BRIAN HELFERT

MENOMINEE — A former Menominee County Sheriff’s Office sergeant and school resource officer accused of sexually assaulting an individual over a six-year span was bound over to circuit court Monday.

Brian Helfert, 57, of Menominee, will face nine of the 11 felonies he initially had been charged with as well as seven additional felonies after Menominee County District Judge Robert Jamo determined there was probable cause to support the charges.

Jamo bound Helfert over Monday morning after almost six hours of testimony during a preliminary examination Friday, Menominee County Prosecuting Attorney Jeffrey Rogg said.

“We accomplished our objective at the preliminary exam by getting the case bound over for trial in the circuit court,” Rogg said in an interview. “I commend the absolute courage of the victim in reporting the assaults and testifying in court. We should all be so brave.”

Helfert is charged with child sexually abusive activity, a felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison; eight counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, punishable by life or any number of years in prison; three counts each of second-degree criminal sexual conduct and third-degree criminal sexual conduct, both 15-year penalties; and gross indecency between males as a sexually delinquent person, a felony punishable between one day and life in prison.

Two counts of assault with intent to commit sexual penetration, a 10-year-felony, were not bound over.

Helfert will be arraigned June 7. Bond is set at $250,000, cash or surety.

According to the criminal complaint, Helfert sexually assaulted the individual on a number of occasions between April 2013 and December 2019.

Helfert — then a juvenile crime investigator and school resource officer for Menominee Area Public Schools — reportedly told the individual not to speak about the incidents.

The individual, who was 15 years old when the assaults reportedly began, came to Menominee Police Department officers in October after learning of Helfert’s plea in an earlier case involving a 16-year-old male MAPS student, the complaint stated.

Helfert had been charged in January 2020 with two counts of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in Menominee County Circuit Court, but pleaded no contest in October to the attempted accosting of a minor for immoral purposes, a high court misdemeanor punishable by up to two years in prison. He was sentenced to six months in jail in December.

“I am actively seeking any additional potential victims of Mr. Helfert to come forward, as those cases can and will be prosecuted by me,” Rogg said, adding those who wish to come forward can contact his office at 906-863-2002 or Det. Sgt. Jason McGhee at the Menominee Police Department, 906-863-5568.