3 Women Arrested for Revenge on Cheater

[Kodiak]

Link to MSNBC

A group of women were allegedly wronged by the same two-timing, con-artist cheat. With no way of getting even by legal means, they took the law — along with one of the victim’s more delicate bits of anatomy — into their own hands.

The story of wronged women and their misguided revenge that’s all over the Internet has become an object lesson in how modern women are dealing with injustice. And while it’s the subject of much giggling and guffawing, it’s a serious issue, former prosecutor Jeanine Pirro and psychotherapist Robi Ludwig told TODAY’s Natalie Morales Tuesday in New York.

“The guy was a cheater. He’s a con man. He was taking money,” Pirro said. “But at the end of the day, the criminal justice system will identify him as a victim; these women will be identified as criminals.”

“This man basically betrayed all these women. He humiliated them. He made them all feel powerless,” added Ludwig. “They needed to all band together in order to feel that justice could be served.”

Sticky situation
It happened last Thursday in a nondescript motel in Stockbridge, Wis. The wife of a man who was cheating with as many as five other women recruited three of those women into a plot to get even with him.

One of the women lured him to the motel, where he agreed to let her tie him up and blindfold him for what was to be a massage. Once he was immobilized, the woman texted the other three women. They entered the room, mocked the man, and allegedly struck him before using a type of super glue to affix his offending appendage to either his thigh or his stomach — news reports differ.

When the man — who, as the victim of a sex crime, has not been identified — started screaming, the women fled, reportedly with his wallet, cell phone and car. He ultimately found his way to a hospital, where he was treated and released, suffering no permanent damage to anything other than what remains of his dignity.

Meanwhile, the four women, including his wife, were arrested and are charged with four criminal counts, including false imprisonment and sexual degradation.

Sisterhood is powerful
And thus, said Pirro, the victimizer became the victim. But in the process, added Ludwig, he empowered and united a group of women who would normally be expected to be rivals.

“This guy was so bad that instead of the women competing with each other, they kind of realized this guy was a con, including the wife. She was kind of the team leader,” Ludwig told Morales. “She said, ‘Hey, listen, I know this guy is kind of a dog. He’s doing this to all of us. Let’s get him back.’

“He almost created a sorority of womanhood where they all banded together, and there’s power when you’re in a group,” Ludwig added.

Pirro pointed out that the sense of powerlessness would be reinforced by the fact that the women knew they’d been cheated, but also knew there was no legal recourse for them; the cad hadn’t broken any laws.

“What charges could they have filed against him?” Pirro asked rhetorically. “Basically none.”

“That’s the problem,” Ludwig said. “When you feel law can’t help you out and can’t punish the person appropriately, then I’m going to take matters into my own hands because it’s only fair. These women were seeking fairness, and this is what they did.”

Unfortunately for the women, the price of revenge has them facing up to six years in prison.

‘Emotional wreck’
At least one of the women said Monday the story has gotten twisted and she's embarrassed.

“I am disturbed. I am upset. I am having a hard time handling life; an emotional wreck,” Wendy Sewell, 43, of Kaukauna, said in a telephone interview from her home. “I am ashamed.”

Sewell, Therese Ziemann, 48, of Menasha, Michelle Belliveau, 43, of Neenah, and the man's wife, Tracy M. Hood-Davis, of Fond du Lac, are charged with being party to false imprisonment, a felony. Ziemann also is charged with fourth-degree sexual assault.

The women are free on $200 cash bails. Investigators say all the women but Belliveau were romantically involved with the man. Online court records didn't list defense attorneys for any of the women Monday.

The women's plot unfolded last Thursday at the Lakeview Motel, about 30 miles southwest of Green Bay in the tiny village of Stockbridge near the scenic shores of Lake Winnebago.

Ziemann struck the man in the face, according to the complaints. The man told investigators he also was threatened with a gun. Ziemann told investigators she didn't have a gun but may have told the victim, “Do you know how much I want to shoot you?”

Craigslist ad
Ziemann told investigators she met the man online through Craigslist, fell in love and paid for his use of a room at the motel for the past two months. She said she gave him about $3,000. Then last Wednesday, she learned from the man’s wife that he was married, had other girlfriends and was “using them for money.” She expected the money to be repaid, according to the documents.

During Thursday’s confrontation with the man, Ziemann told investigators Sewell asked him, “Which one do you love more?” and the man's wife made a derisive remark about him being scared.

The man got free from the bed by chewing through one of his bindings, went outside and borrowed a telephone from the motel owner to call police.

Ziemann and Belliveau are sisters and Belliveau didn’t do anything wrong, Sewell said Monday. “She was just there for moral support. She wasn’t even dating the guy. She stood at the door the whole time and didn’t participate or nothing.”

