Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Teacher Accused of Molesting 11-Y-O Wants Charges Dropped |Crime Alert Sunday Recap 09.15.24

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Teacher Accused of Molesting 11-Y-O Wants Charges Dropped |Crime Alert Sunday Recap 09.15.24 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

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  Speaker 1: Crime Alert hourly update, breaking crime news.
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  Speaker 2: Now.
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  Speaker 3: I'm Drew Nelson. Now an update on the case of
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  Speaker 3: Madison Bergman, a former teacher charged with sexual misconduct with
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  Speaker 3: an eleven year old boy. She's asking to have charges
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  Speaker 3: against her dismissed, arguing that the text messages between her
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  Speaker 3: and a student were not explicit enough to warrant charges
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  Speaker 3: of sexual assault. Madison Bergman is twenty four years old.
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  Speaker 3: She faces ten charges, including first degree child sexual assault
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  Speaker 3: in multiple counts of sexual misconduct. Her lawyer argues that
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  Speaker 3: the messages from the eleven year old boy did not
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  Speaker 3: specifically mention touching intimate parts of the body. Here's Bergman's attorney,
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  Speaker 3: Joseph Tamborino in court.
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  Speaker 4: What are those parts the breast but anus? Growing wrote
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  Speaker 4: on the penis, vagina, or cubic amount of a human being.
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  Speaker 4: The statue does not say that it's the chest or
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  Speaker 4: the chess area or the breast area. He doesn't say
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  Speaker 4: any of that, or the surnom or the claudical It's
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  Speaker 4: very specific. The Wisconsin legislature said that in order for
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  Speaker 4: there to be sexual contact, it has to fall in
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  Speaker 4: one of the specific areas of the mind.
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  Speaker 3: The defense is trying to get the charges dismissed on
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  Speaker 3: the grounds that the boy had referred to his chest
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  Speaker 3: rather than an intimate part, but the judge rejected this argument, saying, quote,
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  Speaker 3: it would be absurd to require a child to use
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  Speaker 3: the same language that the state legislature has chosen for
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  Speaker 3: our statutes. Bergmann is a former teacher at Rivercrest Elementary
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  Speaker 3: School in Hudson, Wisconsin. She was arrested after the victim's
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  Speaker 3: parents discovered the inappropriate messages between her and their son.
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  Speaker 3: According to the criminal complaint, the boy's mother overheard a
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  Speaker 3: conversation between him and Bergmann, which led to her checking
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  Speaker 3: his phone. She found messages describing physical contact and making
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  Speaker 3: out between the teacher and student. The parents reported the
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  Speaker 3: incident to the school, and Bergmann was arrested. The text
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  Speaker 3: messages read aloud in court included one from Bergmann that
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  Speaker 3: said quote, I love having my hand on your chest.
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  Speaker 3: I could feel your heart beating so much haha. In another,
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  Speaker 3: she writes, quote, when I grabbed your shirt and I
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  Speaker 3: pulled you into me, oh my goodness, I want to
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  Speaker 3: lick your abs haha. The boy responded by saying, quote,
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  Speaker 3: I loved it because you just kept kissing me. Bergmann
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  Speaker 3: was originally charged with first degree child sexual assault, but
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  Speaker 3: since her arrests, nine additional charges have been added, five
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  Speaker 3: counts of sexual misconduct by school staff, two counts of
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  Speaker 3: child enticement and exposing a child to harmful descriptions. Investigators
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  Speaker 3: found over fifty handwritten notes between Bergmann and the boy,
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  Speaker 3: with many discussing their romantic encounters. The two allegedly exchanged
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  Speaker 3: more than thirty five thousand text messages over several months.
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  Speaker 3: The alleged misconduct took place in Bergmann's classroom during lunch
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  Speaker 3: or after school hours. When police searched her classroom, they
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  Speaker 3: found a folder with the boy's name on it, containing
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  Speaker 3: letters that referenced kissing and other inappropriate interactions. Bergmann's social
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  Speaker 3: media indicated her arrest came less than three months before
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  Speaker 3: her planned wedding.
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  Speaker 2: I'm Nicole Parton. In Fort Lauderdale police have announced the
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  Speaker 2: arrest and charging of three family members along with two others,
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  Speaker 2: in connection to the tragic death of a seven year
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  Speaker 2: old boy, Deonta Atwell. Authorities revealed that the young boy
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  Speaker 2: passed away due to severe malnutrition, weighing only seven pounds
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  Speaker 2: at his death. The individuals facing charges include the boy's
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  Speaker 2: thirty seven year old mother, Michelle Doe, who has been
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  Speaker 2: charged with first degree murder, among other things. Also arrested
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  Speaker 2: the boy's twenty one year old brother, Tyreek Irvin. He
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  Speaker 2: faces first degree murder charges and failure to report child abuse. Additionally,
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  Speaker 2: the child's seventy year old grandfather, James Grown, charged with
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  Speaker 2: aggravated manslaughter and failure to report child abuse. Furthermore, a
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  Speaker 2: forty seven year old home health provider, Merland Amita, is
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  Speaker 2: facing charges of third degree manslaughter and medicaid fraud. Lastly,
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  Speaker 2: the boy's home health nurse, thirty three year old Cassandra
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  Speaker 2: l Si, has been charged with third degree murder and
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  Speaker 2: medicaid fraud. The authorities were alerted to a medical emergency
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  Speaker 2: involving a young boy at a residence in Fort Lauderdale.
