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 pleaded not guilty June 7 in Menominee County Circuit Court.

Brian Helfert, 57, of Menominee, 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.

Helfert waived arraignment and was not required to appear in court in person. The not guilty pleas were entered on Helfert’s behalf by Chief Circuit Judge Mary Barglind.

A pre-trial conference is set for July 2.

According to the criminal complaint, Helfert sexually assaulted an 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 — told the individual not to speak about the incidents, the complaint states.

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, according to the complaint.

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.