Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss

Green Bay Packer Chmura..child molester?

77 views
Skip to first unread message

AGC Queen

unread,
Apr 14, 2000, 3:00:00 AM4/14/00
to
http://www.jsonline.com/packer/news/apr00/1chmura12041100.asp
By Linda Spice and Steven Walters
of the Journal Sentinel staff

In the aftermath of allegations that he sexually assaulted a teenage girl,
Green Bay Packers tight end Mark Chmura, with his boy-next-door good looks, has
gone from coveted public relations draw and prospective politician to pariah.

No sooner had the news broken that Chmura, 31, and friend Robert Gessert, 42,
had been arrested in the sexual assault of two teenagers at a post-prom party
than sponsors of a youth football camp featuring Chmura distanced themselves
from the player.

Meanwhile in the state Capitol, officials said Chmura's arrest may have ruined
any future career in Wisconsin politics.

"This would be seriously damaging to anyone's political aspirations, except
maybe Bill Clinton's," said Kevin Keane, executive assistant to Gov. Tommy G.
Thompson.

It was "common knowledge" in the Capitol that Chmura was interested in seeking
state or national office after his playing career ended, Keane said.

Chmura has been an outspoken Republican. He actively supported Bob Dole in the
1996 presidential race and boycotted the Packers' White House visit with
President Clinton in 1997.

On Jan. 20, Chmura was the keynote speaker at a Waukesha fund-raising dinner to
benefit the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee, which will bankroll GOP
legislative candidates in the November elections. The event raised more than
$100,000.

Although Chmura was quoted in 1998 as saying Thompson often sent him letters
asking him to run for Congress, a review Tuesday of three letters from the
governor to the player did not include any mention of a second career in
politics.

Keane said he did not know whether Thompson had ever personally encouraged
Chmura to enter politics.

While Assembly Republicans used Chmura Jan. 20 to help raise funds, there were
no additional appearances scheduled on the party's behalf before he was
arrested, Assembly Majority Leader Steve Foti (R-Oconomowoc) said Tuesday. Now
there will not be any effort to use him in any way, added Foti, suggesting the
arrest "puts a severe blow" to any prospect that GOP activists would solicit
Chmura's help in the future.

Tuesday, sponsors of what was to have been the Mark Chmura Youth Football Camp
were scrambling to find other players to run the June event.

Green Bay Experience Inc. of Green Bay had intended to sponsor the camp at
Cudahy High School for the second year with Chmura's involvement.

But Cudahy School District Superintendent Nancy Gurrie said: "It looks like
they will be working with other named athletes. We are interested in working
with the Green Bay Experience to make it a camp that is desirable for our
children.

"We are going to work on a plan to continue the youth football camp. We want
the best role models available to our young people."

Officials with the Green Bay Experience did not return phone calls seeking
comment.

District Attorney Paul Bucher said Tuesday that it might be a month before he
decides whether to file sexual assault charges against Chmura and Gessert, who
had sponsored Saturday night's post-prom party, which involved underage
drinking.

"Don't expect anything soon, unless there's some significant development in the
case we're not aware of that would require us to act immediately," Bucher said.

Bucher said he might not file charges until May 15, when Chmura and Gessert
next appear in court.

Both men were arrested Monday at their Hartland homes and appeared before a
court commissioner, who released each of them on $5,000 cash bail. Bucher told
the court commissioner he is considering charging both men with third-degree
sexual assault, a felony.

Bucher said Tuesday that he had fielded at least 10 phone calls from angry
residents who questioned "why this post-prom party even occurred."

"They talked about the presence of adults and the prominence of Mark Chmura,"
Bucher said of the callers.

Chmura attended a party Saturday night at Gessert's home that was attended by
15 to 20 youths after the Catholic Memorial High School prom.

The teens who attended the party, including those who told police they were
assaulted, are friends of Gessert's daughter.

According to court documents, Chmura and Gessert played drinking games with the
teens. Wearing only underwear, the two men joined a girl, 17, and a woman, 18,
in a hot tub.

Chmura is accused of later having sexual intercourse with the 17-year-old girl
in a bathroom. The girl told police that Chmura "said nothing at all while this
was occurring, that she said nothing to him and she was in a state of shock,"
court documents say.

Gessert had sexual contact with an 18-year-old woman, court documents say.

Both cases involved non-consensual sex, according to court documents.

If convicted of third-degree sexual assault, Chmura and Gessert each would face
a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Authorities say
Chmura could face a second count of having sexual intercourse with a child
because his accuser is younger than 18.

