To study bail jumping in Wisconsin, WJI and the Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas law firm are looking county by county at 2021 bail-jumping charges. Which counties are charging bail jumping the most? Who are some of the defendants? What happens to those cases? We'll report the statistics from individual counties and tell you the stories from randomly chosen cases. Misdemeanor bail jumping occurs when a person out on bond on a misdemeanor charge violates the conditions of that bond. Felony bail jumping occurs when a person out on bond on a felony charge violates the conditions of that bond. A bail-jumping offense may not itself be a crime. Missing a court date, violating a local ordinance, having a drink, or using an illegal drug could all be bail-jumping offenses if bond conditions prohibit the activity. Largest number of bail-jumping charges issued in a single case: 12
Number of felony bail-jumping charges issued: 338 Number of misdemeanor bail-jumping charges issued: 263 *Felony cases can include felony or misdemeanor bail-jumping charges or both; misdemeanor cases can include only misdemeanor bail-jumping charges. Case counts reported as of January 2022. Criminal traffic cases are not included in this analysis. Case File Two Menomonie police officers responded the evening of October 29, 2021, to a report of a domestic incident at an apartment. A man reported hearing a woman yell “get off of me” and then some scuffling. Derick Lazell had just exited the apartment when police arrived. When police said they needed to speak to him, Lazell opened the door to the apartment and called the woman out to talk. She appeared at the door with smudged mascara as if she had been crying. The officers separated Lazell and the woman to talk. Lazell admitted he had been arguing loudly with his girlfriend after confronting her about cheating on him. He complained that she never did anything for him, never cooked, and would not have sex with him. The officer noticed small scratches on Lazell’s face. Lazell said they were self-inflicted when he put his hands to his face in frustration with his girlfriend. Lazell denied any physical altercation had occurred. The girlfriend told the second officer that she and Lazell had argued on and off all day after he accused her of cheating, but nothing physical had happened. She said that when she yelled “get off of me” he was yelling close to her face and she pushed him away. The officers switched, and the first officer asked the girlfriend about the scratches on Lazell’s face. The girlfriend said Lazell had abused her physically in the past, but not that day. She said she had been sitting on the couch while Lazell stood in front of her with his hands on her shoulders, yelling. She said she leaned back to create distance and Lazell fell on top of her, and the scratches may have occurred then. The officer examined the girlfriend’s hands but did not see skin on her nails. When the first officer returned to Lazell and asked whether Lazell had argued with his girlfriend at the couch Lazell denied leaning over her or falling on her. He said he had been sitting beside her. He said his girlfriend was trying to set him up but would not give further details. The officers arrested Lazell for domestic disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor punishable by 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. The complaint filed on November 1 charged Lazell as a repeater due to three prior misdemeanors for possession of amphetamine and drug paraphernalia and bail jumping. The repeater enhancement raised the possible jail term to two years. On November 1, Dunn County Circuit Judge Christina Mayer set a $500 signature bond. Lazell signed the bond and was released the same day. The bond conditions included that Lazell not commit any new crimes. On December 11, 2021, Menomonie police were dispatched to the same apartment for a welfare check. A man called to say he had received a photo of bruises on his daughter’s arm from his daughter’s friend. His daughter was Lazell’s girlfriend. The friend indicated that Lazell had caused the bruises. While enroute to the apartment, police contacted the girlfriend by phone and asked if she was okay. She said she was fine for the time being and confirmed that Lazell had caused bruises on her arms when he grabbed her earlier in the day. The girlfriend indicated that she was alone in the apartment. Lazell had left by foot, and the girlfriend gave officers a description of Lazell’s clothing. The girlfriend explained on the phone that she and Lazell had broken up a week earlier and she was staying with her new boyfriend. She had returned to Lazell’s apartment to retrieve some of her property. Lazell was emotional and begged her not to leave him but then became angry, grabbed her arms and pushed her against a doorway and then into the bedroom. He then would not let her leave until the officer called. Based on prior information from contacts with Lazell, police looked for him in the laundry room of the apartment building but did not find him. An officer then responded to the apartment and questioned the girlfriend. She confirmed the events she discussed on the phone and showed the officer bruises on her right arm. The officer saw three bruise marks in a pattern suggesting they were caused by fingers or a hand. She also gave police two other apartments where Lazell sometimes could be located, but police did not find him at either place. An officer contacted the girlfriend again. She said that Lazell had been texting her to see if he could come back. She and the officer agreed that she should say yes. Officers waited for Lazell and intercepted him when he appeared. Lazell seemed confused about why police were questioning him. He said his girlfriend had been staying with him and was lying about him harming her. One officer indicated that that statement conflicted with information from a police call at the apartment just a few days earlier, at which time the girlfriend was staying with her new boyfriend. When asked about why the girlfriend had bruises on her arms, Lazell seemed to panic and said he wanted the officers to look at his text messages. He said the girlfriend’s new boyfriend had bruised her when she did not want to have sex with him. The text messages Lazell showed the officers included normal conversations as well as arguments. To the officers they confirmed that Lazell, the girlfriend, and her new boyfriend seemed to have a toxic love-triangle relationship. Lazell was arrested and charged with misdemeanor domestic abuse battery as a repeater, disorderly conduct as a repeater, and misdemeanor bail jumping based on violating the November 1 release conditions. Mayer set a $250 cash bond with the condition the Lazell have no contact with the girlfriend. Lazell remained in custody until mid-April 2022 due to revocation in a Barron County case. He was released on April 18 after Mayer modified the cash bond to a signature bond. On October 10, 2022, Lazell pleaded guilty to domestic abuse disorderly conduct as a repeater in both cases. The battery and bail jumping charges were dismissed. Mayer sentenced Lazell to costs and surcharges of $553 in each case. Our methodology: WJI and Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas determined the number of felony and misdemeanor bail-jumping cases and charges in each county through court data. The total number of felony and misdemeanor cases filed in a county was obtained through the state's online court system. Cases selected for the "case file" section are chosen randomly through a random number-generator web site. Facts set forth in the case file section are allegations from criminal complaints. The intent of the project is to show a variety of bail-jumping cases and the frequency with which such charges are made.
