MENOMINEE — Brian Helfert, a former deputy with the Menominee County Sheriff’s Department, was sentenced Thursday in Menominee County 41st Circuit Court to 9 to 15 years in prison after he was found guilty in December of second-degree criminal sexual conduct when armed with a weapon.
The courtroom of 20 to 25 people was as hushed as a church service when Helfert entered 15 minutes early, ahead of the sentencing. Then, the victim and his family filed into the jury seating.
“I’m obviously very happy with the outcome here, but the reason it was obtained is because of the bravery of the victim,” said Menominee County Prosecuting Attorney Jeffrey Rogg. “That’s the person that should get the credit.”
And that’s who did.
“I would first like to say how proud I am of my son,” said the victim’s dad after providing a photograph to the defense of his 14-year-old son. The sentencing was already almost two hours underway at that point.
Trent Stupak, Helfert’s attorney, had just asked Judge Mary Barglind, presiding over the case, not to hear any further victim statements — the father was following his son on the podium. Barglind allowed the testimony.
The father mentioned a black cloud of grief that eventually passed over him after his dad died 10 years ago.
“Well, in this case, I’m still waiting,” he said. “That cloud’s been awful stubborn. I hope some day, to have a day when I have no thought of you or your crime. None. You will be forgotten.”
The statements from the father were the peak of the sentencing, with Barglind visibly emotional.
During her sentencing, she mentioned Helfert was a “wolf in sheep’s clothing.”
“This is a situation, Mr. Helfert, where you engaged in an extensive web of lies, a grooming process that went on for a very lengthy period of time,” Barglind said.
She said violent offenses fall into two categories — one where someone attacks with a violent weapon and is a clear aggressor.
“Those situations are almost less reprehensible than what we have here,” Barglind said, referencing the second type of violent offense, where the attack is not clear.
Stupak spoke on Helfert’s record — a sheriff’s deputy for 29 years, a volunteer, no history of alcohol or substance abuse, and no record of any discipline at the facilities he’s been serving time in.
He said he would probably not be representing Helfert, but assumed that he would appeal. He said he would determine whether to be Helfert’s trial attorney in the 49 dismissed cases that were mentioned during the sentencing — evidence of Helfert’s good standing.
The judge affirmed Stupak’s objections to some of the variables in the case, which will be used in the appeal, Stupak said. He added that jury trials are important in a case like this, which was largely based on testimony.
“A jury ultimately makes a determination that results in a sentencing,” Stupak said. “I felt strongly that there was reasonable doubt in the evidence, that Mr. Helfert had an opportunity to be acquitted of the charge.”
Had it not been for Helfert’s prior spotless record, the incidents wouldn’t have been as shocking, which was all the more reason for the punishment. Barglind said she had a previous murder case where the guilty party was sentenced to 20 years, and they had a prior criminal record of zero.
“To protect and serve — the oath you took as a police officer,” the victim’s father said. “You chose to betray both. You chose to traumatize school boys.”
During junior year, Helfert would lock the boy and himself in a smaller room for 1-on-1 tutoring. Helfert checked the boy’s privates for lumps and applied after shave to his groin area. He pushed the boy to expose his privates, after a “repeated, almost forceful, pushing, pushing, pushing by an adult, tutor, police officer,” Barglind said. The incidents led to fondling and the use of ointment.
“This was all a progression of very slow, methodical, manipulative, premeditated progression,” Barglind said.
Rogg, representing the victim, said he knew Helfert in a friendly, professional capacity.
“I was as shocked as anybody when this came out,” Rogg said. “You know what half of the community said? ‘I don’t believe it. This can’t be. Brian Helfert wouldn’t do this.’ Ok? That’s the degree of trust you enjoyed in this community.”
The victim opened his statements by discussing the perceptions of police officers and how he was confused when confronted with realizing what Helfert had done.
“At the time, I thought I was the only person who had been victimized,” he said. “Also, I thought he, as a police officer, could do no wrong. He wouldn’t be doing these things if he didn’t care about me.”
Previous testimony of two other male teenage victims was read at the trial last year. They supported this victim’s testimony. The EagleHerald does not publish names of sexual assault victims without their permission.
Helfert has another case in July.
“Once I learned I was not the only person, I became angry and also had feelings of guilt,” he said. “Angry at myself for allowing the victimization to get as far as it did, and guilty that I did not have the strength to come forward sooner and spare the other families the same pain.”
He said he is now seeking a therapist once a week to process what he went through, so he can begin to develop trust with others in his life again.
“I am a better person for not quitting on what I know was the right thing to do,” he said. “I am a better person for myself, my wife, my children and my community.”
Barglind spoke directly to the victim during the end of the sentencing, with personal experience of raising a teenager.
“You have a lot to be proud of, and you have nothing to be shameful for. Nothing,” Barglind said. “You did nothing wrong in this situation, and you did everything right. Those weren’t calls that you could or should have had to make back then.”
There was a discussion at the hearing that Helfert hadn’t shown remorse to the victim.
“This court can dispense earthly justice. This court can punish you for your crime, but it cannot regulate your values or morality. I believe your punishment is yet to come,” the victim’s father said.
After delivering those words, he turned away from Helfert on his left and toward his family on his right.
“I want to end the same way as I began: I’m proud of you, son.”
When offered the chance to make a statement, following the father’s testimony, Helfert declined.
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