Victims’ Bravery Puts Predator Behind Bars

A former teacher and repeat child sexual predator accepted a plea deal for 10 years in prison last week in Fayette County District Court.

Vincent Wayne Michaelsen, 53, pleaded guilty to two charges, sexual assault of a child and indecency with a child by sexual contact, both second degree felonies which carry a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison.

The charges stem from the years-long abuse of a local young woman, Mckenna Head, who turns 21 on April 6. Head said that Michaelsen sexually groomed her from the age of 10 while he was in a relationship with her mother.

“I want people to know that having a voice matters,” Head told the Record after the sentencing hearing last week. “Kinda like ‘See something, say something.’ I’m hoping my story will help others speak up not only for themselves but for those who can’t.”

Michaelsen appeared with his attorney in the district courtroom last Wednesday, March 19. District Judge Jeff Steinhauser read the charges and admonished him of his rights to a jury trial. Michaelsen waived his rights and pleaded guilty to both charges. Prosecutor James Herbrich recommended a sentence of 10 years for both charges, to be served concurrently. Steinhauser approved the plea deal and the sentence. Chief Deputy Randy Noviskie of the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office placed him in handcuffs. Steinhauser then called Mckenna Head to the witness stand to deliver a victim impact statement.

“Vincent Michaelsen is a pedophilic liar who deserves nothing but to simply spend the rest of his days behind bars,” Head said from the witness stand.

“I’ve been in therapy since 17 years old,” she added. “Confused, lost, and scared, I didn’t believe in my faith anymore.”

Head described how Michaelson got her “black out drunk” and then sexually assaulted her as a teenager. But she said the grooming started much earlier.

“I am the living proof that you don’t own me,” she said.

“I was 12 and scared, 14 and lost, 17 and moving out of the house he made a living hell for me.”

Head was in tears, at times screaming to Michaelsen as she read her statement. Her family was present in the courtroom, as were dozens of other people awaiting their turn at the bench for various legal matters, including several shackled inmates from the county jail, some with prison tattoos on their faces, who appeared to listen attentively.

“Vincent’s fear of being in prison is coming to life,” Head said. “I pray for when your time comes, God fills you with fear you’ve never felt before. You have a special place in hell waiting for you.”

Another victim, Rebecca Peeples of Tyler, also gave a victim impact statement last Wednesday. Peeples spoke about the abuse she suffered from Michaelsen more than 20 years ago when he was a teacher at Sweeny ISD.

“In December of 2002, when I was 14 years old and in the 8th grade, Vincent Michaelsen, my junior high band director, who was 32 years old, married, had two young children, was a youth volunteer at my church, and lived on the street next to mine, began a romantic ‘relationship’ with me, which I later came to learn was an elaborate grooming process,” Peeples said.

Peeples said Michaelsen groomed her through “verbal and written expressions” of a “future marriage” and “sexual encounters.” She said he gave her a promise ring, walkie talkies and a cell phone so they could communicate outside of school. Peeples said the grooming progressed to physical contact.

“In October 2003, after 10 months of this “relationship”, his wife at the time, called my parents to inform them that something was going on between him and I, which abruptly ended direct interaction between the two of us … At the time, I was devastated that it ended, because I thought I loved him, and he loved me.”

Peeples said her dad confronted him about the relationship.

“Vincent said I was flirting with him and initiating interactions with him,” Peeples said. “This made me furious.”

Peeples said her parents did not want her to go through the ordeal of a trial, so no criminal charges were brought against him at the time.

“I know that the school board was informed and that TEA did its own investigation into the situation, which led to his voluntary surrender of his teaching license,” she said.

Peeples spoke about her mental and emotional struggles over the past 20 years to understand “what the nature of this relationship was.”

“When I found out that he had indeed harmed others, in a strange way it validated my experience,” Peeples said. “However, it also sickened me with guilt that if charges had been brought when it initially happened that maybe it would have protected these others.”

Michaelsen stood in handcuffs as the two women read their statements, his head bowed toward the floor.

Peeples, who spoke last, said in the conclusion to her statement, “I have already seen how the Lord has redeemed my situation for good in many ways, but I also pray that it will bring about the protection of others from this man.”

Bailiffs led him out of the courtroom and took him away to begin serving his sentence.

Records from the Texas Education Agency show that Michaelsen voluntarily surrendered his teacher certification in March of 2004, as Peeples said in her statement. But curiously, Michaelsen’s name does not appear in the TEA’s Do Not Hire Registry.

Head told the Record that as far as she knew, Michaelsen had not worked as a teacher since the incident in Sweeny in 2003. She said he worked as an account executive for a life insurance company during the time he abused her.

On Wednesday, when Head was on the witness stand, she stated that Michaelsen “has not only ruined my life, but others who won’t be here today.”

Indeed, another local woman contacted the Record last Wednesday and said she is the mother of a third Michaelsen victim. The woman said Michaelsen sexually abused her daughter as well some years ago.

In addition, the woman said Michaelsen’s own daughter was prepared to testify as a witness against him in the case involving Head. For better or worse, neither a jury nor the public will get a chance to hear that testimony, since Michaelsen avoided trial with a plea deal.

“He is a serial predator,” the mother of the third victim said. “He meets justice today. May God have mercy on his soul as he serves this sentence out.”