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To study bail jumping in Wisconsin, WJI and the Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas law firm are looking county by county at 2021 bail-jumping charges. Which counties are charging bail jumping the most? Who are some of the defendants? What happens to those cases? We'll report the statistics from individual counties and tell you the stories from randomly chosen cases. Misdemeanor bail jumping occurs when a person out on bond on a misdemeanor charge violates the conditions of that bond. Felony bail jumping occurs when a person out on bond on a felony charge violates the conditions of that bond. A bail-jumping offense may not itself be a crime. Missing a court date, violating a local ordinance, having a drink, or using an illegal drug could all be bail-jumping offenses if bond conditions prohibit the activity. Largest number of bail-jumping charges issued in a single case: 10 Number of felony bail-jumping charges issued: 156 Number of misdemeanor bail-jumping charges issued: 78 *Felony cases can include felony or misdemeanor bail-jumping charges or both; misdemeanor cases can include only misdemeanor bail-jumping charges. Case counts reported as of January 2022. Criminal traffic cases are not included in this analysis. Case File
During ten days in spring 2021, Kelsey Alexandra Grams landed herself in criminal legal trouble twice. Her second criminal case included a charge of misdemeanor bail jumping. From April 30 to May 1, 2021, Grams called 9-1-1 more than 170 times from her residence in Superior. Sometimes she hung up and sometimes she laughed or screamed or told jokes. Other times she provided information including, among other things, that there were two dead bodies in her basement, someone was shot in her backyard, someone stole her child’s toys from her yard, she was running a sex trafficking ring, someone was peeping in her windows, and there was an overdose death next door. Squads were dispatched to Grams’ residence multiple times. One officer in particular responded to the residence at least four times and spent more than two hours there. Grams sometimes talked with him or yelled at him, and other times she did not. Officers investigated the residence next door and found it was empty. After Grams failed to stop calling 9-1-1, officers obtained a warrant and arrested her inside her residence. They found no bodies on the property. Grams was charged on May 3, 2021, with three counts of false-emergency (9-1-1) phone use. Each misdemeanor count exposed Grams to a fine of between $100 and $600 and 90 days in jail. Court Commissioner Rebecca Lovejoy released Grams on a $1000 signature bond. By law, release conditions included that Grams not commit any crimes. Just four days later, on May 7, police responded to a call from a social worker for the Douglas County Department of Health and Human Services. The social worker reported that she was working on a child custody case involving Grams. The social worker had just found voicemail messages from Grams from the evening of May 6 and morning of May 7. In one message, Grams said she knew where her child was and that if the child was not returned to her “’it wouldn’t be pretty.’” In another, Grams said that if the social worker did not return Grams’ child the social worker would be “’lucky to survive.’” The social worker said she feared for her safety and that of the foster family caring for Grams’ child because Grams knew their address. Officers found Grams and arrested her. On May 10, 2021, Grams was charged with felony stalking and misdemeanor bail jumping because of the release condition in the prior case that she not commit any crimes. The felony carried a potential three and a half years in prison and $10,000 fine. The misdemeanor bail jumping carried a potential nine months in custody and $10,000 fine. Lovejoy set $500 cash bail and conditions that Grams not contact the social worker or foster parents. Grams did not pay the cash bail amount and remained in custody. The court denied a request by Grams’ attorney to replace the cash bond with a signature bond. On July 12, 2021, Grams pleaded no contest to one count of false-emergency phone use in the first case and an amended misdemeanor charge of unlawful use of a phone in the second case. The other false-emergency counts and the bail-jumping count were dismissed as part of a plea agreement. Douglas County Circuit Judge Kelly J. Thimm sentenced Grams on the false-emergency count to 89 days in jail, with 67 days of credit for time served, and a $100 fine plus court costs. On the unlawful-phone-use count Thimm imposed 60 days in jail (with no sentence credit) but stayed that custody and imposed two years of probation, and a $25 fine plus court costs. Thimm also ordered Grams to have no contact with the social worker. Our methodology: WJI and Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas determined the number of felony and misdemeanor bail-jumping cases and charges in each county through court data. The total number of felony and misdemeanor cases filed in a county was obtained through the state's online court system. Cases selected for the "case file" section are chosen randomly through a random number-generator web site. Facts set forth in the case file section are allegations from criminal complaints. The intent of the project is to show a variety of bail-jumping cases and the frequency with which such charges are made. To study bail jumping in Wisconsin, WJI and the Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas law firm are looking county by county at 2021 bail-jumping charges. Which counties are charging bail jumping the most? Who are some of the defendants? What happens to those cases? We'll report the statistics from individual counties and tell you the stories from randomly chosen cases. Misdemeanor bail jumping occurs when a person out on bond on a misdemeanor charge violates the conditions of that bond. Felony bail jumping occurs when a person out on bond on a felony charge violates the conditions of that bond. A bail-jumping offense may not itself be a crime. Missing a court date, violating a local ordinance, having a drink, or using an illegal drug could all be bail-jumping offenses if bond conditions prohibit the activity. Door County Largest number of bail-jumping charges issued in a single case: 10
Number of felony bail-jumping charges issued: 155 Number of misdemeanor bail-jumping charges issued: 60 *Felony cases can include felony or misdemeanor bail-jumping charges or both; misdemeanor cases can include only misdemeanor bail-jumping charges. Case counts reported as of January 2022. Criminal traffic cases are not included in this analysis. Case File Domestic disputes, anger, and threats of self-harm landed Keyan Watts with disorderly conduct and property damage charges plus three misdemeanor bail-jumping charges. Watts had been acting strangely at work at the Brick Lot Bar and Grill the evening of January 20, 2021. A co-worker thought Watts was under the influence of something other than alcohol. The friend accompanied Watts home around 12:40 a.m. Watt’s girlfriend thought Watts was drunk and belligerent, and she went to the garage to smoke a cigarette. She was trying to avoid an argument because their children were sleeping. The two had been arguing off and on for several days. Watts followed her to the garage and swore at her. When the girlfriend shut the door to the garage, Watts punched through a window in the door. Watts and his friend left the house for the emergency room, where Watts received stitches and a splint for his hand. The friend wanted Watts to stay with him but Watts refused. The two returned to Watts’ house but Watts’ girlfriend had locked the doors. Sturgeon Bay police responded after Watts called them to report being locked out. The officers thought Watts was intoxicated, as he slurred his speech and swayed. After talking with the girlfriend, the officers tried to persuade Watts to go his friend’s house, but Watts started yelling at the officers to arrest him. After Watts walked away down the street yelling and swearing, the officers indeed arrested him. Watts was charged later that day with domestic-abuse disorderly conduct and criminal damage to property, both as a repeater due to his prior drug-possession felony. Both charges were misdemeanors but the repeater allegation increased potential custody on each count to two years, with potential fines of $1,000 and $10,000. Door County Circuit Judge David Weber set cash bail at $250 with several conditions. He ordered Watts to maintain absolute sobriety, not possess or consume alcohol, not possess controlled substances without a