Wow.

Jan. 11, 2017 – West Bend, WI – Charges were officially handed down today in Washington County Circuit Court as former Slinger High School band director David T. Hanke, 66, (photo left) was charged with a Class D Felony for alleged sexual assault of a student by school staff. If convicted Hanke faces up to $10,000 in fines, up to 10 years in prison, or both.

Hanke appeared in court Wednesday afternoon before Judge James Pouros.

Hanke had a court appearance for a bail/bond hearing before Washington County Judge Andrew Gonring on Dec. 14, 2016 at which time a $3,000 signature bond was signed and Hanke was told to have “no unsupervised contact with females under age of 16. No contact with HLB or RAS.”

The criminal complaint was filed by a former Slinger High School student who was under 18 years old when the alleged assault occurred around September 1999 or 2000. The complaint said the girl was a band student in Hanke’s class. She recalled going to his house, drinking a beer and then going to the basement of the home where a back massage turned to “grabbing and groping.”

In 2004 – 2005 the complaint said the woman wrote an anonymous letter to the school but did not want to disclose the incident. In 2016 she reportedly wrote another signed letter to the principal at Slinger High School and he turned it over to authorities.

Old charges like this are problematic. It’s been over 15 years, after all. Evidence is very hard to verify. But clearly the DA thought there was enough there to charge.