(Photo by Anna Ihland / Wisconsin State Legislature)
MADISON, Wis. — State Rep. Amanda Nedweski testified Tuesday in support of legislation she authored that would make grooming a child for sexual misconduct a felony under Wisconsin law, arguing current statutes allow predators to escape meaningful punishment.
The proposal, Assembly Bill 677, received a public hearing before the Assembly Committee on Criminal Justice and Public Safety. The bill would, for the first time, create a criminal definition of grooming in Wisconsin law and impose significant penalties on adults who engage in predatory behavior toward children .
(Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office)
Under the legislation, grooming would be defined as a course of conduct or pattern of behavior intended to condition, seduce, or entice a child for sexual activity or exploitation. A conviction would carry, at minimum, a Class G felony, punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and would require sex-offender registration .
Nedweski said the lack of a specific grooming statute has left children vulnerable and families without justice, even in cases where warning signs were clear.
The legislation follows widespread reporting on allegations of sexual misconduct in Wisconsin schools and was heavily influenced by the case of Christian Enwright, a former Kenosha schoolteacher accused of grooming a 14-year-old student over a two-year period. According to testimony referenced by Nedweski, Enwright exchanged thousands of Snapchat messages with the student, including more than 600 in a single week, many of them sexual in nature. Despite the volume of evidence, he was charged only with misdemeanor disorderly conduct counts and faces at most one year in jail .
(Kenosha County DA’s Office)
Nedweski was joined at the hearing by Michael Karp, the attorney representing Enwright’s victim, who testified in support of the bill.
If enacted, Wisconsin would join several other states — including Florida, Illinois, Ohio, and Texas — that have adopted anti-grooming laws in recent years. Nedweski said the proposal is the result of months of discussions with prosecutors, law-enforcement officials, parents, and victim advocates who emphasized the need for earlier intervention tools .
Nedweski also cited support from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, saying a clear criminal definition of grooming is critical to addressing predatory behavior that often occurs in school settings. While the bill is not limited to any single profession, she said it reflects a growing recognition that grooming is a serious and under-addressed problem.
“Protecting children from sexual abuse should never be partisan,” Nedweski said during her testimony, adding that adults who exploit positions of trust — whether as teachers, coaches, or family friends — should face severe consequences under the law .
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
7 Responses
Let this be a loud and clear message to KUSD hiring teachers. Parents and grandparents want background checks on teachers before hiring them. We have had to many situations in 2025 with teachers behaviors! Some principals as well hiding information from the parents in the school they are the head of.
What a stupid comment about running background checks!! They already do this, but all of these teachers don’t have any record for grooming or whatever.
What KUSD needs to do is call the police, make a record of it and then fire them instead of letting them all resign without any consequences and they go on and do the same thing at a different school and a new student!!
… but no teacher anywhere should be allowed to resign in lieu of firing. Not gonna happen !
Everyone leaves a trail when working on the taxpayer dime.
You want to quit without being charged ?
Work in the private sector.
Once you agree to take a government pay check all the rules should be different.
Accept that
It’s astounding to me how many liberals are blowing this off and non supportive of this major issue that should have bipartisan support! WTF is in their closets?!?!
This Enwright character is a real skin waster, isn’t he.
Thank you Amanda. Nice to see someone giving a dam.
Its weird that no parent hasn’t ever gone after these pedos. You fuckers would know my name if God forbid, that shit came my family’s way. They should be hung, publicly, in front of the courthouse.