prescription, have no violent contact with his girlfriend, and not go to bars or taverns except for work. Watts’ mother posted bail for him. On March 27, 2021, Watts’ mother called Sturgeon Bay police to report that Watts was having a meltdown and threatening suicide over a dispute with his girlfriend about whether she was having an affair. When officers arrived at the girlfriend’s house around 4 a.m., they could see and hear Watts and his girlfriend arguing in the garage. Watts cooperated with the officers but was upset and crying. He smelled of intoxicants and slurred his speech. While an officer talked with Watts, dispatch indicated that Watts had an open misdemeanor case with an absolute sobriety release condition. Watts admitted to drinking alcohol and submitted to a preliminary breath test that registered 0.178%. He was charged on April 21 with one count of misdemeanor bail jumping for violating the sobriety condition. On April 27, 2021, Sturgeon Bay police were dispatched to Watts’ girlfriend’s house on a report from a woman on FaceTime with Watts’ girlfriend that Watts had a knife to his throat. The friend said there were children in the house and she thought both Watts and his girlfriend were intoxicated. Officers responded with lights and sirens. When they arrived at the house they saw Watts through a bathroom window. Watts held a large knife in his hand but then dropped it in the sink and left the room. Police announced their presence and entered through the side door. They passed the girlfriend and began clearing the house with guns drawn while making sure the children were safe. They found Watts in bed in an upper-level room. They handcuffed him because they had seen him with a knife. Watts had bloodshot eyes, was slurring his speech, and smelled of intoxicants. He did not cooperate with the officers. Watts’ girlfriend told officers that Watts had been caring for their children while she was at work. When she arrived home around 2:15 a.m. they began discussing their relationship. They each consumed shots of liquor while they talked. Watts became angry and started yelling. His girlfriend recorded their encounter. She played the recordings for one of the officers, who heard an argument become so loud that a child began screaming for it to stop. The girlfriend remained calm through most of the exchange. The girlfriend told officers that a loud pounding noise in the recordings was Watts hitting the wall. Officers heard Watts in the recordings say that his girlfriend needed to find a new father for the kids because he was going to be in a coffin. He several times mentioned being dead. The girlfriend reported that Watts had walked to the children’s rooms and kissed them, telling them goodbye. He then picked up a kitchen knife and placed it against his neck. At that point the girlfriend contacted her friend by FaceTime so the friend could witness what was happening. During questioning, Watts consented to a breath test, which registered 0.225%. He told officers that he would “’test dirty for marijuana’” as well. Watts was transported to the Door County Medical Center for a crisis evaluation. On April 28, 2021, Watts was charged with domestic-abuse disorderly conduct with use of a dangerous weapon as a repeater, exposing him to a fine of $1,000 and up to 30 months in custody. The complaint included two counts of misdemeanor bail jumping as a repeater, each with possible penalties of $10,000 and nine months in jail. Door County Circuit Judge D. Todd Ehlers set cash bond at $250 in each case, with conditions of absolute sobriety, no possession or consumption of alcohol, no possession of drug paraphernalia or controlled substances without a prescription, no bars or taverns except for work, and no contact with the girlfriend except regarding placement of their children. On December 9, 2021, Watts resolved all three cases by pleading no contest to domestic-abuse disorderly conduct in the first case and domestic-abuse disorderly conduct and a count of misdemeanor bail jumping in the third case. The state dropped the dangerous-weapon enhancement. All other charges were dismissed but “read in.” Read-in charges are dismissed as part of a plea agreement, but the defendant agrees that the court can consider the charges at sentencing. Weber sentenced Watts to 30 days on each of the three counts of conviction, consecutive, with work-release privileges. Our methodology: WJI and Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas determined the number of felony and misdemeanor bail-jumping cases and charges in each county through court data. The total number of felony and misdemeanor cases filed in a county was obtained through the state's online court system. Cases selected for the "case file" section are chosen randomly through a random number-generator web site. Facts set forth in the case file section are allegations from criminal complaints. The intent of the project is to show a variety of bail-jumping cases and the frequency with which such charges are made. Drinking, bad driving, and lack of cooperation: a recipe for bail-jumping charges in Dodge County11/9/2022 To study bail jumping in Wisconsin, WJI and the Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas law firm are looking county by county at 2021 bail-jumping charges. Which counties are charging bail jumping the most? Who are some of the defendants? What happens to those cases? We'll report the statistics from individual counties and tell you the stories from randomly chosen cases. Dodge County Total number of cases with bail-jumping charges: 276 Total number of misdemeanor and felony cases: 708 Percent of misdemeanor and felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 39% Total number of felony cases with bail-jumping charges: 164* Total number of all felony cases: 417 Percent of felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 39% Total number of misdemeanor cases with bail-jumping charges: 58 Total number of all misdemeanor cases: 291 Percent of misdemeanor cases that include bail-jumping charges: 20% Largest number of bail-jumping charges issued in a single case: 9 Number of felony bail-jumping charges issued: 256 Number of misdemeanor bail-jumping charges issued: 316 *Felony cases can include felony or misdemeanor bail-jumping charges or both; misdemeanor cases can include only misdemeanor bail-jumping charges. Case counts reported as of January 2022. Criminal traffic cases are not included in this analysis. Case File
Despite being underage, Ty J. Thom frequently drank alcohol. And despite having no driver’s license, Ty J. Thom frequently drove — at high speeds and while under the influence. His various traffic infractions landed him with seven charges for misdemeanor bail jumping. Misdemeanor bail jumping occurs when a person out on bond on a misdemeanor charge violates the conditions of that bond. A bail-jumping offense may not itself be a crime. Missing a court date, violating a local ordinance, having a drink, or driving without a valid license could all be bail-jumping offenses if bond conditions prohibit the activity. Criminal complaints allege that Thom had at least five underage alcohol convictions between January and April 2020 and that by April 2021 his Department of Transportation driving record was 22 pages long. Thom won’t turn 21 until 2023. A string of criminal infractions started for Thom on August 19, 2020, at about 11:00 p.m., when he blew past a Dodge County sheriff’s deputy in the Town of Hustisford. Radar showed Thom’s Ford traveling at speeds from 93 to 96 mph. When stopped by the deputy, Thom gave the deputy an identification card and admitted he didn’t have a license. Thom said he did not know how fast he was going because his speedometer stopped working after hitting 50 mph. A check of Thom’s record showed a prior conviction for operating without a valid license. On October 2, 2020, Thom was charged in a criminal traffic case with operating without a license (OWL) as a second offense within three years. The charge exposed Thom to 30 days in custody and a $300 fine. Dodge County Commissioner Steven Seim released Thom a few days later on a $500 signature bond, with a condition that Thom not operate a motor vehicle without a valid Wisconsin driver’s license. On November 2, 2020, Thom pleaded no contest to the charge. Dodge County Circuit Judge Martin De Vries approved a deferred prosecution agreement and withheld a finding of guilt. He continued the bond condition. However, Thom did not stop driving without a valid license. On January 8, 2021, a Ford F-250 pickup drove past two sheriff’s deputies who were handling a possibly impaired driver on a county road around 2:30 a.m. After the truck passed by three