Gerald Boyle, Chmura's attorney, acknowledged Tuesday that his client was at
the Gessert house, but he was waiting to see what evidence authorities could
present that an assault occurred.

"I won't deny that he was in that house. . . . There's no concession to
anything else," Boyle said. "I'm trying to see what this (evidence) shows and
then how Mr. Bucher looks at it."

Although Boyle said Chmura has not admitted to having had sex with the
17-year-old girl, the attorney raised the prospect of a lesser charge in the
case.

The issue of consent could be key, Boyle said.

"That's one of the things that's going to be very important," Boyle said. "The
other thing that's going to be very important is what the evidence shows took
place."

He noted that while a felony charge of third-degree sexual assault involves
non-consensual sex, a case of consensual sex between an adult and 17-year-old
would be a misdemeanor.

Gessert's attorney, Mark Kent, said: "We are going to sit back and wait to see
what the investigation reveals."

Bucher said his office would handle the case like any other and assured the
public no preferential treatment would be shown Chmura or Gessert, who owns a
firm that does communications work for the pharmaceutical and medical
industries.

"We are scrutinizing it more because of the (public) perception" that a
prominent figure may receive preferential treatment, Bucher said. "The
perception is their reality. We're examining it every step of the way."

Hartland Police Chief Morton Hetznecker said Tuesday that his officers had
completed interviews with students who had attended the party.

"Everybody is going through a very difficult time," Hetznecker said, noting
that many of the students confirmed underage drinking had occurred at the
Gessert home.

He said that the incident has pointed to "the need of parents to know where
their children are going and know the potential of what's awaiting them when
they get there."

The chief said the two students who made the allegations shouldn't be blamed
for what might have happened.

"What people need to do is wait this thing out and let the system do its job,
and see to it that the system does its job, and then start making decisions
rather than getting into camps of ignorance," Hetznecker said.

"The problem with too many of these things is the victims are made to start
believing that they did something wrong. People certainly don't invite being
assaulted."

Sam Martino of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
* * *
http://www.jsonline.com/packer/news/apr00/mark13041200.asp
By Linda Spice and Steven Walters
of the Journal Sentinel staff

Hartland Police Chief Morton Hetznecker said Wednesday that his department will
seek criminal charges for alcohol violations against Green Bay Packers tight
end Mark Chmura and a neighbor, both of whom already are embroiled in a sexual
assault investigation.

The Hartland Police Department is seeking criminal charges for alcohol
violations against Mark Chmura.

Hetznecker said that he will ask the Waukesha County district attorney's office
to charge Chmura, 31, and Robert J. Gessert, 42, with alcohol violations
connected to Saturday's post-prom party at Gessert's home, where authorities
say there was underage drinking.

But the chief said that police lacked enough evidence to issue tickets or
request charges against the 15 to 20 youths who attended the bash, which
followed the Catholic Memorial High School prom.

"With what occurred and who was there, we most likely will not be charging any
of the kids because of the lack of solid evidence against them," Hetznecker
said, noting that police were not in a position to conduct breath tests or take
blood samples shortly after the party.

Hetznecker said the admission of some of the teens that they were drinking is
not sufficient evidence for issuing tickets.

The chief declined to specify the nature of the alcohol-related allegations
against the two men but did note that neither is accused of procuring the
alcohol for the party. He said some of the youths brought liquor to the
gathering at Gessert's home.

Both Gessert and Chmura live in the posh Bristlecone Pines subdivision in
Hartland.

Although police are not seeking charges against the students, the district
attorney's office could decide to charge them.

District Attorney Paul Bucher was out of the country Wednesday and unavailable
for comment.

Hetznecker said he would pass on information from his investigation to
officials at Catholic Memorial High School, who have said they will launch
their own inquiry into the drinking allegations.

Also Wednesday, Chmura's attorney, Gerald Boyle, said he has advised his client
to "try to live as natural and normal life as he can."

"I think that we all know that one has the tendency to want to retreat into a
shell when these things are going on," Boyle said. "I think anybody would, but
I don't think he's going to. He isn't running. He isn't in need of any type of
professional help. He's handling it. He knows what happened and now what we've
got to do is wait until the investigation is done and the facts are analyzed."

Boyle's said Chmura's wife, Lynda, "is right there with him."

"It's pretty clear that this is like a bombshell going off, but they're doing
OK," Boyle said. "They've got each other . . . They're doing fine, but it's
tough.

"He knows how bad it is and is hoping to God it turns around and we have to
wait and see what the developments are. It's devastating. You try to tell them
to have faith in the system, that people are fair."

