Posted on 01/29/2003 12:33:23 PM PST by marshmallow
West Bend - The 17-year-old who said he had sex with his high school English teacher 50 times was charged Tuesday in a vandalism spree, which authorities say included using baby food jars to break a window at the home of his teacher's estranged husband.
An arrest warrant was issued Tuesday for Steven D. Lunde of the Town of West Bend. Lunde, 17, was charged with criminal damage to property in a vandalism spree Dec. 30 that police say resulted in more than $5,000 in damage, including to a West Bend area church.
Two 19-year-olds - Anthony A. Helminski and Aaron J. Kuge - also were charged Tuesday in connection with the vandalism. Both are from West Bend.
The windows of the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witness Church in the Town of Barton were smashed, and authorities in Washington County believe Lunde and his co-defendants were involved in vandalism at a church in Sheboygan County.
Lt. LeRoy Nennig, with the Sheboygan County Sheriff's Department, said charges are being sought against Lunde, including burglary, theft and criminal damage to property. Nennig said Lunde admitted to vandalizing a church outside Adell.
"He knew it was isolated and wasn't used much," Nennig said. "He said that he didn't think Sheboygan County had enough deputies on the road, and he wasn't worried about getting caught."
Nennig said Lunde admitted to smashing his father's mailbox and to breaking into Brown's Floral in Random Lake - a shop owned by his father's wife.
Lunde, Helminski and 17-year-old Dewayne C. Graves also were charged with burglarizing a house on an island in Big Cedar Lake, near the home both Lunde and Graves live in on Schneider Court. If convicted of that charge, each could face up to 15 years in prison.
Lunde also faces a bail-jumping charge that was filed last week after authorities said he lied about seeing his former teacher, Carla Paulsrud.
Teacher found in teen's bed
Paulsrud, 31, was found in Lunde's bed last week hours after she was released from custody on felony charges of having sex with the teenager - despite a court order to have no contact with Lunde, authorities said.
Paulsrud is charged with five counts of having sex with a student and could face up to 50 years in prison. She is free on $10,000 bail.
She filed for divorce from her husband, James Paulsrud, in September - six months after Lunde claims he began having sex with Carla Paulsrud. She was not living at the home when a window was smashed Dec. 30. A hearing in the pending divorce case is scheduled for today.
Lunde, Helminski, Kuge and another teen went to the Wolf Drive home because it "is the residence of the ex-husband of Steve Lunde's girlfriend . . . and Lunde and Helminski ran up to the window and threw baby food jars at the window," causing it to shatter, according to the criminal complaint.
The full baby food jars were in the van the teens were driving around that night, the complaint says.
"Lunde and the others began to drive around committing various acts of vandalism. . . . Lunde's mother baby-sits, so there were jars of baby food in the back of her vehicle," the complaint says.
The complaint alleges that the teens used baseball bats to beat in seven mailboxes, windows on two cars and the wind screens on a pair of snowmobiles. Authorities found baby food jars at James Paulsrud's home, inside the Town of Barton church and near two other cars.
The Journal Sentinel normally does not name victims of sexual assault but is naming Lunde in this case because of the mounting number of adult criminal charges filed against him. Records show four felony charges and one misdemeanor filed against Lunde since Jan. 21.
Paul Czisny, Lunde's attorney, said Tuesday afternoon that his client would turn himself in for an initial appearance on the new charges today. Lunde is out on $1,000 bail and is charged with bail jumping and drug charges.
The drug charge alleges that he crushed up aspirin and a sleeping pill into powder and sold it as cocaine to another youth.
School still investigating
West Bend Superintendent of Schools Randal Eckart said Carla Paulsrud was scheduled to meet Tuesday with school officials to discuss the allegations against her; officials were not available Tuesday afternoon to confirm whether the meeting had taken place. Paulsrud was suspended with pay last week pending the outcome of a district investigation into the charges.
"The investigation is continuing," Eckart said, adding that Tuesday's meeting was the "first opportunity" for officials to meet with Paulsrud.
The School Board discussed the situation during a closed session on Monday. Eckart declined to comment specifically on Lunde but said he was unaware of "any expulsion hearings against any students in the district at this time."
Paulsrud returns to court on her charges in February.
Doesn't sound as if this lady needs to try to care for any more children.
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