times, with the occupants screaming, one of the deputies followed the truck and saw it had a defective brake light and crossed both the center line and white lane marker. Radar and the deputy’s speedometer showed the truck at 75 mph in a 55-mph zone. The deputy conducted a traffic stop in the Town of Theresa. Thom, the driver, admitted he did not have a driver’s license. The deputy thought Thom's speech was slurred, his eyes were glassy, and he smelled of alcohol. When the deputy asked how much alcohol Thom drank that night and where he drank it, Thom said "enough" and "it's for me to know." He refused to complete field sobriety tests, but a preliminary breath test read .197. Thom consented to a blood draw after he was arrested. He was not charged right away. Meanwhile, Thom kept driving. On January 13, 2021, a City of Beaver Dam police officer was monitoring traffic at 1:00 a.m. when he heard a loud engine revving and tires spinning against pavement. The officer then observed a Ford pickup traveling at high speed. Dispatch had broadcast a prior complaint about a matching vehicle “doing ’burnouts’.” Dispatch indicated the plate number of the suspect vehicle and that it was recently purchased by Thom. The officer knew Thom from previous police contacts and knew that Thom’s bond conditions restricted his operation of a motor vehicle. The officer followed the truck and saw that the license plate matched the dispatch report. He saw a silver object like a beer can thrown from the passenger side of the truck. The officer conducted a traffic stop and confirmed Thom was the driver. The officer saw an open beer can in the center console of the truck. None of the four passengers with Thom was age 21 or older. The officer told Thom to step out of the car four times, but Thom did not comply. The officer then reached for Thom’s left wrist to gain control of him and direct him out of the truck, but Thom cocked his arm backwards. The officer struck Thom to prevent being hit and to get Thom out of the truck. Thom’s passengers told the officer that they had told Thom “not to ‘whip that donut’.” Thom was taken to the Beaver Dam police station for sobriety tests, but he did not fully cooperate. He consented to a blood test. Thom was charged criminally that same day with resisting an officer and misdemeanor bail jumping for violating the condition in the OWL case that he not operate a motor vehicle without a license. The resisting charge and new bail-jumping charge each carried a maximum penalty of a $10,000 fine and nine months in jail. Thom received municipal citations for first-offense operating while intoxicated (OWI-1st), operating with a suspended driver’s license, open intoxicants in a motor vehicle, and disorderly conduct with a motor vehicle. On January 14, 2021, Seim again released Thom on a $500 signature bond with the condition that he not drive without a valid driver’s license. Following the new charges, in February 2021 De Vries revoked the deferred prosecution agreement, found Thom guilty of the OWL charge, and imposed a $100 fine plus court costs. Thom defaulted and was found guilty on the municipal citations on February 17, with a blood-alcohol finding of .169. On the OWI-1st conviction, the court revoked Thom’s license for eight months, ordered an ignition interlock device, and ordered him to pay $937. Nevertheless, Thom kept driving. On March 21, 2021, a Beaver Dam police officer was dispatched to Fleet Farm around 6:00 p.m. after a caller reported a Chevrolet Cobalt doing donuts in the parking lot. The caller provided a license plate number. To study bail jumping in Wisconsin, WJI and the Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas law firm are looking county by county at 2021 bail-jumping charges. Which counties are charging bail jumping the most? Who are some of the defendants? What happens to those cases? We'll report the statistics from individual counties and tell you the stories from randomly chosen cases. Dane County Total number of cases with bail-jumping charges: 1,324 Total number of misdemeanor and felony cases: 5,611 Percent of misdemeanor and felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 24% Total number of felony cases with bail-jumping charges: 1,046* Total number of all felony cases: 3,033 Percent of felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 35% Total number of misdemeanor cases with bail-jumping charges: 278 Total number of all misdemeanor cases: 2,578 Percent of misdemeanor cases that include bail-jumping charges: 11% Largest number of bail-jumping charges issued in a single case: 36 Number of felony bail-jumping charges issued: 888 Number of misdemeanor bail-jumping charges issued: 36 *Felony cases can include felony or misdemeanor bail-jumping charges or both; misdemeanor cases can include only misdemeanor bail-jumping charges. Case counts reported as of January 2022. Criminal traffic cases are not included in this analysis. Case file
Random selection of a bail-jumping case this time reveals criminal behavior and bail-jumping charges spanning seven criminal complaints over about 17 months. Danion Odell’s bail-jumping troubles began with a complaint alleging that in April 2020 in Monona, Odell put his girlfriend in a chokehold during a physical altercation. Odell was charged on May 11, 2020, with strangulation and suffocation, as an act of domestic abuse and as a repeater. The felony charge carried a penalty of up to $10,000 in fines and six years in prison. A domestic-abuse repeater allegation increased the potential imprisonment by two years, and Odell’s felony repeater status based on the 2018 burglary increased it by another four years. Odell had prior convictions in 2018 for felony burglary of a building or dwelling, misdemeanor domestic-abuse battery, and misdemeanor criminal damage to property. Dane County Circuit Court Commissioner Scott McAndrew released Odell on a $500 signature bond, with conditions that he not contact the victim or use or possess controlled substances without a valid prescription. By statute, in all felony cases the conditions of release also include that the person not commit any new crime. The strangulation case remained pending a year later, when on May 8, 2021, police in Waunakee received a report of a man walking on the sidewalk slapping his face, stumbling, and yelling incoherently. Another report came in that the same man entered a parked white Jeep Compass. Responding officers found Odell sitting in the driver’s seat of the Jeep. His speech was confused and his pupils were constricted. The officers asked Odell if he wanted emergency medical services and Odell said yes. Odell was holding a plastic bag in his right hand, which the officers suspected to be heroin. Field testing confirmed it. Odell was charged in late May 2021 with possession of narcotics, plus felony bail jumping for violating his release conditions from the strangulation case. Misdemeanor bail jumping occurs when a person out on bond on a misdemeanor charge violates the conditions of that bond. Felony bail jumping occurs when a person out on bond on a felony charge violates the conditions of that bond. Odell’s strangulation charge was a felony, so the bail-jumping charge was a felony, too. A bail-jumping offense may not itself be a crime. Missing a court date, violating a local ordinance, having a drink, or using an illegal drug could all be bail-jumping offenses if bond conditions prohibit the activity. On July 8, 2021, Dane County Circuit Court Commissioner Jason Hanson set a $500 signature bond in the heroin case, with the same restrictions McAndrew imposed — no drugs without a prescription and no new crimes. On September 7, 2021, prosecutors filed a complaint against Odell for conduct allegedly occurring just two weeks after the heroin incident. On May 22, 2021, Sun Prairie police were called to the Super 8 Motel for report of a theft. A housekeeper’s wallet disappeared from the lunch bag on her housekeeping cart. Video surveillance footage showed Odell rifling through the cart, taking something, and putting it in his pocket. Odell was identified as guest at the motel. The motel clerk had photocopied Odell’s identification when he checked in. Odell was charged with misdemeanor theft as a repeater, plus felony bail jumping for violating the terms of release in the strangulation case. It appears Odell was not taken into custody when the wallet case was charged, as three days later, just before 9:00 a.m. on September 10, 2021, University of Wisconsin-Madison police were dispatched to the parking lot outside the Waisman Center on a report of a man shooting a firearm. Responding officers found Odell, matching the description of the shooter, in