Meanwhile Wednesday, Gov. Tommy G. Thompson in Madison said he did not expect
the allegations against Chmura to influence the pending state Assembly vote to
approve a financial package to rebuild Lambeau Field or the team's request that
Brown County voters approve a local 0.5% sales tax to help pay for the $295
million renovation.

"I don't think that one player is going to have that much of an impact on the
Packers winning or losing" the Brown County referendum, Thompson said.

"The legislation, hopefully, will pass in the Assembly."

Thompson added: "The Packer team will have to make a decision as to how they
deal with Mark Chmura."

Assembly leaders say they expect the Assembly to agree on the Senate-passed
Lambeau Field renovation package and send it to Thompson's desk for his
signature when the Legislature returns to the Capitol in early May.

Chmura has been an outspoken Republican who had been mentioned as a possible
candidate for state or federal office after his playing career ends.

According to court documents, Chmura and Gessert played drinking games with the
teens at the party that continued into Sunday morning. Wearing only underwear,
the two men joined a girl, 17, and a woman, 18, in a hot tub.

Chmura is accused of later having sexual intercourse with the 17-year-old girl
in a bathroom. An 18-year-old woman told police Gessert had sexual contact with
her, court documents say.

Both the alleged victims are friends of Gessert's daughter.

Court documents allege that in each case, the sex was non-consensual.

Both men were arrested early Monday and appeared before a court commissioner,
who released each of them on $5,000 bail. Bucher, the district attorney, has
said he is considering charging both with third-degree sexual assault.

If convicted of that charge, Chmura and Gessert each would face a maximum
penalty of 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Authorities say Chmura could
face a second count of having sexual intercourse with a child, because his
accuser is younger than 18.

The parents of the 17-year-old girl have declined to comment. The mother of the
18-year-old woman referred a reporter's questions to the family's attorney,
James Gutglass.

Gutglass said: "The only thing I would be prepared to tell you at this point is
that my role right now is to assist my client in providing an atmosphere of
sensitivity and understanding for her as she cooperates fully with the legal
system and the DA's investigation, and that's really where things are at."

Before his arrest, Chmura and the Milwaukee Mustangs of the Arena Football
League had been having discussions about the tight end working as a commentator
for the team's televised games, said J.C. Dawkins, the Mustangs' director of
media relations.

"It had been discussed, but we never actually presented him with a contract,"
Dawkins said. "We never officially signed him to do the job."

Dawkins said he did not know whether Chmura was still under consideration for
the job when the news of his arrest broke. Dawkins also said he did not know
whether Chmura was still being considered for the job.

Mike Johnson of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.
* * *
http://www.jsonline.com/packer/comm/apr00/baumcol12041100.asp
Michael Bauman

We begin, of course, with the fundamentally American principle that Mark Chmura
is innocent until proved otherwise.

If subsequent events prove that innocence, then perhaps, somehow, it will all
go away; the allegations of sexual assault against a 17-year-old girl, sexual
assault against a child, for the purposes of the law.

Perhaps, somehow, given good health, he could resume his career, playing tight
end for the Green Bay Packers, making crunching blocks, catching passes, being
Brett Favre's security blanket.

But if any of this sticks, the very least you could say about Mark Chmura is
that he is a world-class hypocrite.

In fact, even without a finding of guilt, you can start leaning in that
direction.

Michael Bauman started as an investigative reporter for the Milwaukee Journal
in 1977, a Journal magazine writer in 1981, a sports writer covering the
Brewers and Packers in 1982 and a sports columnist in 1985. Among his awards,
he was named 1989 Wisconsin Sportswriter of the Year and in 1987 the best
columnist by the Milwaukee Press Club.

This is an individual who has spent much of his adult life posing for holy
pictures. He has repeatedly struck the pose. Mr. Family Values. Mr. Solid
Citizen. Mr. Morality.

He has been a United Way spokesman. Very nice. He has done charitable work with
Children's Hospital and Big Brothers / Big Sisters, among other organizations.
Truly commendable.

And here's the topper: He refused to meet with the president of the United
States, because the president of the United States did not come up to Mark
Chmura's lofty moral standards. He not only refused this meeting, he loudly
refused it.

Many of us agree with the essence of that position. Many of us believe that
William Jefferson Clinton is not possessed of enough moral standing to hold the
highest office in the land.

But here's the difference: Many of us will not be found in a hot tub in the
early morning hours, pouring booze into two teenage girls.

If even portions of these allegations are true, what you have here, the
31-year-old man at the post-prom party, is a sordid, sleazy story. In the world
of despicable conduct, the intern in the Oval Office cannot fully compare to
this kind of degradation.

