash for the girl. Schulte told police she had ordered the collar and leash, but it had not been delivered yet.
Muskego Police Capt. John La Tour said Monday afternoon that their part of the investigation was “pretty much complete” with the identification of Schulte and the interview of the potential victims but the investigation into the identity and location of “David Webb” was still pending.
“We’ve turned that over to a state agency that is designed to do that. It’s a division of the Department of Justice called Internet Crimes Against Children,” said La Tour.
“I was told that it does appear that he (Webb) is not (living) within the contiguous United States,” La Tour said.
According to Lt. David Constantineau of the Muskego Police Department, it has been widely reported in other media that Schulte was a Girl Scout and a parent volunteer at Tess Corners Elementary School in Muskego.
He said these reports caused a great deal of concern among area residents.
As a result, Constantineau wrote the following in his weekly “Neighborhood Watch” column, which is published in the Muskego Chronicle, a sister paper of the Waterford Post and Westine Report:
“Last week, a 37-year-old Muskego woman was arrested for the sexual assault of a child. This was widely reported in the media. Unfortunately, in their zeal to get the story out, some media outlets chose to report the suspect’s name, and report that she was a Girl Scout and school volunteer, thereby inferring that this suspect’s victims might somehow be related to girl scouts or the school. This, in turn, led to the Police Department being inundated with phone calls from understandably concerned parents, who were fearful that their children may have been a victim.
“While I would encourage anyone who believes their child may have been a victim of any crime to contact the Police Department, I would like to try and put some of you at ease. At this time our investigation has not identified any victims outside of the suspect’s immediate family. There is no indication, at this time, that the suspect has victimized anyone associated with the Girl Scouts or Tess Corners Elementary School. We will, of course, gladly speak with anyone who has any concerns about this incident, but I hope this will counter the disinformation distributed by some members of the media.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, Schulte remained in custody at the Waukesha County Jail on a $50,000 cash bond.
A hearing is scheduled Nov. 11 in Waukesha County Court.
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