the parking lot. Odell’s voice was raspy, and he was swaying and leaning. Odell confirmed he had fired a gun and said the weapon was inside his vehicle next to him. He had no explanation for being in the parking lot or holding a firearm. In Crawford County, passenger's rides in cars stopped by police led to bail-jumping charges10/5/2022 To study bail jumping in Wisconsin, WJI and the Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas law firm are looking county by county at 2021 bail-jumping charges. Which counties are charging bail jumping the most? Who are some of the defendants? What happens to those cases? We'll report the statistics from individual counties and tell you the stories from randomly chosen cases. Crawford County Total number of cases with bail-jumping charges: 70 Total number of misdemeanor and felony cases: 215 Percent of misdemeanor and felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 33% Total number of felony cases with bail-jumping charges: 44* Total number of all felony cases: 130 Percent of felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 34% Total number of misdemeanor cases with bail-jumping charges: 26 Total number of all misdemeanor cases: 85 Percent of misdemeanor cases that include bail-jumping charges: 31% Largest number of bail-jumping charges issued in a single case: 3 Number of felony bail-jumping charges issued: 44 Number of misdemeanor bail-jumping charges issued: 45 *Felony cases can include felony or misdemeanor bail-jumping charges or both; misdemeanor cases can include only misdemeanor bail-jumping charges. Case counts reported as of January 2022. Criminal traffic cases are not included in this analysis. Case file
A switch at the wheel and subsequent drug use landed Floyd Travis John Davis in Crawford County court three times in just over a year. In September 2020, a car driven by a female passed Crawford County Sheriff’s Deputy Joe Breeser. Breeser ran the license plates and found that the plates belonged to a different vehicle. Breeser followed the car as it turned off the highway, but he lost sight of it temporarily. When Breeser next saw the car, it was parked, and Davis was exiting the driver’s seat. Although Davis said he alone was driving, the female passenger admitted that the two switched seats after she turned off the highway. Davis confessed to using methamphetamine the day before, but he gave Breeser his brother’s name and date of birth. Davis failed field-sobriety testing, was arrested, and then was taken for a blood draw under his brother’s name. Davis received five citations for traffic or ordinance violations. The false identification was later corrected, and it turned out that Davis had a prior offense for operating while intoxicated or with a controlled substance in his blood. Davis was charged with two misdemeanor crimes: second-offense operating with a restricted controlled substance in his blood (OCS) and obstructing an officer. The OCS charge exposed Davis to a fine of between $350 and $1,100 and jail time of five days to six months. The obstruction charge carried a $10,000 fine and up to nine months in jail. Crawford County Circuit Judge Lynn Marie Rider released Davis on $300 cash bond, with conditions that he not possess or consume unprescribed controlled substances and that he submit to a urine test at the request of law enforcement. Upon a positive urine test, he was to submit to a blood test, too. The case remained pending, with several adjournments while the district attorney waited for blood test results. Bail-jumping charges arose while Davis rode in cars driven by others while out on bond. In January 2021, Officer Jeremy Cliff of the Prairie du Chien Police Department stopped a car for a traffic violation. Davis was a passenger. Cliff had Davis provide a urine sample under his bond condition. The sample was positive for methamphetamine and THC. Davis then consented to a blood draw. Davis was charged with misdemeanor bail jumping, which carries a maximum penalty of a $10,000 fine and nine months in jail. Misdemeanor bail jumping occurs when a person out on bond on a misdemeanor charge violates the conditions of that bond. Felony bail jumping occurs when a person out on bond on a felony charge violates the conditions of that bond. A bail-jumping offense may not itself be a crime. Missing a court date, violating a local ordinance, having a drink, or using an illegal drug could all be bail-jumping offenses if bond conditions prohibit the activity. Rider released Davis on a signature bond with the same conditions as before — no possession or consumption of unprescribed drugs and provision of a urine specimen and possible blood sample at the request of law enforcement. In September 2021, Davis was a passenger in another car stopped by Cliff. Again, Cliff had Davis provide a urine sample. Again, the sample was positive for methamphetamine and THC — plus amphetamine. Davis provided a blood sample as required. Davis faced $11,100 and 15 months in jail on the original misdemeanor charges. He faced another $20,000 in fines and 18 months in jail for his continued use of drugs, exposed when he rode in cars stopped by the police. Davis resolved the misdemeanor charges and tickets in November 2021. He pleaded no contest to the OCS and obstruction charges and to a ticket for operating without carrying a license. Rider sentenced him to $350 and 15 days in jail on the OCS count, a year of probation on the obstruction count, and $150 on the traffic ticket. The two bail-jumping charges and four traffic or ordinance citations were dismissed on the motion of the district attorney. Our methodology: WJI and Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas determined the number of felony and misdemeanor bail-jumping cases and charges in each county through court data. The total number of felony and misdemeanor cases filed in a county was obtained through the state's online court system. Cases selected for the "case file" section are chosen randomly through a random number-generator web site. The intent of the project is to show a variety of bail-jumping cases. To study bail jumping in Wisconsin, WJI and the Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas law firm are looking county by county at 2021 bail-jumping charges. Which counties are charging bail jumping the most? Who are some of the defendants? What happens to those cases? We'll report the statistics from individual counties and tell you the stories from randomly chosen cases. Columbia County
Total number of cases with bail-jumping charges: 473* Total number of misdemeanor and felony cases: 1,370 Percent of misdemeanor and felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 35% Total number of felony cases with bail-jumping charges: 296** Total number of all felony cases: 740 Percent of felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 40% Total number of misdemeanor cases with bail-jumping charges: 177 Total number of all misdemeanor cases: 630 Percent of misdemeanor cases that include bail-jumping charges: 28% Largest number of bail-jumping charges issued in a single case: 14 Number of felony bail-jumping charges issued: 549 Number of misdemeanor bail-jumping charges issued: 469 *Excludes criminal traffic misdemeanor cases that include bail-jumping charges. Criminal traffic charges are not included in this analysis. **Felony cases can include felony or misdemeanor bail-jumping charges or both; misdemeanor cases can include only misdemeanor bail-jumping charges. Case counts reported as of January 2022. Case file Two witnesses reported seeing Natalie punch and hit a man in the head and face. An off-duty Portage police officer, on his way into a fitness facility, also “heard a man and a woman screaming at each other and causing a disturbance,” according to a criminal complaint. The officer recognized both. The man told police that he and Natalie had lived together for about a year and that she was upset that they broke up. Natalie came up to the man from behind, he said, and started hitting him in the head. Natalie told police she and the man had spent the night together in a hotel. Natalie, then 19, was charged with disorderly conduct / domestic abuse, which carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail, a $1,000 fine, and a $100 domestic-abuse assessment. Columbia County Circuit Judge W. Andrew Voigt set a $500 signature bond on July 8, 2021. Natalie was ordered not to have contact with the victim. She did not listen, according to a criminal complaint. Exactly one week later, on July 15, Natalie was charged with misdemeanor bail jumping, a charge that carries a maximum penalty of nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine. After