Marshfield School Board Candidate Arrested and Charged with Child Abuse

Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 -- 11:01 AM

(Erik Pfantz, Marshfield News-Herald) A candidate for Marshfield School Board was arrested Jan. 28 and is being held in the Wood County Jail pending a $50,000 cash bail set Jan. 29, according to court records.

According to Erik Pfantz with the Marshfield News-Herald, Mathew Lloyd Samson, 41, of Marshfield, made his initial appearance Feb. 3 on four felony charges of child abuse and one count each of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, false imprisonment, strangulation and suffocation, and a misdemeanor count of battery, all as a domestic abuse incident, related to two separate cases.

If convicted of all counts, Samson faces a maximum sentence of 49 years and three months in prison. Samson is set to appear on the Feb. 17 spring primary election ballot as a candidate for the Marshfield School Board.

According to criminal complaints filed in the cases, on Jan. 26, three children told police that Samson had slapped a 7-year-old child on the side of the head after the child had pushed the wrong time on the microwave.

The child told police that it hurt and the child cried, however, the child did not believe there was a mark, according to the criminal complaint. An 8-year-old child also told police that in fall 2025 Samson had gotten mad at the child and started kicking the child in the stomach as punishment until he fell to the ground, according to the criminal complaint.

The child showed an officer that he was sitting in "the fetal position" and Samson continued to kick him, according to the complaint. The child told the officer that it did hurt and the child was crying, and Samson told the child to "stop crying," according to the complaint.

A 10-year-old child also reported that in fall 2025, Samson pushed an 8-year-old child up against a closed door with his hand, grabbing the top of the child's hair while pushing him up off the ground against the door.

The 10-year-old child and 8-year-old child described it as "slamming" the child's face into the door, according to the complaint. The 10-year-old yelled toward Samson to stop, and the child said Samson replied, "men need physical violence," according to the complaint.

The 8-year-old child also told police that Samson would put the child on timeout for so long that the child felt dizzy and "barfed," and Samson would not allow the child to go to the bathroom when the child needed to, according to the complaint.

According to the complaint, a woman also told police that on the night of Jan. 27, Samson was threatening to shoot himself with a pistol at a home in the city of Marshfield.

The woman said Samson often "plays" with the gun and makes suicidal comments looking to get a reaction from her. The night of Jan. 27 was the first time Samson had used the gun against her, she said, according to the complaint.

She said she was covering her eyes with her hands and asked Samson not to do this, and then he turned the gun on her and pointed it to her head, according to the complaint.

Samson continued to point the gun back and forth between their heads about two or three more times until the incident ended. The woman also told police that in September 2025, Samson had gotten upset at her and decided she needed to be punished.

Samson hit the woman at least 10 times with a belt. In April 2025, Samson became upset with the woman and pushed her onto a bed and held her face down onto a pillow, she said. The woman said she could not breathe and felt like Samson was going to kill her, according to the complaint.

The woman also told police about another incident where Samson had become upset with her and after yelling at her for about an hour he loaded a gun and said, "It's either you or me," according to the complaint.

Samson told the woman she needed to just kill herself or shoot him, and then took the loaded gun off safety and put it on a nightstand, according to the complaint. Samson is scheduled for a preliminary hearing and arraignment in both cases on Feb. 12.

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