Menomonie, Wisconsin History/eworne15

On the surface Menomonie seems like a quaint and busy town with many local businesses and shops. Despite only having a population of abound 16,000, it actually has quite a rich crime history. With 4 sexual assaults, 19 assaults, 63 burglaries, 451 accounts of theft, and 12 different instances of motor vehicle theft in the past year, would you feel safe? Drugs and alcohol are almost always apart of campus life, and this university seems to me no different. “UW-Stout had 269 alcohol arrests and 59 drug arrests in 2011 and 140 alcohol arrests and 45 drug arrests in 2012” (weau.com).This ranks this university number 2 in the United States with the most drug and alcohol arrests per 1,000 student’s on-campus. On a broader scale, Menomonie has a rating of 19 by neighboorhoodscout.com. That 19 means that Menomonie is only safer than 19% of the cities in the entire United States.

Property Crime

Menomonie is home to an abundance of property crimes. There are about 530 property crimes annually which is higher than the average annual property crime in the whole state of Wisconsin. In the past there have been many property damage cases but one that stands out is the story of four boys from the great city of Menomonie that went on a five day vandalizing spree back in 2007. The leader of the group was Romeo Salinas Jr. He was the one that did the most damage. The remaining group members names were Matthew Federico, Shane Hovlind, and Christopher Scott. On their five day spree Salinas alone managed to destroy over 100 mailboxes and put some heavy damage on a few vehicles. The other boys smashed a couple of mailboxes as well but spent most of the spree accompanying Salinas in his terror around town. They obviously never entertained the thought of being caught and due to their careless behaviors they were caught right after their spree ended. Once the group was caught they were given all sorts of charges. Salinas was sentenced to six months in jail and was to serve three years of probation.

When brought to court, other charges on Salinas were brought to light. He was tied to being involved with the property damage to a window at Menomonie High School. As well as fourth degree sexual assault in September of 2007. Where Romeo Salinas Jr. was having sexual relations with his 14 year old girlfriend.

            During the sentencing he sweet-talked the judge and managed to get over 90 charges of misdemeanor damage dropped. In order to get out of the 90 plus charges, Salinas was to pay the $355 in court costs, serve fifty hours of community service, and apology letters to the victims.

Image of public Vandalism

The other boys had a little bit of an easier time with charges against them. Matthew Federico was given 98 counts of party to the crime from March 13-17. Shane Hovlind was given 98 misdemeanor counts of party to the crime as well along with a felony for damage to property. Christopher Scott is charged with 98 misdemeanor criminal damage to property; along with a felony count of criminal damage and bail jumping.

Violent Crime

Annually in Menomonie there are about 15 violent crimes. It's a rare event when Menomonie sees a violent crime but it does happen.

In February of last year two racially driven men named Joshua Morrow and Lucas Franklin were at the local Super America gas station on Stout Road and ran into two black men. When this happened they threw some racial slurs at the men which led to a severe verbal altercation. Alarmed by this shocking event the two men fled to their home.

Morrow is already a convicted felon who has committed crimes such as escaping criminal arrest and multiple accounts of battery. So with the mentality of a psychopath, Morrow brought Franklin back to their vehicle and followed them. Once the men got to their home the older man ran inside to grab a weapon while the other was alone in the garage trying to keep Franklin and Morrow out. They approached the younger man while threatening him and yelling more racial slurs. Not to long after, the older man was back and with a knife and tried to shut the garage door on them. As he attempted to close the garage door, Franklin and Morrow tried to enter the garage. When this happened the older man warmly welcomed Franklin to the garage with a stab to the abdomen. This caused them to run to their vehicle and flee the scene. Shortly after leaving they collided with another car on 21st street. Morrow ditched the scene and his recently stabbed friend in the car.

Violent crime plot- State wide

Franklin was found in the car and brought to the hospital. He then was then put into custody. It didn’t take long for the police to find Morrow either. Once they found him, he was also put into custody and was later sentenced two years of probation.

Drug Busts

Menomonie has had its fill of drug busts but there is one recent event that has earned the title, “The largest bust in campus history.” This accomplishment was done by two 21 year olds named Josh Schuster and Mike Auckland. Schuster was the man in charge and Auckland just helped out a little bit with his business. Schuster was selling drugs from their house on Fourth Avenue for well over a year and was making some good money from it, but the thing about running a business like this is that eventually the police are going to catch wind of it. Which is exactly what happened. So in early November of last year the Menomonie Police Department sent in anonymous undercover buyers into the house to purchase marijuana. Once the undercover buyers got out and delivered the drugs to the police; a search warrant was immediately issued to the house.

From the search they found well over six pounds of marijuana, a lot of marijuana-based candy, some MDMA, acid, DMT, and $5,200 in cash. With all of this found in his house there were obviously some severe repercussions. The charges were as follows; Delivery of a controlled substance, Possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, Maintaining a drug house, and Possession of other controlled substances. Schuster was given one year in prison and Auckland was only given a month in prison because he wasn’t nearly as involved as Schuster was.

Image of a drug bust

They are also not allowed on campus ever again and if they are to be seen on campus they can be arrested.

External Links

Crime

UW-Stout

Police Officer