Madison Bergmann, the teacher accused of having sex with an 11-year-old girl, faces up to 178 years in prison

HUDSON, Wis. – A disgraced Wisconsin teacher accused of sexually abusing her 11-year-old student demanded Thursday that charges against her be dropped because the prepubescent boy's text messages were not specific enough about how they touched each other.

A judge disagreed, saying Madison Bergman – who made headlines when she was accused of “making out” with the fifth-grader weeks before her wedding – should stand trial on charges of first-degree sexual assault of a child, child enticement and sexual abuse by a member of school staff.

Intimate text messages exchanged between the two also appeared in court. In them, the 24-year-old elementary school teacher is said to have written that she wanted to “lick” the boy's abdominal muscles and that he liked to be touched on his chest.

If convicted on all counts, the 24-year-old faces a prison sentence of up to 178 years.

Bergmann arrived at the court accompanied by her father. She wore braids in her hair, a black top and light trousers.

She cried as she took the witness stand during a hearing on her defense attorney's motion to dismiss the charges.

A lawyer for Bergman read her revealing text messages to the alleged victim – and argued that her behavior did not amount to sexual assault because the boy used the word “breast” when describing the physical contact.

“This motion is based on the assumption that the complaint lacks sufficient evidence in one particular area,” attorney Joseph Tamburino explained in court, “namely the area of ​​'sexual contact with the intimate area.'”

“Under Wisconsin law, an intimate body part must be touched for sexual contact to occur,” Tamburino argued. “What are those body parts? A person's breast, buttocks, anus, groin, scrotum, penis, vagina, or pubic mound. The law does not say it is the 'breast' or 'chest area.'”

In a text message, the eleven-year-old is said to have written: “You often touched my breast.” He argued that the word “breast” was not enough to accuse Bergmann of sexual assault.

But in the end, the judge said: “It would be absurd to ask a child to use the same language that the state parliament has chosen for our laws.”

The judge then read out further texts.

“I love having my hand on your chest. I could feel your heartbeat so strongly haha,” Bergmann reportedly wrote.

The boy reportedly replied, “Haha, it happened so fast. I was so surprised and I loved it because you just kept kissing me.”

“When everyone was cleaning up after reading, I was right up front and so were you, and I touched your chest,” Bergmann reportedly wrote. “When I grabbed your shirt and pulled you close, oh my goodness… I want to lick your abs, haha.”

The judge ruled that the word “chest” does not mean that the boy was not attacked.

Bergmann, a former fifth-grade teacher at River Crest Elementary School, was originally charged with first-degree sexual abuse of a child.

Last month, she was charged with nine more crimes – one count of computer misuse to facilitate a sex crime against a child, five counts of sexual misconduct involving school personnel, two counts of enticement of children causing mental or physical harm and one count of exposing a child to harmful materials.

According to the indictment, Bergmann's alleged abuse of the 11-year-old boy came to light when the student's mother overheard her son talking on the phone with the teacher. The parents were suspicious and checked the boy's phone, allegedly finding offensive text messages between the two.

The tangled text chain included messages from Bergmann in which she allegedly discussed several encounters in the Hudson, Wisconsin, classroom during lunch or after school. She is said to have told the child how much she enjoyed him touching her and “making out.”

Some of the alleged assaults even occurred in Bergmann's classroom, the indictment says.

The boy's angry father stormed into River Crest Elementary School with printouts of the conversations, authorities said.

When police searched Bergmann's classroom, they allegedly found a folder in her bag with the victim's name on it. The folder allegedly contained handwritten notes about how much they had kissed and fondled each other.

Bergmann's attorney did not respond to requests for comment from The Post. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.