Former Marshfield School Board Candidate Facing New Charges of Sexual Assault of a Child

Tuesday, September 1st, 2026 -- 2:00 PM

(Karen Madden, Marshfield News-Herald) A former Marshfield School Board candidate already facing multiple charges of sexual assault of a child, child abuse and domestic violence made his initial appearance Aug. 31 on a new charge.

According to Karen Madden with the Marshfield News-Herald, Mathew L. Samson, 41, of Marshfield, faces a new charge of first-degree sexual assault of a child under the age of 13.

Wood County Circuit Judge Timothy Gebert set a $10,000 signature bond for Samson, who remains in custody on the previous charges. A preliminary hearing and arraignment on the new charge is set for Sept. 16.

Samson previously was charged with and pleaded not guilty to two counts of first-degree sexual assault of a child under the age of 12, four counts of child abuse, one count of first-degree recklessly endangering safety as a domestic abuse incident, one count of false imprisonment as a domestic abuse incident, one count of strangulation and suffocation as a domestic abuse incident and one count of misdemeanor battery as a domestic abuse incident.

Samson has a final pretrial conference scheduled for the three separate cases for the previous charges on Oct. 22. According to the new criminal complaint, on April 27, a boy reported Samson had kissed him on the mouth.

The boy said Samson held him down and touched him inappropriately about a month before Samson was arrested in January. The boy repeated the same statements to investigators and said Samson was smiling when he touched him inappropriately, according to the complaint.

Due to the nature of the new charge, the Marshfield News-Herald is withholding additional details from the criminal complaint filed against Samson.

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