In this regard, the reaction of Chmura's employers, the Green Bay Packers, was
instructive. The easiest thing, the most routine thing, for a sports
organization to do in similar circumstances, if there can ever be similar
circumstances, is to respond by saying something like this:

"This is a legal matter. We will decline comment until this process has run its
course."

The Packers, very pointedly, did not take that route. Their statement was
necessarily measured but it did express the needed sentiment:

"As an organization we are disappointed that Mark Chmura is involved in the
type of situation that has been reported."

The Green Bay organization has evolved from the days when Forrest Gregg spent
all of his limited credibility going to the wall for Mossy Cade, before and
after Cade was convicted of sexual assault. This statement, at least, embodies
a sense of the public responsibility that a sports franchise carries. Part of
that responsibility lies in the members of that organization conducting
themselves with a reasonable level of decency.

Whether the allegations of sexual assault hold up, the circumstances of this
story put Mr. Morality in a very bad light. They suggest conduct far beneath
that reasonable level of decency. They suggest the cheap, contemptible stuff of
pornographic movies.

People all over the state are asking about Mark Chmura's future. Here's a
parallel line of inquiry that to some of us carries at least as much weight:
What about the alleged victim, the child? What is her future? What happens to
her after this?

Yes, it remains conceivable that Mr. Chmura's innocence could be established
and he could resume his career. But it could also turn out that he will be
remembered not as a tight end but as one more somebody who was living a lie.


Send email to: PUSSS...@aol.com

AGC Queen

unread,
Apr 17, 2000, 3:00:00 AM4/17/00
to
http://www.jsonline.com/news/wauk/apr00/chmura17041600a.asp
By Carrie Antlfinger

of the Journal Sentinel staff

Held captive by their Packers boosterism, four Waukesha County corrections
officers obtained autographs from jailed tight end Mark Chmura, including one
on a copy of his mug shot, Sheriff William Kruziki said Sunday.

When confronted with the breach of professional conduct, the officers turned in
the autographs and were disciplined with written or verbal reprimands, Kruziki
said. A fifth officer was disciplined for printing out the mug shot that Chmura
signed.

"We took real swift and decisive action," Kruziki said. "They've all been there
long enough to know better.

"When they were approached, they were embarrassed and admitted they did the
wrong thing, which to me shows their character. They were all mature enough and
professional enough to say we did a wrong thing."

The officers asked Chmura for his autograph during the 12 hours he was jailed
last Monday after being accused of sexual assaulting a 17-year-old girl at a
post-prom party.

District Attorney Paul Bucher has said that Chmura, 31, and neighbor Robert J.
Gessert, 42, could be charged with third-degree sexual assault.

Chmura and Gessert joined the 17-year-old girl and an 18-year-old woman in a
hot tub during a party at Gessert's Hartland home, according to court
documents. About 20 students from Catholic Memorial High School in Waukesha
attended the event, which went into the wee hours of April 9.

Chmura is accused of having sexual intercourse with the 17-year-old girl in a
bathroom. The 18-year-old told police that Gessert had sexual contact with her,
court documents say.

Chmura and Gessert were arrested last Monday at their Hartland homes and
jailed. Chmura and Gessert appeared before a court commissioner and were
released later that day on $5,000 bail.

Four corrections officers asked for and obtained Chmura's autograph on sheets
of paper, and a fifth produced a copy of his mug shot, which the Green Bay
tight end signed, Kruziki said.

None of the five officers - two women and three men - was suspended.

During roll call that day, the captain on duty warned jail personnel not to ask
for autographs.

"After roll call, someone came up to her and said, 'Too late,' " Kruziki said.

Kruziki said that by the end of the day, the captain had identified the five
corrections officers, all of whom had left for the day. The officers later
turned over the autographs.

Had they balked at doing so, they could have been fired, he said.

Kruziki said the officers got caught up in Chmura's celebrity status.

"All the officers are really good officers," Kruziki said. "If it would have
been problem officers, they may have gotten more" punishment.

Kruziki was unsure what he would do with the autographs.

Chmura's attorney, Gerald Boyle, said he first heard about the autographs when
a reporter inquired about the matter. He said he wasn't surprised Chmura
accommodated the requests.

"He has always been a very gentlemanly fella," Boyle said Sunday.

After speaking with Chmura, Boyle said: "He certainly was not taking things
lightly when he was" in jail.

"It's too bad they are going to be disciplined. He feels very bad that those
poor guys got in trouble."


Send email to: PUSSS...@aol.com

0 new messages