PORT ANGELES — Stevens Middle School math teacher Paul A. Brinkmann pleaded not guilty Wednesday in Clallam County Superior Court to eight counts of child rape and two counts of child molestation of a boy who is now 16.
Brinkmann, 46, was charged with two counts of first-degree child molestation, four counts of second-degree rape of a child, three counts of third-degree rape of a child and one count of second-degree rape by forcible compulsion.
Judge Ken Williams scheduled a status hearing for 1 p.m. April 26 and a trial date of June 4.
Arrested and incarcerated Friday, Brinkmann was put on electronic home monitoring Monday but did not leave the Clallam County jail until Wednesday before the hearing.
On Saturday, after Brinkmann tried to slit his wrist with a comb, he was placed in a crisis cell and put on suicide watch, jail Superintendent Ron Sukert said Wednesday in an interview.
“He was not doing well,” Sukert said.
The Peninsula Community Mental Health Center cleared Brinkmann for being in the jail’s general population Wednesday before his release, Sukert said.
Packed courtroom
More than 50 onlookers packed the courtroom for the five-minute hearing Wednesday afternoon, including Port Angeles schools Superintendent Jane Pryne, who said in an interview that she did not know how long Brinkmann would remain on paid administrative leave.
He was placed on administrative leave after his arrest.
“We’re in a holding pattern at this point,” Pryne said.
“We would have to confer with our attorneys to find out the length of that continuance.”
The alleged victim is not a Stevens Middle School student, Port Angeles Deputy Police Chief Brian Smith said Wednesday.
The county Prosecuting Attorney’s Office will seek exceptional sentences for each of the 10 charges against Brinkmann, according to court records.
The maximum punishment for each charge of third-degree child rape is five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
The maximum punishment for each of the remaining charges is life in prison and a $50,000 fine.
Allegations
The boy alleged that Brinkmann began molesting him when he was 11, that it gradually progressed to rape and that it continued until last summer, said Port Angeles Police Detective Kevin Spencer, according to his statement filed in Superior Court.
The boy said Brinkmann raped him 10 to 15 times over about five years, according to Spencer’s statement.
The teenager said Brinkmann threatened to hurt him if he told anyone, the detective said.
According to Spencer’s statement, Brinkmann said he had molested the boy and said he had “realized the activity was wrong.”
Spencer said Brinkmann denied raping the boy.
Brinkmann said he gave the boy back rubs and “might have” touched the boy’s buttocks during the back rubs, according to Spencer’s statement.
“When Brinkmann was asked if he loved [the boy], Brinkmann said, ‘He is the only one I want,’” the detective said in his statement.
Port Angeles lawyer Karen Unger, representing Brinkmann, said at Brinkmann’s first appearance in Superior Court on Monday that Brinkmann’s accuser is “a troubled young man” who made up the allegations.
County Prosecuting Attorney Deb Kelly said Wednesday she expects a four-day trial.
“The trial sounds to me like it would be a couple of weeks,” Unger said.
“That appears to be the case, but we’ll see,” Williams responded.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-417-3536 or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
