Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Psychiatrist charged again - accused of sex assault involving adolescent patient

From the Journal Sentinel Online

A psychiatrist serving four years of probation for having a large collection of child pornography in his downtown Milwaukee apartment was charged Tuesday with sexually assaulting an adolescent patient in a Brookfield counseling center where he formerly practiced.

Eric B. Schwietering was charged in Waukesha County Circuit Court with sexual assault of a child under 16, a felony, in a criminal complaint that says the assault occurred between September 2005 and November 2006 when he was still associated with Cornerstone Counseling, 16535 W. Blue Mound Road.

The complaint says that the matter came to light recently when the boy, now 14 and living in Iowa, told his mother and a school official that he was assaulted by Schwietering, who specialized in treating children and adolescents. The complaint does not indicate why the boy was seeing Schwietering but does say that he saw the psychiatrist regularly for several months.

During one of the appointments, according to the boy, Schwietering questioned him about his sexual habits and asked him to disrobe, the complaint says. When the boy declined, according to the complaint, Schwietering climbed on top of him, partially disrobed him, then sexually assaulted him.

After the assault, Schwietering, now 41, told the boy not to reveal what occurred, warning that if he did so he would "hurt him really bad," the boy told police, according to the complaint.

In May, Schwietering was placed on four years of probation in Milwaukee County Circuit Court on two felony counts of possession of child pornography.

As part of his sentence, Schwietering, who pleaded guilty to the charges in February, was ordered to serve 45 days in jail.

That case stems from a raid in September 2006, when police seized more than a hundred pornographic video cassettes and DVDs, Schwietering's computer, and pipes and metal screens commonly used to smoke crack from a home in the 400 block of N. 3rd St. in Milwaukee.

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