Ex-band director charged
He is accused of student sex assault
The retired band director from Slinger High School has been charged with sexually assaulting a student in 2000, and detectives are now investigating the possible assault of a second victim.
The initial victim, now in her 30s, told investigators that when she was a student in the fall of 2000, David Hanke invited her to his home in Hartford after school one day, offered her beer and then suggested she remove her clothing so he could give her a massage. The massage turned into an assault, the woman told police, but she was afraid and froze.
Child victims have until they are 45 years old to report sexual abuse, meaning the statute of limitations had not run out, even though the incident was nearly 17 years ago.
She and Hanke never mentioned the incident and remained friends at school, but she never returned to his home, according to the complaint.
But in the fall of 2001, Hanke came to visit her in college. They went to dinner, had cocktails and Hanke took her to his hotel instead of back to her dorm. At the hotel, she said, she pretended to sleep and Hanke touched her inappropriately but stopped as soon she acted startled.
She told police Hanke acted the next morning as though nothing had happened and she never spoke to him again.
Letters to principal
In 2004 or 2005, the woman said, she wrote an anonymous letter to Slinger High School’s principal.
This year, she wrote to the principal again but with her name and details of her claims.
Slinger Schools Superintendent Daren Sievers said Hanke worked in the district from 1975 to 2012, and then as a substitute until the woman’s letter arrived in May. Sievers said school officials immediately turned the letter over to the Washington County Sheriff’s Office.
Sievers said the charge shocked and concerned the Slinger schools community because Hanke had been such a longtime, valued staff member.
“We are in the business of educating students and ensuring they have a safe and supportive place to learn,” Sievers said in an email. “It is deeply troubling to know a student alleges that this happened, and we have nothing but compassion and support for this former student if these allegations are found to be true.”
The 66-year-old Hanke made his initial court appearance Wednesday on a count of sexual assault of a student by school staff. He is free on $2,500 bail and may not have unsupervised contact with girls under 16 or with the victim or another person identified only by initials. His next court hearing is set for Jan. 30.
Sheriff’s Capt. Martin Schulteis said that after Hanke’s arrest, but before charges were filed, a second possible victim contacted the Sheriff’s Office, which is now investigating that report about Hanke.