Charge: Nurse intimate with jail inmate

SPARTA, Wis. – A nurse visiting the Monroe County jail had carnal interaction with an inmate she was there to examine and medicate. Teresa Mae Fennigkoh, 53, of West Salem, was jailed pending a bail hearing. The criminal complaint did not name the inmate, but a reasonable inference was that they knew each other before his incarceration. According to the complaint, there was sex on two occasions, that Fennigkoh gave the inmate a prescription drug under the table, and that she also gave him $1,000 cash.

Fennigkoh. Faces wo felony counts of second-degree sexual assault by correctional staff, one felony count of dispensing a prescribed drug without a prescription and one felony count of delivering illegal articles to an inmate.

Investigation detail

The criminal complaint alleges two instances of contact on separate occasions a week apart in July. These are details from the complaint: During the first encounter, Fennigkoh and an inmate kissed and engaged in “continuous physical contact” for 18 minutes. The second invovled “some sort of continuous physical contact.” In separate police interviews, both denied  having sex. The inmate’s  story changed when police  showed text messages in which he bragged about the encounters. Fennigkoh’s story changed she was told the encounters were caught on surveillance video. Police explained that her office window picked up a reflection of what occurred in the exam room even though it wasn’t in camera view. At that point in the interview, Fennigkoh had a look of shock on her face and began crying. She admitted, also, yo giving the inmate Wellbutrin pills, as well as $1,000.