Law Enforcement
n October 20 - An officer was dispatched to the City of Colby for a reported theft. The officer arrived at the address and met with a woman and a secretary at the St. Mary’s Catholic Church/School. The woman said that she had been getting ready to go home for the day and made a trip outside with her backpack which she used like a purse and other belongings. The woman set the items on the ground in the rear of the church parking lot and went back inside to make another trip for more items. When the woman came back outside she realized that her backpack was no longer there.
The woman walked back inside and checked the area thinking she may have misplaced it before checking the cameras with the secretary.
The woman replayed the camera footage for the officer and it showed the woman set her things down and walk back inside. Shortly after, two younger looking males with backpacks walk into view from the alley. The males walk towards the items the woman had set down and one of the males grabs the woman’s backpack as they continue walking eastbound between the church and school. The secretary switched views to the front of the building and the two males could be seen running eastbound across Second Street and into a yard east of the church.
At that time, the secretary could not zoom in any further to get a better description of the males but one of the males was larger and appeared to be wearing gray sweatpants, black hooded sweatshirt, a bandana over his face and a multicolored backpack. The second male appeared to be wearing striped jogging pants with a red backpack and a dark colored hooded sweatshirt. The officer patrolled the immediate area and was unable to locate the males nor the backpack after walking the same path they had taken.
The officer had the woman fill out a lack of consent form and had her describe the items that were stolen. The woman estimated there were over $400 worth of items in the bag.
The officer again patrolled the area but did not find anyone matching the description. The officer then went to a residence to speak with a male that looked similar to the bigger male in the video. The officer met with two juveniles who were outside upon his arrival. One of the juveniles had sweatpants that were similar to the ones the larger male was wearing in the video. The officer told the juveniles why he was there and asked them where they had been earlier that day. They both said they were at the residence all day and never left. The officer asked the larger boy if he knew anything about the missing backpack and he asked if it looked like he had the backpack and walked back into the house. A similarly aged female walked up during that time and said she had been at the house with the two boys all day and could vouch for them.
Before the vehicle left, the officer noticed the other boy was wearing blue jeans that were faded in different areas and patches not matching the jogging pants in the video.
The officer went back to the school to see if he could get a better look at the males in the video. While reviewing the footage, the officer figured out how to zoom in on the video. After zooming in, the officer could tell the larger male was the one he had talked to as the pants and body shape were the same. The smaller male had not been wearing jogging pants and was wearing blue jeans that were faded in different areas similar to the boy he had spoken to.
The officer took pictures and a short video of the two males walking and went back to the residence. The boy’s little brother answered the door and went to get the boy on the officer’s request. The officer told the man that he had reviewed the cameras and could tell that he had been one of the males on the video. The boy denied it was him. The officer told him that his pants were the same ones as it showed in the video. The juvenile looked down and said that he was not even wearing pants as he was now in black shorts. The officer told him he was in sweatpants the first time he stopped in.
The juvenile continued getting defensive and denying that it was him before saying that he was going to get his parents. The juvenile’s parents met the officer at the front door and looked at the video and confirmed the juvenile in the video was their son. The juvenile’s father confronted him about the backpack demanding he return it or tell the officer where it was. The juvenile continued to deny that he knew anything about the backpack even though his father confronted him about seeing him on video. The father and juvenile went into another room and his father went through the room looking for the backpack. While they did that, the officer attempted to call the woman’s phone to see if the ring could be heard but the phone went immediately to voicemail.
The father came out and said the backpack was not there. The father offered to go over to the other boy’s house and retrieve the backpack and bring it back to the Colby-Abby Police Department. The officer knew the other boy would not return or admit that he had taken the backpack and thanked the father for the offer as the officer thought that was the best chance to have the backpack returned. The officer then went back to the CAPD to fill another officer in on what was going on with the case so far. The other officer said that he had already received a phone call from a different juvenile saying that he had been with the bigger male and was the one who had taken the backpack. The other juvenile said he was at the bigger male’s residence with the backpack and would be waiting for an officer to show up to turn the backpack over.
