Story originally printed in the Tomah Journal or online at www.tomahjournal.com
Published - Thursday, February 28, 2008
Ex-jail supervisor to be sentenced
SPARTA — A Monroe County Jail supervisor charged last month with having sexual encounters with a mentally ill inmate will be sentenced in late February.
Former Monroe County Sheriff’s Lt. David Schaldach, 60, of Warrens, is expected to be sentenced after he enters a plea to a felony charge of abuse of a resident of a penal facility at 11 a.m. Feb. 27 in Monroe County Circuit Court. If convicted, he faces five years in prison and a $10,000 maximum fine.
Schaldach made his initial appearance in court Monday, where he waived his right to a preliminary hearing and was released on a $10,000 signature bond.
The charge was filed against Schaldach on Thursday after he was accused of engaging in sexual contact with a 35-year-old female inmate diagnosed with personality, bipolar and anxiety disorders at least twice while on duty in 2002, according to the criminal complaint. He retired Dec. 31, 2002.
The woman said Schaldach, who was then second in command of the jail, gave her coffee, gum, crackers, candy bars and time out of her jail cell in exchange for oral sex two to four times a week in the jail conference room at night, according to the complaint.
Schaldach confessed to having two or three sexual encounters with the woman during a deposition in a $12 million lawsuit filed against the jail on behalf of former inmate Brenda Mombourquette, according to the complaint and her attorney Michael Devanie of La Crosse.
Mombourquette told a jail nurse about Schaldach’s sexual contact with the female inmate on Sept. 26, 2002, Devanie said.
“He also made sexual overtures toward Brenda,” he said.
The nurse informed then-jail administrator Mark Pressler and then-Sheriff Charles Amundson, who failed to investigate the misconduct, Devanie said. Mombourquette also reported Schaldach’s actions to a second nurse, who relayed the information to the sheriff, Devanie said.
Schaldach failed to put Mombourquette on suicide watch by doctor’s orders in November 2002. She was found hanging from a sheet in her jail cell four days later. She was left with permanent brain damage and requires full-time care.
Devanie believes Schaldach failed to take proper care of Mombourquette because he knew she had told authorities about his contact with the sexual assault victim.
“He knew (Mombourquette) was the witness against him,” Devanie said.
U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb ruled Schaldach would have motive to disregard Mombourquette’s safety after she reported his actions.
The lawsuit settled in February 2007 for $13.1 million.
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