Judge finds probable cause in case of Boyceville man charged with perjury
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — A Dunn County judge has found probable cause in the case of a 38-year-old Boyceville man charged with perjury and bail jumping and has ordered him bound over for trial.
Joshua L. Arbuckle appeared in Dunn County Circuit Court October 19 by telephone before Judge James Peterson for a preliminary hearing on two felony counts of perjury and bail jumping and misdemeanor counts of theft of movable property worth less than $2,500, with a repeater modifier, and three misdemeanor counts of bail jumping in connection with allegedly testifying under oath he did not possess items which he subsequently put up for sale online.
Arbuckle testified in a small claims case in Dunn County in 2019 that he no longer possessed items that had belonged to a woman with whom he’d had a relationship.
Judge Peterson presided over the small claims case in a court trial on June 27, 2019.
The woman testified when she ended her relationship with Arbuckle, she had moved out and had left several items behind, including a charcoal sofa, a matching table lamp and floor lamp, step bunk beds, and a matching tile top end table and coffee table.
Arbuckle testified the woman had moved out six months ago, and the items had been “cleared out.” Arbuckle told the court the couch and the coffee table were still at his home but the bunk beds and end table were gone.
Judge Peterson ruled that the property belonged to the woman and issued a Writ of Replevin for the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department to attempt to retrieve the items from Arbuckle’s home on the woman’s behalf.
According to the criminal complaint, the woman sent photographs to a Dunn County deputy of documents detailing the cost of the items. The bunk beds had cost $549, the end table had cost $156.93, the coffee table had cost $179.35 and the couch had cost $588.12 for a total of $1,473.40.
For sale
Boyceville Police Chief Greg Lamkin testified at the preliminary hearing October 19 he had been contacted by the woman’s mother earlier this year, who said the items Arbuckle had said were no longer in his possession he now had put up for sale on the “Anything for Sale in Eau Claire” Facebook page.
Police Chief Lamkin testified the items had been sold on our before May 21 of this year and said he had also seen Arbuckle’s Facebook profile pictures that included the items, and one of the pictures was of Arbuckle’s infant son, who had been born in May of this year.
The baby was born at a time when Arbuckle still had some of the items, the police chief said.
Jonathan Lundeen, Arbuckle’s attorney, said the police chief did not know if the baby in the photograph was Arbuckle’s son and that he also did not know if the date in May was this year since there was no year associated with the May date.
Facebook includes a month with a year if it is not the current year, but for the current year, the month and the day are listed with no year, Police Chief Lamkin said.
The police chief also said he had made assumptions based on Facebook comments that the infant was Arbuckle’s son.
Lundeen said Police Chief Lamkin had made assumptions about when the items were for sale but that he had no proof of when they were for sale.
The police chief makes assumptions based on previous experience, but he does not know Arbuckle’s son, when he was born, or when the picture was taken. He only knows when the pictures were uploaded to the Internet, Lundeen said.
There is no evidence of when the items were in Arbuckle’s possession, and while the Facebook listing indicated the items were sold May 21, there is no year associated with the date, he said.
Lundeen went on to say the case against Arbuckle was “speculative” and that there is “zero evidence.”
Probable cause
For the purpose of probable cause, the district attorney’s office has shown there is probable cause to believe a felony has been committed and probable cause that Arbuckle committed the felony, Judge Peterson said, adding that a preliminary hearing is not intended “to be a full trial.”
After stating probable cause had been established, Judge Peterson ordered Arbuckle bound over for trial.
Arbuckle is scheduled for an arraignment hearing in Dunn County Circuit Court on January 11.