Ziemann’s husband answered the telephone at their home and declined comment. There was no telephone listing for Belliveau.

The man had no telephone listing in Fond du Lac.

Pirro said the episode underlines a reality about modern America: Women are getting more violent.

“We see it in teen gang violence where women are assaulting other women and actually killing other women. And more women are going to prison,” Pirro told Morales. “And they’re not being seen as these maternal, soft mothers who don’t deserve to go to jail.

“They’re being seen as human beings who are as capable of violence as men are.”

So, a scumbag talked several women into being with him and when they all got wise to the scheme they tied him up, threatened to shoot him, and then superglued his penis to his person. I understand a need for revenge, and I hope the event helped them get over their emotional trauma, but these women seriously need to do some time for this. Just because someone hurt your feelings isn't a good enough reason to sexually assault them.

[Darth Wong]

Sorry, but I can't help but laugh at it. I know it's assault, but I'm having trouble conjuring sympathy for him.

[Kodiak]

Sorry, but I can't help but laugh at it. I know it's assault, but I'm having trouble conjuring sympathy for him.

It's hillarious, to be sure, but my point is that society can't have people going around exacting vengeance because they feel they've been wronged. Unless they're a team of ex-thieves who help less fortunates fight against evil corporations. Then you get a TV show

[Rye]

To be honest, I wish there were an aspect of the law that had accommodation for people who really deserve what they get.

[gizmojumpjet]

Ziemann and Belliveau are sisters and Belliveau didn’t do anything wrong, Sewell said Monday. “She was just there for moral support. She wasn’t even dating the guy. She stood at the door the whole time and didn’t participate or nothing.”

Ziemann’s husband answered the telephone at their home and declined comment. There was no telephone listing for Belliveau.

So if I'm reading this right, one of these women who was so upset with this two-timing man was two-timing her own man.

Classy.

[Solauren]

The smart thing to do would have been lawsuits for emotional damages.

Anything else, gets them in trouble.

However, to the guy: HA-HA. Serves you right. Hope you had a reaction to the glue.

[Androsphinx]

I smiled when I first saw this, but then considered how I would feel about a case where a husband lured his wife to a hotel room, tied her up and superglued her vagina shut. Not funny.

[Tribun]

Reading some the reactions here, I smell double standard.

If it would've been the same situation just with a woman cheating three men, you would go ax crazy and shout for horrible punishment for them getting revenge.

[Bluewolf]

Ahh the usual the "ha ha" comments. Not quite tough guy but pretty much on the same level. I also concur with Tribun too. Its fine for the women to get revenge but for the men? Nope, thats evil.

I hope those women get the full sentence and get all the misery that can out of it.

[Darth Wong]

Oh no, the poor weak little men, complaining that there's a double standard about male vs female assault and female vs male assault, even though male vs female assault is the overwhelming majority of inter-gender violence! Oh boo hoo!

[Bluewolf]

Still does not detract the issue that if it the gender roles would be rervered, then people would be crying for blood. Then again I thought it was a good idea to at least try and not have double standard's. On top of that I never debated that men were predators to women on anything.

[Darth Wong]

Still does not detract the issue that if it the gender roles would be rervered, then people would be crying for blood. Then again I thought it was a good idea to at least try and not have double standard's. On top of that I never debated that men were predators to women on anything.

Why shouldn't we have double standards between unequal parties? Explain.

[Aeolus]

Ahh the usual the "ha ha" comments. Not quite tough guy but pretty much on the same level. I also concur with Tribun too. Its fine for the women to get revenge but for the men? Nope, thats evil.

I hope those women get the full sentence and get all the misery that can out of it.

No one here has said that what those women did was the correct course of action. Only that they can see where the women were coming from. Yes the women broke the law and some sort of punishment is needed. However the it is very hard not to think that the guy kinda had it coming.

[Bluewolf]

By unequal partners you mean those assualt figures and their relation to this (correct me if I am wrong). Frankly its rather a flaw sign in someones thinking when if it was three men doing it, it would automatically be a horrid thing while its perfectly fine and dandy for women to do it.

Women preying on men compared to men preying on women is low yet cases have happened before. Women can be scumbags like this man (obvious) and if someone is saying it served him right for what he did, it should also serve, hypothetically a woman right if the genders were switched. Otherwise your just letting assumption and sterotype get in the way. On top of that the article is there and explains to some extent what happened its not like you have no idea what happened.

Probably got that wrong but meh.

[Darth Wong]

By unequal partners you mean those assualt figures and their relation to this (correct me if I am wrong). Frankly its rather a flaw sign in someones thinking when if it was three men doing it, it would automatically be a horrid thing while its perfectly fine and dandy for women to do it.

