A happy ending in glued-penis case

CHILTON, Wis. - A Wisconsin woman who tied up a cheating lover and glued his penis to his stomach said yesterday that she didn't mean to hurt him.

Therese A. Ziemann, 48, of Menasha, said she and three other women only meant to confront the married man about his cheating ways. Her decision to grab the bottle of nail glue from her makeup bag was "a stupid spur-of-the-minute decision," she said.

"I had just found my [12-year-old] daughter's number in his cell phone," she said outside a Calumet County courtroom. "It was just a warning from me to him, to stay away from the kids."

Ziemann, her sister, another lover and the man's wife were all sentenced yesterday to one year probation plus community service for their roles in the revenge plot. Ziemann, a mother of six, acknowledged that she lured the 37-year-old man to a motel last July, after the man's wife contacted her and told her he was seeing other women.

First she tied the man up and blindfolded him under the guise of erotic play. Then she summoned the three other women with a text message, according to court documents.

She told police she had slapped the man in the face, cut off his underwear and used the glue to attach his penis to his stomach. The other women arrived, and several berated and belittled the man. Eventually he worked his way out of his restraints and the women fled.

The gluing caused the man "no permanent physical injury," said Calumet County district attorney Ken Kratz.

The Associated Press is not naming the man or his wife to protect his identity as a victim of sexual assault.

Michelle M. Belliveau, 43, of Neenah, Ziemann's sister, told the judge she was "extremely sorry" and tearfully apologized to the victim.

Wendy L. Sewell, 44, also apologized, saying she didn't mean for anyone to get hurt. "I wanted to say what I got to say and leave and never look back," said Sewell, of Kaukauna.

The felony charge against the wife was initially dismissed after the man told police she was in the motel room but didn't actively participate.

But prosecutor Kratz said he obtained jail telephone recordings made when the man was in custody on unrelated child-abuse charges. In the tapes, the man and wife collaborated on "concocting" her story, he said.

So Kratz charged the 31-year-old wife with disorderly conduct. She pleaded no contest yesterday and was also sentenced to probation and community service.

The judge acknowledged a possible double-standard with the sentencing. If the incident involved a man who committed similar acts against an unwilling woman, that man would doubtless face prison time, Judge Donald Poppy said.

But in this case the victim and his "bad behavior" were partly to blame, he said.

The victim "started the ball rolling, philandering with others besides his wife, who was putting bread on the table and taking care of his children," the judge said.

After the sentencing the victim and his wife walked out of the courtroom together.