A plea hearing has been scheduled next week for a former St. Paul Public Schools janitor who faces allegations that he peeked at students in an elementary school's bathrooms and sexually assaulted a neighbor boy.
According to filings Friday in Ramsey County District Court, Walter J. Happel, 63, will appear before Judge Diane Alshouse in a plea hearing scheduled for Thursday.
Happel has been charged with various counts in eight criminal cases.
Six involve students at Linwood Monroe Arts Plus school, where Happel was a custodian before resigning last year because of the investigation into his alleged behavior.
The other cases involve alleged abuse of a male relative and a neighbor boy in the early 1980s.
Thomas Donohue, one of Happel's attorneys, declined to comment on the plea hearing when reached by phone Friday.
NICOLE NORFLEET