You obviously have no grasp of how to debate logically, so let me repeat the fucking question: why is it categorically wrong to have double standards between unequal parties? Hint: it is NOT sufficient to simply say it is a "flaw" in "someone's thinking".

Women preying on men compared to men preying on women is low yet cases have happened before. Women can be scumbags like this man (obvious) and if someone is saying it served him right for what he did, it should also serve, hypothetically a woman right if the genders were switched.

Repeating yourself is ALSO totally inadequate. Start making real arguments, asshole.

[Bluewolf]

As I see no point in continuing this, I concede.

[Darth Wong]

As I see no point in continuing this, I concede.

Don't give me that passive/aggressive horseshit, asshole. You have not built up nearly enough goodwill to get away with something like that.

[Bluewolf]

Well to be honest I do not feel like I can continue to debate without making more bad mistakes and making myself look like an ass. I just don't see how I can continue on if my debating skills are not up to standard.

[PhilosopherOfSorts]

Woah, de ja vu. I had to check the post date on this thread, because something very similar happened around here a few years back. I don't remember the exact details, but the basic story is about the same, scumbag pisses of women (exactly how is one of the details I don't recall), they lure him to a hotel, tie him to the bed and superglue his penis to either his stomach or his thigh, accounts differ.


The local morning radio guys had a field week with it.

[Morilore]

I wonder if odd stories like this have anything to do with "penis panics" about "penis-stealing witches!" and similar forms of horseshit. And I hate to think of what would happen to those women if this story had taken place in, say, Pakistan or Nigeria.

[open_sketchbook]

Heh, they should just codify this into law for similar situations. It's too funny to pass up the opportunity.
\clearly joking, because somebody will take this seriously.

[Tiriol]

One problem with equating gluing someone's penis to his stomach/other bodily area and gluing someone's vagina shut is that gluing vagina is somewhat, or even considerably, more invasive of the two. And while both are humiliating, such deed performed on a woman is also more dangerous.

However, that said, I don't particularly condone what the women did. It is understandable, but that doesn't mean I would have to accept it. And Bluewolf, you should also do well to understand the difference: from my point of view this is where you went off the rail. We may understand why the women did what they did, but at the same time we don't have to condone it. And we also recognize that there are biological differences in the situation if the genders would be reversed, as I outlined above: you should do the same. Critical thinking isn't a bad thing, you know.

[Surlethe]

A group of women were allegedly wronged by the same two-timing, con-artist cheat. With no way of getting even by legal means, they took the law — along with one of the victim’s more delicate bits of anatomy — into their own hands.

The story of wronged women and their misguided revenge that’s all over the Internet has become an object lesson in how modern women are dealing with injustice.

The story in the article aside, any time I see vague declarations like these, I'm immediately suspicious. It looks like the author of the article looked at this story and suddenly decided that modern women are becoming more violent, more frequently inflicting reprisals, because modern law slights their emotional need for revenge. And the author of the article decided this without any real evidence at all. What kind of journalism is this, an opinion tabloid?


As far as why unequal groups should have the same standard, one might simply assert that "treat all people the same" as a legal axiom. However, then one would have to answer the question of why that is an axiom, rather than the more fundamental "do what makes society better off".

[Knife]

Still does not detract the issue that if it the gender roles would be rervered, then people would be crying for blood. Then again I thought it was a good idea to at least try and not have double standard's. On top of that I never debated that men were predators to women on anything.

Why shouldn't we have double standards between unequal parties? Explain.

I'll take a shot. In what way are the parties unequal in this instance? This wasn't some physical fight, where women are statistically weaker than men, nor were they all part of some power structure the dude was in charge of, like a job. The girls tricked the guy into tying himself up and then assaulted him free from reprisal (physical anyways). How were the scales unequal towards the women to justify a double standard or any other sort of leveling the playing field modifiers?

[CmdrWilkens]

By unequal partners you mean those assualt figures and their relation to this (correct me if I am wrong). Frankly its rather a flaw sign in someones thinking when if it was three men doing it, it would automatically be a horrid thing while its perfectly fine and dandy for women to do it.

You obviously have no grasp of how to debate logically, so let me repeat the fucking question: why is it categorically wrong to have double standards between unequal parties? Hint: it is NOT sufficient to simply say it is a "flaw" in "someone's thinking".

Mike I will throw this out, the assaulting party by definition must be the more powerful party. The women in this cae by their actions took power over the man and were unequal just as a man who overpowers a woman has created the inequality. The POSITION of the assaulter versus the assaulted provides testament to who had the power. Much as with sexual harrasment it isn't about gender, its about power. When a person in a position of power over you uses that against you then its wrong plain and simple.