spending about half an hour with the same man, who had just been released from jail, in a friend’s bathroom, a frantic Natalie emerged “yelling for help,” according to the complaint. The man had overdosed. Natalie told her friend “not to call 9-1-1 because she did not want (her boyfriend) to go back to jail,” the complaint said. The friend called anyway. The man survived. Natalie was released on a $250 signature bond. Misdemeanor bail jumping occurs when a person out on bond on a misdemeanor charge violates the conditions of that bond. A bail-jumping offense may not by itself be a crime. Missing a court date, violating a local ordinance, or having a drink could all be bail-jumping offenses if bond conditions prohibit those things. Misdemeanor bail jumping carries a maximum penalty of nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine; felony bail jumping carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. It took more than three weeks this time before Natalie faced more charges – two counts involving credit cards and two more counts of misdemeanor bail jumping. Natalie and the boyfriend sometimes stayed with a woman and took an opportunity to relieve the woman of her wallet and debit card. The debit card was used in $300 worth of transactions. The boyfriend said Natalie took the wallet for drug money, according to the complaint. Natalie said the boyfriend took the wallet and then ditched her. Voigt set a $1,000 signature bond and ordered Natalie not to have contact with the victim or the boyfriend. The four charges each carried a maximum penalty of nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine. In October, Natalie screamed at a woman loud enough to be heard by others and for someone to call the police. She was charged with disorderly conduct and three counts of misdemeanor bail jumping. She faced another 2½ years in prison and $31,000 in fines. Circuit Judge Todd Hepler set a $500 signature bond. All together, Natalie faced 6½ years behind bars and $82,100 in fines. Of that, 4½ years and $60,000 was attributable to misdemeanor bail-jumping charges. Natalie eventually pleaded no contest to the disorderly conduct / domestic abuse complaint and to two counts of misdemeanor bail jumping in a plea deal that covered all four cases. Judge James Evenson sentenced her to two years’ probation. Evenson assessed costs and ordered Natalie, with her boyfriend, to pay $300 in restitution. The judge agreed to make her record eligible for expunction if she kept out of trouble. But in May of this year, Natalie was charged in Dane County Circuit Court with felony identity theft and felony credit card fraud. In June she was charged in Columbia County with felony possession of narcotics, misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance, and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia. Those charges are pending. Our methodology: WJI and Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas determined the number of felony and misdemeanor bail-jumping cases and charges in each county through court data. The data was reported as of Jan. 31. The total number of felony and misdemeanor cases filed in a county was obtained through the state's online court system. Cases selected for the "case file" section are chosen randomly through a random number-generator web site. The intent of the project is to show a variety of bail-jumping cases. To study bail jumping in Wisconsin, WJI and the Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas law firm are looking county by county at 2021 bail-jumping charges. Which counties are charging bail jumping the most? Who are some of the defendants? What happens to those cases? We'll report the statistics from individual counties and tell you the stories from randomly chosen cases. Clark County Total number of cases with bail-jumping charges: 97 Total number of misdemeanor and felony cases: 321 Percent of misdemeanor and felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 30% Total number of felony cases with bail-jumping charges: 78* Total number of all felony cases: 209 Percent of felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 37% Total number of misdemeanor cases with bail-jumping charges: 19 Total number of all misdemeanor cases: 112 Percent of misdemeanor cases that include bail-jumping charges: 17% Largest number of bail-jumping charges issued in a single case: 13 Number of felony bail-jumping charges issued: 140 Number of misdemeanor bail-jumping charges issued: 69 *Felony cases can include felony or misdemeanor bail-jumping charges or both; misdemeanor cases can include only misdemeanor bail-jumping charges. Case counts reported as of January 2022. Criminal traffic cases are not included in this analysis. Case file
Phillip picked up four felony cases in six months and now faces a lifetime in prison. It started not long after Phillip got a new computer. Phillip believed people in the neighborhood were hacking into the wireless network in the house where he lived with his girlfriend. Phillip believed his girlfriend was behind the hacking, according to a criminal complaint. So when his girlfriend – let's call her Sue – returned from the bathroom to the bedroom sometime around 2 a.m. one April 2021 morning, Phillip followed her in. He'd just gotten home. Sue thought he'd been drinking, according to the complaint and Sue's statements to Clark County sheriff's deputies. Phillip, now 38, locked the bedroom door so Sue could not get out. Then he started going through her phone, according to the complaint. "She said Phillip began questioning her on all the phone number (sic) and blamed her for everyone that he believed was hacking him, and he was going to kill her," the complaint said. (Sue) stated "Phillip said he did not care about killing her because he had nothing else to live for." Phillip pushed her down onto the bed, grabbed a big dumbbell, lifted it over his head, and threatened to kill her, the complaint said. Sue said she "begged for her life and was scared for her safety and thought Phillip would actually kill her," the complaint said. Sue "stated even after Phillip put the weight down he still threatened to kill her and he did not care because he did not have anything to live for and would just kill himself." Phillip eventually let Sue out of the bedroom. They went to the backyard to let the dog out. Sue said she "thought if she could get outside she could run away from him but he stayed right beside her the entire time," the complaint said. Sue started smoking a cigarette, according to the complaint. "Phillip threatened to smash her head into the wall if she did not get back into the house," the complaint said. Phillip, Sue said, slapped the cigarette out of her hand and pushed her back inside. Once there, Sue said, "Phillip kept on rambling on about how she was behind the people hacking him," according to the complaint. Eventually, he gave Sue her phone and went to bed. Sue went to the sheriff's department the next day to report the incident. "While filling out the domestic abuse paperwork, (Sue's) body was physically shaking. Deputy Strzok asked if she was cold or scared, which (Sue) responded both," the complaint said. She told deputies that sometime around Thanksgiving, Phillip threw a phone at her and hit her between the eyes, requiring stitches. She did not report the incident at the time. When Phillip was questioned that day, the complaint said, he talked about how people were tracking him "on a google account," according to the complaint. He also said people were hacking his phone and stealing information and he could see files on his computer that were put there by people who hacked into it. He denied taking Sue's phone the previous evening, denied locking her in the bedroom, and denied threatening to kill her. He said she "makes things up all the time," the complaint said. Phillip was arrested and charged. The complaint was later amended to include felony stalking, but charges related directly to the April incident included one felony count of false imprisonment / domestic abuse, punishable by a maximum of six years in prison and a $10,000 fine; substantial battery / domestic abuse for the alleged Thanksgiving-time phone throw, punishable by up to 3½ years in prison and a $10,000 fine; and misdemeanor disorderly conduct / domestic abuse punishable by up to 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine. Circuit Judge Lyndsey Boon Brunette set a cash bond of $250 and issued a no-contact order. In May, Sue told a sheriff's deputy that Phillip was contacting her non-stop in violation of that order. Phillip contacted her 46 times that very day by text and phone, she told the deputy. Phillip was charged