The other officer went to retrieve the backpack and interview the males about the situation. Charges of resisting or obstructing an officer, theft and damage to property will be referred to Clark County Social Services and Marathon County Social Services for the two boys. Both parents were notified of the outcome and were aware of the situation.
n October 25 - A man met with an officer at the police department to report an attempted scam against him. The man said he opened his internet browser and while on the home page, he noticed an advertisement for baseball cards that piqued his interest. After the man opened the advertisement, his computer locked up. The screen informed him his computer was locked and he needed to call Microsoft to unlock his computer.
The man said he called the number displayed and the person on the other end of the phone took control of his computer. The man said he spent approximately eight hours of his day dealing with a few different males. The man said they all had a foreign accent.
The man was provided bank routing numbers to wire funds to and said he was informed his banking information was hacked and the fraud department from his local bank would be calling. A short time passed when the man received a phone call. The caller ID on his phone identified the caller as Nicolet Bank which is where the man banks. The man was given instructions to go to the bank and electronically wire money to Bank of America. The man from the fraud department provided account information for the Bank of America. The man was told in order to protect his money in the bank he needed to transfer his savings to a temporary account.
The man was told to remain on the phone while inside Nicolet Bank. The man was told the FBI was monitoring the phone call as unknown employees at Nicolet Bank were involved in the bank fraud. The man said he should have known better but the caller ID display showing Nicolet Bank made it seem the call was legitimate. The man said he met with an employee at Nicolet and made arrangements to wire a substantial amount of money to the account that was provided to him. The man said the employee warned him that there were a number of bank scams and asked if he really wanted to go through with the transfer.
The man was confused but he told the employee he wanted to go through with the transfer. The employee forwarded the man onto the wire transfer department.
The man said he was also requested to send a picture of his driver’s license via text message. The man does not have a smartphone but made arrangements for a friend to send the picture of his license to the individuals he had been dealing with throughout the day. The man said he had a conversation with a family member about what occurred throughout the day on his computer and bank. The family member informed him this was a scam.
The next day, the man returned to Nicolet Bank to report the money transferred was a scam. The man was relieved to find out the bank did not complete the wire transfer. The account number has been changed and no financial loss occurred. The man was concerned the suspects had a copy of his driver’s license and requested a police report for documentation purposes.
n October 27 - An officer observed a vehicle traveling in Abbotsford and ran the registration plate and owner’s information. The information came back saying the owner did not have a driver’s license. The officer initiated a traffic stop of the vehicle and made contact with the driver. The officer noticed the strong odor of marijuana coming from inside of the vehicle.
The officer asked the driver if there was any marijuana inside the vehicle and the man said he had a pipe but no marijuana. The officer asked the man to exit the vehicle and searched his person. In his right front pocket, the officer located a purple metal pipe. The pipe had burnt residue inside of it.
The officer searched the vehicle and found a glass bong and a glass skull ashtray with a green, leafy residue. The officer asked the passenger about the items located in the vehicle and he stated the items were the driver’s.
The officer ran the duo’s information through dispatch and the driver returned as not having a valid driver’s license. The officer issued the driver citations for operating without a valid driver’s license and possession of drug paraphernalia.
n October 28 - An officer was given a fraud complaint over the phone. A woman said she lived in Indiana and provided the officer with her information. The woman said she had been applying for government assistance and she received a letter back asking about her current employment.
The woman said she did not work anywhere and after investigating further, found that someone was using her social security number for their employment at Abbyland Foods in the city of Abbotsford. The woman said she has never been to Abbotsford and said she was not employed there. The woman said she needed a report to continue with her financial assistance.
The woman said that if the suspect was located, she would like to take action against them. The officer told the woman he would check back with Abbyland human resources and get back to the woman.
