Walter Johann Happel (Newport, Minnesota), 62, custodian at Linwood Monroe Arts Plus, St.Paul Public Schools, St. Paul, Minnesota, "charged with interference of privacy after an alleged peeping incident in the bathroom of a St. Paul arts school" Previously worked at: Roosevelt Elementary School, St.Paul Public Schools, St. Paul, Minnesota (now closed) Pioneer Press: St. Paul school custodian arrested; student privacy interference cited (Mar 18 2014) Police investigated complaints about Walter Johann Happel, 62, at two schools in 2003 and 2011, according to police reports. In addition, in 1991 a teenage relative accused him of sexual abuse at his home. He wasn't charged in those cases; police and prosecutors said there was insufficient evidence. ...He came to St. Paul police headquarters for an interview Tuesday, and police arrested him on suspicion of interference with privacy ... Police were investigating "inappropriate conduct" allegedly involving Happel and a student between Feb. 19 and 21 at Linwood Monroe Art Plus' upper campus, which is for fourth through eighth grade, at 810 Palace Ave., according to Paulos and a police report. Police haven't released more information. Tags:
KARE 11: Former school custodian charged with peeping (Mar 20 2014) Prosecutors say 62-year-old Walter Johann Happel looked over, and then under the door of a bathroom stall at Linwood Monroe Arts Plus School while a young boy was using the toilet February 19. The boy told police that Happel peeked under the privacy wall and smiled at him ... After Happel left the restroom the boy ran and told his teacher, who notified school officials. On February 20 Happel was informed that he was being placed on leave and forced to hand in his keys and badge allowing him access. Later that day employees learned that Happel had sneaked back inside the school. A secret office was later discovered with testosterone pills, energy capsules and intensifying gel.
CBS Local Minnesota: School Janitor Accused Of Peeping At Boys In Bathroom (Mar 20 2014) ... on Feb. 19, [Walter Johann Happel] allegedly stuck his head both over and below the partition of a stall being used by a student in the boy’s bathroom and smiled at the student. The student said he remained on the toiled until the man left, and then he told his teacher about the incident. The next day, Happel was put on paid administrative leave and handed over his keys and badge.He was told he was not allowed to report back to work until further notice, but later that afternoon employees caught him back on campus. The complaint says he had items placed on a dolly, which authorities later discovered he was keeping in a secret room. Among the items found in the room were a number of sexual aids, including topical intensifying gel, as well as Stimulean energy and testosterone pills.Investigators soon found out that Happel was also involved in previous incidents at Roosevelt Elementary School. One boy accused Happel of following him into the bathroom on a regular basis during the school year. The complaint says he would give students candy. In 2011, a student reported that Happel was making him uncomfortable, and another student said that he had been slapped on the buttocks by the janitor, the complaint says. Police say Happel was reprimanded for both incidents and told he could only use the staff restrooms.
Lots of weird stuff over at least 11 years -- you'd expect school officials to connect the dots a lot sooner? KSTP: St. Paul Schools Custodian Accused of Peeping at Boy on Toilet (Mar 20 2014) A former St. Paul schools custodian was charged after allegedly peeping on male students in the bathrooms, making inappropriate comments and removing property from a hidden room at a school where he worked. Sixty-two-year-old Walter Johann Happel of Newport, Minn., was charged with one count of surreptitious interference with privacy ... According to the criminal complaint, six students have reported incidents involving Happel over the years....Officials discovered Happel had a room in the building few people knew about, in addition to his office in the boiler room. Officials found an enzyte topical intensifying gel, a packet of Stimulean energy capsules and a bottle of testosterone pills in the room. [Other weird stuff turned up:] Investigators learned Happel had been involved in an incident in 2003 at Roosevelt Elementary School. According to the complaint, a boy reported Happel had given him a digital camera which they used to take each other's pictures. He had asked the boy not to tell anyone about the camera, and said the gift would be "their little secret," according to the complaint. The boy told authorities he would meet Happel in the restroom where Happel would give him candy. He denied ever being touched by Happel or asked to take his clothes off. Police were unable to access the images on the camera, and the St. Paul Public School District told police they would address the matter internally. Happel was reprimanded and ordered not to give students candy. According to the complaint the district indicated giving the camera to the boy without consulting school officials was "inappropriate." ["It's a big thing":] Investigators learned Happel was also involved in an incident in 2011. A 12-year-old boy reported Happel followed him to the bathroom throughout the year on a regular basis. The boy said he was using the urinal next to him when Happel said, "It's a big thing" referring to his own exposed penis. According to the complaint, the boy was scared and left the bathroom ... [Butt slapping -- KSTP glosses over the details of this incident; according to Fox 29 and City Pages it involved an inappropriate comment about anal sex:] Around the same time in 2011, a student reported that Happel swatted his butt and made an inappropriate comment. Happel told the student it was because of his sagging pants ... [Chatting up a boy at the urinal:] Last week, a 13-year-old student came forward to report an incident that occurred when he was in fourth grade. He reported Happel used the urinal next to him and said, "Why don't you take out your penis more? We're both boys." He said the same incident happened twice. [More restroom peeping:] Another student reported a man peeping on him through a vent in a school's bathroom. He said there was a door that slid back covering the vent. Investigators verified the student's description of a door covering a sliding vent in the bathroom.
