A Winfield man is facing charges after allegedly threatening his ex-wife.
Shawn Walsh, 53, is charged with intimidation and resisting law enforcement, plus two misdemeanors.
Court filings show he posted an $800 bond Friday.
Until recently, Walsh was the principal at West Central Elementary in Francesville, which is in Pulaski County. The school has about 335 students.
In a letter, Superintendent Cathy Rowe told parents Friday that he was arrested for a “personal matter” and placed on administrative leave. The school district would cooperate with police.
Rowe said she had “assisted” as principal since January and was temporarily taking over his duties.
Crown Point Police responded just before 8 p.m. Feb. 17 to the 11000 block of Green Place.
As an officer arrived, he spotted the former couple’s 11-year-old son crying in a doorway. No one else was home. The child said Walsh said he was going to “kill” his mother, according to charging documents.
Walsh waved at officers as he pulled off.
The mother soon arrived. Walsh called her while she was talking to officers to say the boy was “safe.” When officers told him to turn around to talk to them, he refused.
The mother was “visibly upset” with her “hands shaking,” the affidavit states. She told police they were scheduled to go to court the next day.
Her son called her to come home from swimming practice, feeling ill. Walsh was his coach, she said. Walsh was screaming over the phone.
He also threatened the woman. She said she would call the police.
“You file for full custody, you will not see the end of it and neither of us will get them,” Walsh wrote in various texts she showed police. “You forgot I can go to gun shows.”
“Bang bang hang (expletive),” he added.
The woman told officers Walsh threatened to kill her in front of the child on Feb. 16. There were three prior trespassing reports filed with police.
“Shut up, (expletive), go (have sex with) your (racial slur),” he texted on another occasion. “Can’t wait till Wednesday. I’m going to (mess) up you and your lawyer, then hang that (racial slur) from a tree.”
The woman told officers Walsh was principal at a “small school,” according to an affidavit.
He wrote he was “ready to go to jail just so she would cry every day,” records state.
He also allegedly threatened her friend in Illinois and said the ex-wife’s lawyer was “getting punched tomorrow.”
The case is before Judge Sheila Moss. Another court date hasn’t been set.
mcolias@post-trib.com
