APPLETON (NBC 26) — One day after Appleton police released more than 50 pages of investigative reports involving former St. Francis Xavier principal Mike Mauthe, officials explained their decision to not refer criminal charges in the matter.
"To further investigate Mr. Mauthe’s behavior, we would need a victim to come forward who can provide evidence of a criminal act," Police Chief Polly Olson said in an email to NBC 26. "There are instances where we investigate reported incidents that may involve unethical, immoral, and inappropriate behavior. We are limited to enforcing the law, not policing immoral behavior."
On Wednesday, police released the records of their months-long investigation into Mauthe relating to reports of inappropriate communication with students.
Watch NBC 26's Pari Apostolakos' report from Thursday below:
NBC 26 received the documents through an open records request. Last November, the St. Francis Xavier Catholic School System terminated Mauthe, citing violations of Diocese policy. But he was not charged after the investigation ended earlier this month.
According to police, the investigation began last November when Mauthe decided to resign from Xavier and then accepted a job at St. Mary Catholic High School. Records show someone complained about the hiring, citing concerns about Mauthe’s behavior, leading to an investigation by the Catholic Diocese of Green Bay and ultimately police.
Diocese staff, records show, provided police with 200 emails from Mauthe to a female Xavier student – who had since graduated -- from a single month.
The diocese explained that kind of communication lasted for more than a year, saying it took place at all times of day, was excessive and included requests for the student to “hang out” with Mauthe instead of attending class.
Police say they were interested in finding any emails that would suggest criminal behavior.
Excerpts from emails, written by Mauthe, and provided by police, included:
“So you know how I hate sharing you … and you obviously know what buttons to press to make me chase you harder. Does it bother you if I am talking to other people? Do you fell [sic] any sense of jealousy/ reluctance to share ore [sic] is that jus [sic] a me problem?”
In another email, Mauthe wrote: “I like how somehow your song email makes me fell [sic] like I am not good enough, let you down, failed you, am basically a puppy who gets only one treat because he went outside once but in the house the rest of the time.”
Records also show emails included conversations with the student regarding sexual contact with her boyfriend and Mauthe giving advice to limit “basement time” to “avoid sexual contact.”
Diocese staff told police that the student’s mother had confronted Mauthe on more than one occasion to tell him to stop texting her daughter because she believed it was inappropriate.
An investigator spoke with the student, then a freshman in college, to ask how she felt about the relationship with Mauthe while she was at Xavier. The student, according to records, told police the relationship was “unhealthy for me and manipulative and hurt the way I see things; I don’t think it was good.”
The student told police she had communicated with Mauthe until October of last year before she blocked him. She also told police nothing sexual ever occurred between her and Mauthe and that sexual photos were never exchanged.
According to records, the student also told police Mauthe had helped her friend with a "questionable home life" with loans and getting into college.
In a phone conversation, the student told police that she didn’t believe Mauthe ever did anything sexually with any student, but it was more “just like, like mental manipulation.”
In the records release, an investigator said they chose not to execute a search warrant on Mauthe's work computer because the case did not meet the criminal level.
Last year, after he was terminated, Mauthe issued a response on social media, saying in part:
“I am not a victim. I broke a policy and accept the consequence for doing so. No excuses, no caveats. During my career, I did not always maintain the proper boundaries of communication. That responsibility was mine. I need to be better, and I own my failures for any times that I’ve fallen short of who I strive to be.”
NBC 26 has reached out to Mauthe for comment multiple times but he has not responded to our requests.
