Law Enforcement
■ August 5 - An officer was dispatched to a business in Abbotsford in reference to a criminal damage complaint. The officer was told two juveniles had kicked a door open and were throwing rocks and breaking a window.
The officer located the juveniles, who said they were coming from another establishment further up the street. The officer asked what else they were doing, to which they did not reply. The officer told them that someone had watched them kick in a door and throw rocks at a window. They initially denied involvement but admitted to the accusations after being informed that a witness had watched everything they did and reported it.
The officer attempted to contact the guardians of the juveniles, but they were working at the time. The officer told them that a juvenile referral would be completed for criminal damage and trespass. They were both released and told to go home.
■ ■ August 7 - An officer responded to a report of a young kid running down the sidewalk who appeared to be distraught and crying. The reporting party stopped the child, who stated that they were lost and looking for their grandmother’s place. The complainant took the child to the police station.
The child stated they knew how to get to their grandmother’s house, so the officer had the child sit in the back seat of their squad car and followed the child’s directions to a residence. Inside they met with the child’s grandmother who asked what was going on. The officer explained what had happened. The grandmother said she had taken the child out for breakfast, dropped the child off back at the house and told them to go back inside. She drove away, but the child must have come back out and ran after her. She assured the officer that she would take care of the child and contact the parents.
■ ■ August 7 - An officer took a complaint of a stolen vehicle. The complainant stated they had parked their 2013 Dodge Charger behind a business in Abbotsford near their girlfriend’s house. They had parked their vehicle there the night prior, and when they woke up that morning, the car was gone. The owner said they had left the vehicle unlocked and left the keys in the ignition. They stated they were the only one that drove the car and had not given anyone else permission to do so.
■ ■ August 7 - An officer observed a GMC Sierra parked at a gas station in Abbotsford that matched the description of an attempt-tolocate from Taylor County. The vehicle was unoccupied with the keys in the ignition. The officer notified Taylor County of the recovered vehicle, and a detective was dispatched to the location. The officer entered the gas station and confirmed that no one else was inside the store other than customers that had been seen getting out of other vehicles.
The Taylor County detective arrived and obtained consent from the vehicle’s owners to search the truck. The keys were stuck in the on position and would not fully turn due to the truck still being in drive. A wallet was located on the driver’s seat with an ID, a debit card, a library card, and a laminated bank card containing all of the suspected driver’s information. A cased firearm was also found on the floor, and the detective was aware that it had been stolen in Taylor County.
The officer was informed that a tan purse was missing from the truck.The officer spoke with an officer from Minocqua, where the string of vehicle thefts had first been reported. An aunt of one of the suspects had reported that two individuals showed up at her residence the previous night. The officer said the wallet of one of those individuals had been found in the truck. The owner of the wallet had been taken into custody in Lincoln County earlier that morning, and the other suspect had been taken into custody on a probation hold. The CAPD officer informed the Minocqua officer about another stolen vehicle report in Abbotsford that morning, only a block from where the truck had been located.
The officer called Lincoln County dispatch and was put in contact with a detective who had located the reported vehicle unoccupied. The officer asked the detective about the tan purse and was sent a picture of the suspect when they were taken into custody. There appeared to be a tan purse around their neck.
On August 8, the officer checked the alley area where the Dodge Charger had been stolen. The officer spoke to the neighboring business about their security footage and they were able to provide partial video of the stolen vehicle. The stolen truck was observed on video entering the gas station’s parking lot and parking in the location it would later be found. The driver sat inside for several minutes before exiting and walking behind the vehicle belonging to the owner of the business. The suspect walked north down the alley and out of the camera view, in the same direction of the Dodge Charger, parked within 100 feet of where the suspect left the camera’s view. A vehicle with a loud exhaust could be heard starting and eventually becoming more faint as it drove away.
The officer went to another business with cameras facing the direction they believed the suspect to have gone and observed recorded video of the Charger entering the frame heading eastbound towards Hwy 13. The officer compared the suspect from the security video with the picture of the wallet’s owner when they were taken into custody in Lincoln County. The attire matched and, along with the ID found in the stolen truck, led the officer to believe the suspect in the video was the one in Lincoln County.
■ ■ August 7 - An officer was alerted to a found dog at a residence in Abbotsford. Upon arrival the officer recognized the dog from previous complaints. The officer transported the dog to the Abbotsford dog kennel. Along the way, they passed the owner’s house and the officer observed the owner’s other dog wandering around. The second dog was able to crawl underneath a large gap in the backyard fence.
The officer later met with the owner at the dog kennel. The owner was issued two citations for permitting both dogs to run at large. The owner was informed of the faults in the fence. This was the seventh such complaint against the owner.
■ ■ August 7 - An officer received a fraud complaint from an individual who had been told that their identity was on file as an employee at a business in Abbotsford. The complainant said they are currently unemployed and live in Texas. She stated that her name, social security number, and date of birth were being used without her consent.
