Teacher back in jail on allegations she was at boy's home
By LAURIA LYNCH-GERMAN MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL

West Bend - A 31-year-old high school teacher was jailed and slapped with a new charge Friday, a day after authorities say she was found in bed with her former student in violation of a court order that forbids her from seeing the boy.

The 17-year-old boy was himself charged as an adult with misdemeanor obstructing justice and felony bail-jumping charges. The first charge accuses him of lying to police over the bed incident. The second refers to a condition of his release in an earlier drug case - a condition that he not engage in criminal activity.

West Bend West High School teacher Carla Paulsrud had been on the lam since Thursday afternoon, when the boy's stepfather alerted authorities that she was at the home. She turned herself in aroundnoon Friday.

Paulsrud had been charged Wednesday with five counts of sexual assault of a student on accusations of having more than 50 sexual encounters with the teenager, beginning when he was 16, in her SUV in the school parking lot, at her home on her husband's bowling nights and elsewhere.

She was released from custody Wednesday night on a $10,000 signature bond and ordered not to have any contact with the boy.

But according to the criminal complaint:

She was picked up outside the Washington County Jail by the 17-year-old and a friend and then went to her former student's Town of West Bend home. The stepfather found the pair in the boy's bedroom Thursday morning and, when he saw the woman again at the home later in the afternoon, called the Sheriff's Department.

Paulsrud and the boy then left over the stepfather's protests, reports say. The boy was pulled over in West Bend later, but Paulsrud was not with him.

The boy "denied being with Paulsrud, stated he did not see her and his parents were lying," the complaint says.

When a reporter called the 17-year-old's home Thursday, a man hung up without commenting. The teen's mother watched her son's court appearance Friday and would not comment.

Circuit Judge Patrick Faragher ordered the news media Friday not to identify the boy, saying that despite the adult charges, he is still considered a child and a victim in the sexual assault case. The judge warned that naming the boy would result in reporters being barred from future court sessions.

When Paulsrud appeared in court Friday afternoon to face the new bail-jumping charge, her lawyer said reporters were to blame for the now-suspended teacher's actions.

Lawyer Steven Kohn said Paulsrud was initially held in jail Wednesday night because she had an unpaid traffic ticket.

"The only person she knew to call was a young man, not the victim, your honor, and he said he would help," Kohn said, adding that the boy was called by the other person.

Paulsrud, in the meantime, was able to pay for the ticket with her credit card, Kohn said. She knew the media was waiting for her outside the jail "like a wolf pack ready to pounce," he said.

Before she could call for a cab, she was ushered out of the jail into the throng of lights and cameras, Kohn said.

"She literally ran into the cold night, and then she heard a honk," he said. "A vehicle pulled up and an individual and the victim were in the car. . . . She then made an ill-advised decision, and she got in the car.

"She felt she had nowhere else to go . . . that that was the only port in the storm."

Kohn said she went to the boy's home and had his parents' permission to stay. He said Paulsrud and the boy did not have sex that night.

He asked the judge to set a signature bond or a modest cash bail.

Washington County District Attorney Todd Martens urged a significant cash bail.

"Two days ago, she promised the court to follow the conditions of her bond, one of which was not to see the boy," Martens said. "It took her virtually no time at all to violate her bond and break her promise to this court."

The judge agreed.

"She willfully violated her bond the same day it was set, deliberately and immediately violated it and violated it in a way that echoes the very crime she is charged with," Faragher said.

He said that the boy was a child under the law and that his willingness to help Paulsrud was not an issue.

"To see that boy as a port in the storm, as defense counsel said, is a remarkably bad choice," Faragher said.

He then set bail for Paulsrud at $10,000. She remained in the Washington County Jail on Friday night.

About an hour after her court appearance, the 17-year-old appeared before Faragher to face his new charges.

Defense lawyer Paul Czisny said his client fancied himself in love with Paulsrud.

"I think foolishness is kind of a hallmark of being a 17-year-old," Czisny said. "It is not surprising that a young man who sees himself as being in love would be protective of the woman he loves."

Prosecutor Martens said the boy showed the same willingness to violate his bail as Paulsrud.

"As Carla Paulsrud walked out of jail, he picked her up, took her to his parents' home and kept her there," Martens said.

But the judge said that while the boy had apparently made a mistake, "he is not Ms. Paulsrud. He is a victim here."

He then set bail at $1,000.

If convicted of Friday's charges and the earlier drug charges, the teenager could face more than 12 years in prison.

Paulsrud could face 50 years in prison on the sexual assault charges and10 years on the bail-jumping charge.