with two counts of felony bail jumping, each punishable by up to six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. One of the counts was for allegedly violating the no-contact order. The other was for committing a new crime while on bond. Felony bail jumping occurs when a person out on bond on a felony charge violates the conditions of that bond. Misdemeanor bail jumping occurs when a person out on bond on a misdemeanor charge violates the conditions of that bond. A bail-jumping offense may not by itself be a crime. Missing a court date, violating a local ordinance, or having a drink could all be bail-jumping offenses if bond conditions prohibit those things. Misdemeanor bail jumping carries a maximum penalty of nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine; felony bail jumping carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Three days later, Phillip was charged again, this time with two counts of felony bail jumping and one count of misdemeanor disorderly conduct. The complaint alleged that Phillip showed up at Sue's house and asked for a space on her couch for $50. Sue told deputies that Phillip came to her house after she told him not to. Phillip told deputies that Sue had had the no-contact order lifted, but Sue denied it and deputies could not find any record of it. The same day those two charges were filed, the state amended the April complaint to include a felony charge of stalking. The complaint cites the same 46-contact day Sue told a deputy about in May. The stalking charge carried a potential maximum penalty of 3½ years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Court Commissioner Bonnie Wachsmuth set a $1,500 cash bond and a $1,500 signature bond. Both were posted. In October, according to a complaint, Phillip was caught on camera entering Sue's house through a window about 9 a.m. Later, after she got home from work, Sue said, she checked her camera again and saw Phillip had returned to the house and moved the camera. "Once the camera was moved she did not know what he had done," the complaint said. "She did state that nothing was missing from her house." The deputy reviewed the camera video and confirmed Sue's account, the complaint said. Sue told the deputy Phillip was trying to constantly contact her and had tried 19 times that day. "She told me she was terrified of Phillip," the complaint said. She told the deputy she did not know what Phillip was going to do. Sue "stated she had been told by her neighbor Phillip drives by her house almost daily." Phillip was charged with burglary / domestic abuse, four counts of felony bail jumping, and felony stalking. The state asked for a $10,000 cash bond; Brunette set a $2,000 cash bond and it was posted. All the charges are pending. Phillip, who is represented by the State Public Defender's Office due to poverty, faces a maximum of 77½ years in prison and $137,000 in fines, plus domestic abuse assessments. Our methodology: WJI and Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas determined the number of felony and misdemeanor bail-jumping cases and charges in each county through court data. The total number of felony and misdemeanor cases filed in a county was obtained through the state's online court system. Cases selected for the "case file" section are chosen randomly through a random number-generator web site. The intent of the project is to show a variety of bail-jumping cases. To study bail jumping in Wisconsin, WJI and the Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas law firm are looking county by county at 2021 bail-jumping charges. Which counties are charging bail jumping the most? Who are some of the defendants? What happens to those cases? We'll report the statistics from individual counties and tell you the stories from randomly chosen cases. Chippewa County Total number of cases with bail-jumping charges: 584 Total number of misdemeanor and felony cases: 1,006 Percent of misdemeanor and felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 58% Total number of felony cases with bail-jumping charges: 489* Total number of all felony cases: 833 Percent of felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 59% Total number of misdemeanor cases with bail-jumping charges: 95 Total number of all misdemeanor cases: 289 Percent of misdemeanor cases that include bail-jumping charges: 33% Largest number of bail-jumping charges issued in a single case: 13 Number of felony bail-jumping charges issued: 779 Number of misdemeanor bail-jumping charges issued: 227 *Felony cases can include felony or misdemeanor bail-jumping charges or both; misdemeanor cases can include only misdemeanor bail-jumping charges. Case counts reported as of January 2022. This analysis does not include criminal traffic cases. Case file
Kora was hit with her first criminal case in 2016 when she was 17 and charged with misdemeanor possession of marijuana and drug paraphernalia. The cannabis charge was reduced to a forfeiture violation and she pled no contest; the paraphernalia charge was dismissed. She's been in and out of legal trouble since, at first with smaller drug cases and traffic tickets, and then with multiple felony charges and two overdose deaths at a property Kora rented. The quick downward spiral started with an arrest in February 2021. Two Chippewa Falls police officers, responding to a report about a distressed woman walking a dog, found Kora and the dog. Kora appeared "very confused and was swaying back and forth while standing," according to the criminal complaint. Kora asked for a ride and one of the officers put her in the back of a squad so she could warm up. "Officers observed that (Kora) had been shaking and appeared to have been outside for quite some time, but she refused to say, or was too confused to know, how long she had been outside or where she was coming from," according to the complaint. The officers arrested Kora after learning she had an outstanding misdemeanor warrant from Monroe County. She was searched at the Chippewa County Jail, and a deputy found four opioid pills and about a tenth of a gram of a substance that field-tested positive for methamphetamine. Kora was charged on March 10, 2021, with felony possession of narcotics, second or subsequent offense, and possession of methamphetamine. She was looking at maximum penalties totaling 11 years in prison and $20,000 in fines. Chippewa County Circuit Judge James M. Isaacson set a $2,500 signature bond. Isaacson ordered her, among other things, to report to pretrial monitoring right after court. She didn't. A sheriff's sergeant and deputy went to her house on April 5. Kora said she would deal with the warrant the next day, but the deputy spotted "suspected contraband" in Kora's bra, according to a criminal complaint. It turned out to be a baggie that contained a powder that field-tested positive for heroin. Kora was then charged with felony bail jumping, for allegedly failing to report to pretrial monitoring. That charge carries a maximum penalty of six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. A $500 cash bond was set. Felony bail jumping occurs when a person out on bond on a felony charge violates the conditions of that bond. Misdemeanor bail jumping occurs when a person out on bond on a misdemeanor charge violates the conditions of that bond. A bail-jumping offense may not by itself be a crime. Missing a court date, failing to report to pretrial monitoring, violating a local ordinance, or having a drink could all be bail-jumping offenses if bond conditions prohibit those things. Misdemeanor bail jumping carries a maximum penalty of nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine. Some 11 days after Kora was charged with bail jumping, prosecutors added three more counts, all felonies – possession of narcotic drugs and two more counts of bail jumping. She had violated two more conditions of her signature bond, according to the complaint – not to commit a new crime and not to consume or possess illegal drugs. Those three counts carried a total maximum penalty of 15½ years in prison and $30,000 in fines. Isaacson ordered that the $500 cash bond previously set and posted apply to the new case as well. Less than three weeks later, in May, she was charged with another felony bail-jumping count for failing to report for pretrial monitoring check-ins. She faced another maximum of six years in prison and a $10,000 fine. Kora now had four criminal cases pending against her in Chippewa County. Isaacson directed that the $500 cash bond already posted cover all four. To study bail jumping in Wisconsin, WJI and the Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas law firm are looking county by county at 2021 bail-jumping charges. Which counties are charging bail jumping the most? Who are some of the defendants? What happens to those cases? We'll report the statistics from individual counties and tell you the stories from randomly chosen cases. Calumet County Total number of cases with bail-jumping charges: 194 Total number of misdemeanor and felony cases: 558 Percent of misdemeanor and felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 35% Total number of felony cases with bail-jumping charges: 147* Total number of all felony cases: 318 Percent of felony cases that include bail-jumping charges: 46% Total number of misdemeanor cases with bail-jumping charges: 47 Total number of all misdemeanor cases: 240 Percent of misdemeanor cases that include bail-jumping charges: 20% Largest number of bail-jumping charges issued in a single case: 18 Number of felony bail-jumping charges issued: 356 Number of misdemeanor bail-jumping charges issued: 164 *Felony cases can include felony or misdemeanor bail-jumping charges or both; misdemeanor cases can include only misdemeanor bail-jumping charges. Case counts reported as of January 2022. Case file
