Pedophile on the loose

Former teacher guilty of sexual abuse released Stephen Wierenga was convicted of assaulting student at South in 2003

By Eric LaRoseSheboygan Press Staff

A former South High School teacher who was convicted of sexually assaulting one of his students has been released from prison.

Stephen Wierenga, 59, was sentenced in March 2003 to four years in prison for sexually assaulting one of his students, child enticement and possession of child pornography.
Sheboygan Police Department officials said Thursday that Wierenga was released on parole May 3 and is living in the 500 block of Erie Avenue. Police said they would have notified the public sooner but they just received notification of his release.

Wierenga had 70 to 80 sexual encounters with a male student, beginning when the boy was 14, over a 3 1/2-year period, according to the criminal complaint. After allegations surfaced, investigators seized and searched Wieren-ga’s computer and found eight images of child pornography. He pleaded no contest to charges on four of them.

A 35-year-veteran of the Sheboygan Area School District, Wierenga resigned in February 2002 from his language arts teacher post at South High.

Because Wierenga's offenses pre-dated Wisconsin's truth in sentencing law, he was eligible for parole after a quarter of his term and was up for mandatory release after two-thirds of his sentence.

He will be under 24-hour electronic monitoring.

As part of his parole, Wierenga is to have no contact with minors or the victim, he is not allowed to consume alcohol, he must comply with all sex offender rules and he must comply with the Wisconsin Sex Offender Registration Program for the rest of his life.

Police are stressing that Wierenga has served the sentence imposed on him and he is not wanted by police at this time.

For more information on Wierenga’s release, call the Sheboygan Police Department Community Policing Unit at 459-3341.

Reach Eric LaRose at elarose@sheboygan-press.com and 453-5167.
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READERS RESPOND

“I am stunned that a pedophile has been released into our community after serving about half of his sentence. Stephen Wierenga was in a position of trust and authority when he sexually abused a 14-year-old South High Student. The student was abused for 3 1/2 years. The sentence handed down was only four years. Wierenga is already out of prison. Who knows how many more years of therapy and help the youth will need to make sense of his abuse? The real crime is that so little punishment was required for robbing a child of his peace of mind. Shame on our judiciary. Shame on the law. Indeed, shame on us for allowing this to happen.”
— Mountain Lover