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  Speaker 2: Despite being rushed to the Broward Medical Center, the boy
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  Speaker 2: was pronounced dead. Medical professionals noted that Atwell was likely
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  Speaker 2: de ceased for an extended period of time. Subsequent investigations
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  Speaker 2: uncovered that Atwell had underlying medical conditions, including spinal biffida
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  Speaker 2: and hydrocephalus, necessitating the need for around the clock home
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  Speaker 2: health medical care. Deontae had both a feeding tube and
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  Speaker 2: a breathing tube. An autopsy revealed that the cause of
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  Speaker 2: death was severe malnutrition, with a distressing detail that his
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  Speaker 2: bones were visible through openings in his skin. Police say
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  Speaker 2: they found two hundred and sixty four unopened bottles of
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  Speaker 2: his feeding formula, suggesting a potential medicaid fraud scheme and
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  Speaker 2: the fact that they didn't feed the young boy. Detective
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  Speaker 2: Jacqueline Sanchez fought back emotions as she spoke about the
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  Speaker 2: boy's tragic death.
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  Speaker 5: That was very disturbing. I can tell you I lost
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  Speaker 5: sleep more than once. He had gaping holes from bed
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  Speaker 5: sores where he had his bones were protruding, joined the autopsy.
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  Speaker 5: It's sad to say that deonte Was had suffered all
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  Speaker 5: the way through his death.
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  Speaker 2: The individuals facing charges appeared in court on Wednesday. All
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  Speaker 2: are being held without bond, except the boy's grandfather, who
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  Speaker 2: was released on a fifty thousand dollars bond. The investigation
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  Speaker 2: is ongoing, with the Fort Lauderdale Police collaborating with the
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  Speaker 2: Office of the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud and Control Unit,
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  Speaker 2: as well as Broward State Attorney's Office. Anyone with information
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  Speaker 2: relevant to the case is urged to contact the authorities.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Jennifer Gould. Court documents have revealed chilling new details
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  Speaker 1: about the brutal murders of two Kansas moms, Veronica Butler
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  Speaker 1: and Jillian Kelly, who were killed by members of a
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  Speaker 1: radical anti government cult. The women were last seen alive
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  Speaker 1: on March thirtieth, twenty twenty four, as they embarked on
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  Speaker 1: a road trip to Oklahoma to pick up Butler's children.
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  Speaker 1: Their car, though, was found abandoned close to the state border.
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  Speaker 1: The women's bodies then were later discovered in a chest
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  Speaker 1: freezer that had been dumped in a cow pasture. They
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  Speaker 1: found it on April fourteenth. Five members of the cult,
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  Speaker 1: known as Quote God's Misfits, were arrested in connection with
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  Speaker 1: the killings. They are Tiffany Adams fifty four, the grandmother
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  Speaker 1: of Butler's children, her boyfriend Tad Cullum forty three, Cole
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  Speaker 1: and Cora Toombley fifty and fifty four, and Paul Grice
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  Speaker 1: thirty one years old. LaDonna Thompson, Veronica Butler's aunt, spoke
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  Speaker 1: to news for how can you hate.
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  Speaker 4: If your't grandchildren so much that.
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  Speaker 1: You would iner life. According to court documents, the murders
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  Speaker 1: were the culmination of a plot hatched by the group
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  Speaker 1: due to a bitter custody dispute between Butler and Adams.
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  Speaker 1: The group allegedly believed that Butler was unfit to care
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  Speaker 1: for her children and sought to eliminate her wrangler, Rickman,
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  Speaker 1: Adams's son, who had custody of the children, was confirmed
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  Speaker 1: to be in an Oklahoma rehabilitation facility at the time
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  Speaker 1: of the women's disappearance. But Butler was still allowed supervised
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  Speaker 1: visitation with her children every Saturday, and was likely to
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  Speaker 1: be granted unsupervised visitation during an upcoming hearing, according to
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  Speaker 1: the court documents. The documents also paint a gruesome picture
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  Speaker 1: of the killings. Butler, it is alleged, was stabbed to
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  Speaker 1: death by Gryce, who sustained a deep cut to his
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  Speaker 1: hand during the attack. Kelly, on the other hand, was
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  Speaker 1: allegedly suffocated after using a stun gun by Column. The
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  Speaker 1: bodies were then placed in a freezer and transported to
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  Speaker 1: the burial site. To cover their tracks, the group allegedly
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  Speaker 1: disposed of evidence, including clothing stained with the victim's blood
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  Speaker 1: and the murder weapon. The Tomblee couple, according to court records,
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  Speaker 1: acted as lookouts during the killings. Adams meanwhile, is accused
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  Speaker 1: of purchasing burner phones, stun guns, and other items used
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  Speaker 1: in the crime. The state is arguing that all five
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  Speaker 1: defendants face a joint preliminary hearing, as all of them
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  Speaker 1: conspired and participated in the murders of Butler and Kelly.
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  Speaker 1: The suspects face a slew of charges, including first degree murder, kidnapping,
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  Speaker 1: and conspiracy to commit murder. If convicted, they could face
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  Speaker 1: life in prison or the death penalty. For the latest
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  Speaker 1: crime and justice news, follow the Crime Alert hourly update
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  Speaker 1: on your favorite podcast app with this crime Alert, I'm
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  Speaker 1: Jennifer