The first time Dominic was busted on criminal charges, he had a bunch of drugs and cash and a gun in his car and said he was an addict. “I asked him next about the pills that were on his person, and he stated that he has been addicted to pills for some time now,” according to an Appleton police officer quoted in an Outagamie County criminal complaint. His legal odyssey over the next eight months would eventually include 14 counts of felony bail jumping, seven of which were stand-alone counts for testing dirty for marijuana. The other seven bail-jumping felonies were attached to misdemeanors that carried a maximum penalty of a year in jail. The bail-jumping charges each carried a maximum of six years in prison. That first arrest came in August, 2020, after an officer driving past Dominic's car noticed that he “looked slightly lethargic as his mouth was agape and his eyes appeared slightly closed,” according to the criminal complaint. The officer turned to follow Dominic, then 21, saw him hit a curb a few blocks later, and made a traffic stop. When Dominic opened the car door, the smell of burned marijuana rolled out of the car, according to the complaint. The officer found cannabis and a large amount of cash during a pat-down. The money recovered turned out to be $3,990, which police believed to be indicative of drug dealing. Officers also found two sheets, each about eight inches by four inches, of marijuana wax, a concentrated form of THC, the active ingredient in cannabis. The total weight was 4.2 ounces, which police also believed to be a sign of drug dealing. They also found a Glock 9 mm handgun, with a loaded 30-round magazine and one in the chamber, according to the complaint. Also in the car: a second, fully loaded 17-round magazine, 31½ pills of various prescription kinds, and about 0.14 ounce of marijuana. Dominic was charged with possession with intent to deliver marijuana, a felony that carried a potential penalty of 3½ years in prison and a $10,000 fine. In addition, he was charged with felony possession of narcotic drugs, which also carried the 3½-year, $10,000 maximum, and misdemeanor carrying a concealed weapon, which is punishable by up to nine months in jail and a $10,000 fine. Outagamie Court Commissioner Brian Figy set a $5,000 cash bond on Aug. 3. Bond conditions included an absolute-sobriety mandate, an order not to possess dangerous weapons, and an admonishment not to commit new crimes. On Aug. 5, Dominic was sentenced for first-offense operating while intoxicated, which is considered a civil, not criminal matter. Figy fined Dominic and revoked his driver’s license for seven months. That revocation, combined with his continued driving, plagued Dominic’s future. Three weeks after Dominic posted bond in his criminal case, he got caught in Calumet County driving with that revoked license. That’s a misdemeanor, but he also was charged with felony bail jumping for violating the conditions of bond in the drug / gun case. The lesser operating-after-revocation (OAR) offense could have landed Dominic in jail for a year and earned him a $2,500 fine. The felony bail-jumping charge prosecutors threw in added six years in prison and a $10,000 fine to the potential maximum. He was arrested for OAR the next month. He faced another set of the same charges, which were combined into one case. Instead of a total maximum for both arrests of two years behind bars, he was looking at a maximum of 14. And instead of a maximum of $5,000 in fines, he was looking at a maximum of $25,000. Dominic now faced far stiffer penalties for driving twice with a revoked license than he did for allegedly possessing dealer-level amounts of drugs and tooling around in his car with a fully loaded Glock under the seat. Calumet County Circuit Judge Jeffrey Froehlich set a $1,000 signature bond. In December, Dominic got arrested in Calumet County for second-offense OWI after leading police on a high-speed chase for more than three miles, according to the complaint. He also was charged with two counts of felony bail jumping for violating bond conditions in the drug case and the OAR / bail-jumping case. A six-month maximum for the misdemeanor OWI was suddenly turned into a 12½-year maximum. And instead of a maximum $1,100 fine, Dominic faced fines totaling $21,100. Froelich this time set a $3,500 signature bond. Dominic was charged again in Calumet County with driving after revocation in January 2021. This time, prosecutors layered on three charges of felony bail jumping, adding a potential 18 years in prison and $30,000 in fines to the misdemeanor penalty. Froelich set a $2,500 signature bond. In January, March, and April of 2021, Dominic was charged in three Calumet County cases with a total of seven counts of felony bail jumping, all for testing dirty for marijuana. He faced a total of 42 years in prison and $70,000 in fines on those charges. Froelich set signature bonds of $2,500, $1,000, and $5,000, respectively, in response. Defense lawyers charge that prosecutors issue bail-jumping charges to force defendants into plea bargains they might not otherwise accept. In each of his cases, Dominic accepted a plea bargain. As in other cases examined in this series, Dominic did not receive anywhere near the maximum sentences possible. In the drugs and gun case, he pleaded guilty to misdemeanor possession of marijuana, misdemeanor carrying a concealed weapon, and felony possession of narcotics. Outagamie Circuit Judge Mitchell J. Metropulos sentenced Dominic in May 2021 to 2½ years probation. Metropulos also ordered that Dominic participate in any ordered treatment or counseling. Froelich sentenced him in his Calumet County cases on April 23, 2021. Dominic pleaded no contest to one count of operating after revocation in the first OAR case; the two felony bail-jumping and second OAR charges were dismissed. Froehlich sentenced him to 30 days in jail with work-release privileges. Dominic pleaded no contest to the OWI-second charge and one count of felony bail jumping in the high-speed-chase case. Froelich sentenced him to 30 days with work-release privileges, consecutive to any other jail time. Froelich also placed Dominic on probation for 2½ years, revoked his driver’s license for 15 months, and ordered him to install an ignition interlock device on his car for a year. Dominic pleaded no contest to one count of driving after revocation and one count of felony bail jumping in his final OAR case. Froelich sentenced him to 2½ years probation with 30 days in jail with work-release privileges, again consecutive to any other jail time. Dominic pleaded no contest to three of the seven bail-jumping charges filed for failing marijuana testing. Froelich sentenced him to 2½ years probation in one case, and 30 days in jail with work-release privileges in each of the two others. The jail time in each was to run consecutive to any other jail time – it all added up to about five months behind bars. All the probation terms are concurrent, meaning they are served at the same time. Our methodology: WJI and Mastantuono Coffee & Thomas determined the number of felony and misdemeanor bail-jumping cases and charges in each county through court data. The data was reported as of Jan. 31. The total number of felony and misdemeanor cases filed in a county was obtained through the state's online court system. Cases selected for the "case file" section are chosen randomly through a random number-generator web site. The intent of the project is to show a variety of bail-jumping cases. |
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