This article contains some discussion of the historical incidents cited in the KSTP article above ... My Fox Twin Cities: CHARGES: St. Paul janitor peeked under bathroom stall, smiled at boy (Mar 20 2014) The incident that got the investigation started allegedly occurred at Linwood Monroe Arts Plus school on Feb. 19, and it came to light when an 11-year-old boy told his teacher that Happel had peeked underneath the privacy wall of a bathroom stall and smiled at him. The boy told police that he was sitting on a toilet when he noticed that a man had entered the bathroom. The boy said the man looked both over the privacy wall and underneath it before leaving and returning a short time later. That time, the boy said Happel laughed and looked under and over the privacy wall once more. The student told officers that the incident left him feeling sad, scared and shaky, and that he recognized the blue-eyed man as the same man he had seen cleaning the bathroom and lunchroom....Charging documents allege that after the incident reported in November 2011, the mother who contacted the school was told that the janitor had "been there forever" and "wouldn't hurt anyone." A follow-up message was not returned, and the mother eventually contacted police herself and found that the school had not done so. Instead, the assistant principal had apparently spoken to Happel, who denied the incident occurred. Additionally, the criminal complaint states that the swatting incident from 2011 was also never reported to the St. Paul Police Department.
A "top 5" wrapup of the worst incidents allegedly involving Walter Happel ... City Pages: The five creepiest allegations facing alleged St. Paul perv janitor Walter Happel (Mar 20 2014) Walter Happel, a Newport resident and longtime janitor who most recently worked at the Linwood Monroe Arts Plus School in St. Paul, faces a felony count of interference with privacy for allegedly sticking his perverted head under a bathroom stall while a 12-year-old student was in there on February 19. But as investigators looked into that incident, a number of additional allegations of sexually inappropriate conduct involving Happel, boys, and bathrooms came to light. Below the jump we run down the five creepiest incidents contained in the criminal complaint ...
Pioneer Press: Alleged peeping school custodian had secret room, police say (Mar 20 2014) "It was later discovered that Happel kept a room in the building that few people knew about in addition to his office in the boiler room," the complaint said. Officers later found in the room an open packet of Enzyte topical intensifying gel (the company is described on its website as "natural male enhancement and erectile support"), a packet of Stimulean energy capsules and a bottle of testosterone pills. Brown said there was little she could say about it other than that it's a storage room and is part of the ongoing investigation.
Star Tribune: St. Paul school janitor defied orders to fix behavior a decade ago (Mar 21 2014) Four months after [Walter Johann Happel] began working among students at St. Paul’s Roosevelt Elementary School, Walter J. Happel was reprimanded for improper conduct with children and for openly defying his supervisor and a principal. Happel was told in a 2003 disciplinary letter that he could be fired for future transgressions, but he continued working alongside children in public schools for 11 more years despite that warning and two allegations of improper behavior with students in 2011....Happel started working for St. Paul public schools in 1984. In August 2003 he was transferred to Roosevelt, where he was reprimanded for giving candy to students and a digital camera to a boy he allegedly met with in a school bathroom .. Moore’s 2003 letter is the only time Happel was successfully disciplined during his 30 years with the district. Happel is connected to six allegations of misconduct with children in St. Paul public schools.