On Aug. 8, the officer met with the human resources manager at the business the complainant had been told they were employed at. The manager located the identity in their computer system and verified that someone going by that name was employed there and had an ID and social security card on file. The officer observed that the ID card was from Illinois and the social security number on the card matched the number the complainant had provided.
The officer asked to meet with the person going by the complainant’s identity. The individual was asked to verify their name and information. The officer observed that the individual responded extremely slowly and would look up at the ceiling while giving their information. The individual was noted to be extremely nervous and would pause and redirect questioning. The officer decided to end the conversation and asked to meet the individual again later at their residence.
The officer ran the ID card and saw that there was no driver’s license number associated with the one provided, indicating that the Illinois ID was fraudulent. The officer met with the individual outside of their residence. The individual was twice asked, and confirmed, their identity as being that of the complainant’s. The individual was asked to provide identification, and they presented their employee ID. The officer asked if they had any other identification, which they denied. The officer asked where their Illinois ID card went. The individual then provided an ID card from Illinois matching the scan their employer had provided.
The individual asked if there was a problem and was informed of the complaint received from the resident of Texas. The individual denied knowing anything about that. The officer asked if the information given on their ID card was correct, to which they stated yes. The officer then asked where they were from in Illinois. The individual was unable to provide them with that information.
When asked if the ID was real, the individual stated yes, it was the one given to them. The officer asked who they got the ID from. The individual stated they had someone make it for them. The officer told the individual the ID was not real. The individual stated their employer gave it to them temporarily because they wanted to work. The individual agreed to give the officer their real name, but didn’t want to lose their job.
The officer asked the individual if they knew that it was illegal to use someone else’s name and social security card to get a job. They said they did not know the identity they had been given belonged to a real person. The individual was arrested for identity theft and obstructing an officer and transported to the Marathon County Jail.
■ ■ August 8 - An officer received a phone call from the manager of a trailer park in Abbotsford. The manager said they had spoken with a resident of the park who wanted to report the suspicious activity of an individual hanging around the area. The manager said the unidentified male had chased children with his vehicle and asked them to come back to his apartment with him. The manager said the individual’s uncle resides in the park, but does not allow his nephew to live there.
The officer met with the resident who had spoken to the manager. The resident explained that a few months ago their 14-year old son and his friends were at the basketball court when a male individual came up to the son and claimed to know his father. The officer asked if the resident knew the identity of the male. They referred to an individual that the officer had multiple contacts with. The resident then stated that their son told the male that he didn’t know his father, or who he was, and brushed off his attempts at communicating with him. The male then asked the son’s friend if he wanted to go watch a movie with him, to which the friend sharply declined. The resident stated their son’s friend had claimed the male’s communication was somewhat “flirty.”
The resident stated that a month ago the son left their residence on a bicycle, and the male followed him out of the park. The son noticed he was being followed and pulled into the parking lot about a block away from the park. The male followed him into the parking lot, so the son took another route to see if he would follow him again. The resident said the male followed their son to another business in town, so the son called a friend and pretended he was on the phone with his father. He indicated audibly that someone was following him, and the male heard him and stopped.
The resident stated that on Monday they had driven to a friend’s house and saw the male parked outside of the residence. They confronted the male about his behavior toward their child, to which the male told them it was another male individual who resided in the trailer court and looks like him. The male accused their son of lying about the incident.
The resident saw the male that day in the driveway across from their residence. The resident stated they could see the male leaning over the back seat and watching their children play outside, and that’s when they informed the park manager about the previous incidents. The park manager confronted the male, questioning his intent in the park, and the male left.
The resident stated they did not feel safe allowing their children to go outside or be unsupervised. They stated a few nights ago they heard someone trying to open the doors to their residence and knocking on all the windows. They stated that law enforcement had also been called to the house earlier in the year when the son was home alone and believed someone was in the house. The officer verified that police came to the residence on June 1 but did not locate anyone.
The officer told the resident that all the incidents they had reported needed to be documented when they occurred, and advised them to contact law enforcement if any further suspicious activity occurs or if they or their children see the male in the park again.
The officer ran the male’s information through dispatch and found him to be on probation. The officer called probation and informed them of the complaint. Probation advised they would be issuing an arrest warrant for the male.
The officer met with the male, informed him of the warrant, and placed him under arrest. The individual was transported to the police station, where he stated he was present for the incident at the basketball courts, but denied any mention of watching a movie with one of the boys. He also said he saw one of the boys on his bike, but the boy kept meeting him at different locations randomly. He denied following the boy. He admitted to being in the trailer court earlier that day, but did not think he was watching the children play. He stated he was not trying to cause issues in the park. The officer advised the individual not to have contact with the children in the trailer court. The individual was transported to the Marathon County Jail.
