Jury finds former State Trooper Sharon Windey guilty of 8 counts of child abuse

BENITA MATHEW   | Green Bay Press-Gazette

GREEN BAY - A former Wisconsin State Trooper was found guilty Monday of eight counts of abusing her adopted children.

A jury convicted Sharon M. Windey, 55, of De Pere after a six-day trial in Brown County Circuit Court. She was convicted of felony charges of physical child abuse, causing mental harm to a child, and strangulation and suffocation. The jury found her not guilty of three misdemeanors for child neglect charges and a disorderly conduct charge.

Prosecutors said the abuse went on for 12 years before Windey was charged March 8, 2018. Her husband Donald A. Windey, 53, is also accused of abusing their children. 

According to a criminal complaint, police were contacted several times, receiving reports from school officials, social workers, and others claiming the couple and their biological son, Steven D. Windey, 27, were abusing the three children.

De Pere police assigned an investigator to interview the children on Feb. 12, 2018, a day after Sharon Windey called police for a physical altercation in the home after the children refused to go to church the previous day. 

A fourth child, who moved out of the house when she was 18, told investigators about similar behavior when she lived with the Windeys. De Pere police arrested Sharon, Donald and Steven Windey on Feb. 16, 2018. 

Sharon Windey's $75,000 bond will continue until the sentencing, scheduled for Jan. 13, and she is required to wear a GPS monitoring bracelet.

Donald Windey is expected to appear in court for a motion hearing Dec. 17. He faces two felony counts of repeated physical abuse of a child with probability of great bodily harm, party to a crime; one felony count of physical abuse of a child; one felony count of strangulation and suffocation; four misdemeanor counts of child neglect party to a crime; and four felony counts of mental harm to a child, party to a crime. 

Donald Windey was also charged in October with three counts of repeated sexual assault of a child.

Steven Windey is scheduled for a plea hearing Feb. 7 for two felony charges of child abuse and attempted strangulation and suffocation, and a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct.

According to the criminal complaint and prosecution statements: 

• The children were required to do a prayer ritual while standing on one foot wearing nothing but underwear, and were beaten with a belt if they lost their balance and put their foot down.
• The girls were forced to strip to their underwear and sit on Donald Windey's lap and kiss him. 
• Steven Windey was often the designated enforcer of the physical abuse and put his hands around one of the children's throat during a Feb. 11 incident.
• Donald Windey forced a sick child to eat vomit-covered food after they became ill during a meal.
• Sharon Windey used food as a form of punishment — often serving oatmeal for all three meals because the children didn't like it. 
• Sharon and Donald Windey locked kitchen cupbards so the children didn't have easy access to food.
• Donald Windey told the children he was "seeing demons" and "hearing voices" who were telling him to treat the children in this manner and that by doing so he was doing right by God.
• Sharon and Donald Windey told the children they didn't like them anymore and that they could no longer call them mom and dad.
• Sharon and Donald Windey donated all of the children's belongings to Goodwill in February, leaving each child with a bed and five days' worth of clothes.

Contact Benita Mathew at (920) 309-3428 or bmathew@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @benita_mathew.