Jun. 8—EAU CLAIRE — A former employee of an Eau Claire business has the opportunity to avoid a criminal conviction for removing serial numbers from items he took from work and pawned.
Benjamin J. Schwartz, 29, 710 Division St., pleaded guilty Tuesday in Eau Claire County Court to a misdemeanor count of removing manufacturer's identification marks.
As part of a one-year deferred agreement with prosecutors, the charge will be dismissed if Schwartz pays a $300 fine, commits no new crimes, performs 24 hours of community service, has no contact with SERVPRO, does not pawn any items at National Pawn & Loan Co., and pays restitution.
According to the criminal complaint:
The owner of SERVPRO reported the theft of company equipment on Dec. 3 to police. The business owner saw two fans and a dehumidifier that are the unique green color and models used by SERVPRO at an Eau Claire pawn shop.
Serial numbers were removed from two of the items, but remained on the third piece of equipment. According to the company's recordkeeping, that fan should've been in a storage warehouse.
An Eau Claire police officer asked a pawn shop employee for the name of the customer who got about $334 for the items. Schwartz's name was given, and the pawn shop agreed to put the items on hold.
SERVPRO's owner said the two fans and dehumidifier cost about $2,200 and wanted to press charges against the former employee.
On Dec. 5, the police officer went to Schwartz's home to talk about the equipment that was missing from SERVPRO. Schwartz said he'd gotten permission from his employer to use the items to dry out his flooded basement. He and his girlfriend were later fired from the company, which did ask that Schwartz return the equipment.
Schwartz told the officer he kept the items because he was angry due to his relationship with SERVPRO not ending on good terms. Schwartz admitted to pawning the items and that he was likely the one to remove the serial numbers and company labels from them.
Department of Public Safety chief McCraw says officer whose wife was shot, and called him from classroom, was disarmed and escorted from the scene
Four male suspects have been arrested in connection to the vicious assault of a Chinese doctoral student near his University of Wisconsin-Madison campus last week. The 26-year-old victim, who suffered a bleeding ear and multiple “spots” on his head, detailed his harrowing experience in a Weibo post that was later translated into English. The victim said he was walking home along University Avenue on the night of June 14 when a group of men surrounded him, struck him in the face, shoved him to the ground and repeatedly punched and kicked him.
Over 50 of Bloskey’s friends and family filled two courtrooms in Johnson County to push the judge to hand down a longer sentence.
Prosecutors argue that the shooting was a gang-related ex-lovers’ quarrel.
A veteran Miami-Dade police officer is being investigated after video surfaced of him telling a Black man who questioned why he’d been pulled over, “this is how you guys get killed out here, man.”
The quick-thinking Florida dog breeder was being forced to drive by people who wanted to get their hands on his puppies, cops said.
A flight attendant found the alleged victim 'cowering in a corner' and barely able to speak
A grand jury indicted two former fraternity members at the University of Missouri in connection with a hazing incident last fall that left a student blind and with permanent brain damage. The grand jury in Boone County, Mo., charged Ryan Delanty and Thomas Shultz with a felony charge of hazing and a misdemeanor charge of…
Tyler Adams, 50, is wanted by the FBI for questioning about his girlfriend's disappearance — and it seems he's no stranger to the law
The top police official said there was a hallway full of officers ready to confront the shooter, but the district police chief waited for backup.
A woman accused of pepper-spraying four Asian women in New York City’s Meatpacking District earlier this month has been arrested and charged with hate crimes. Madeline Barker, 47, was charged on Saturday with assault as a hate crime, attempted assault as a hate crime and harassment as a hate crime for the June 11 incident at the intersection of 14th Street and Ninth Avenue in Chelsea. One of the victims, identified as Nicole, told NextShark that it all started when her group of friends — who were walking around the area — stopped behind a rock to decide where they would head next.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday limited the reach of a federal statute that requires stiff penalties for crimes involving a gun. The 7-2 decision united both conservative and liberal justices, though one dissenting justice compared the result to "Alice in Wonderland." The justices said the law can’t be used to lengthen the sentences of criminals convicted of a specific attempted robbery offense.
A Georgia man is accused of holding a teenaged girl at knifepoint and forcing her to engage in sex acts in Panama City Beach on Sunday.
Last year, Deshaun Watson was ready to pay each of 22 plaintiffs who had sued him for sexual misconduct during massage therapy sessions $100,000 in order to resolve the pending lawsuits. All but four were ready to end the process. Watson declined to settle with fewer than all of the plaintiffs, however. Watson, who just [more]
UPDATE, 3:39 PM: (Gloria Allred + Cosby rep statements added) Bill Cosby sexually assaulted a minor back in the mid-’70s, a civil jury decided today. After just over three full days of deliberations and one substitution, the Santa Monica panel this afternoon revealed its decision against the much-accused Cosby Show creator and star. Handing their […]
One man arrested is from Bradenton.
The South Dakota Senate on Tuesday convicted Attorney General Jason Ravnsborg of two impeachment charges stemming from a 2020 car crash in which he killed a pedestrian, triggering his automatic removal from office.
A Filipino lawyer has died a day after being shot while on his way to an airport in Philadelphia. John Albert “Jal” Laylo, a Philippines government attorney on vacation in the city, was sharing an Uber vehicle with his mother Leah when their car was attacked by still unknown suspects at 4:06 a.m. on Saturday. The suspects then pulled over to the Uber driver’s side and fired more rounds before fleeing the scene.
An Inman Park woman found herself in a terrifying situation when a gunman broke into her home and stood over her bed while she slept.
The 73-year-old man was hospitalized for three days with a brain bleed.