By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — After allegedly breaking into the Outhouse Bar, a 31-year-old former Bloomer man who attempted to elude police officers in Colfax in early March by jumping into the Red Cedar River has failed to show up for an arraignment hearing.
Joshua A.Whitley is charged in Dunn County with one felony count of burglary and misdemeanor counts of obstructing an officer, theft and disorderly conduct.
After failing to show up in Dunn County Circuit Court for subsequent hearings after a preliminary hearing March 13, Whitley finally appeared in court by telephone September 9 before Judge James Peterson. At the time an arraignment hearing was scheduled November 23, however, Whitely was again nowhere to be found.
Dunn County Assistant District Attorney Lucas Arras reminded the court that at the time of the September hearing, Whitley had been in jail in Utah.
Judge Peterson had issued a warrant for Whitley’s arrest, but when Whitley contacted the court by telephone in September, the judge quashed the warrant.
Judge Peterson noted that the court had received a notification of a change of address for Whitley on October 8 from his former Bloomer address to the Sojourner House in Eau Claire.
Sojourner House is a homeless shelter.
The judge said a notice of the November 23 hearing had been mailed out to Whitley and that he could have appeared in court by Zoom or by telephone.
Judge Peterson also noted that he planned to ask the Clerk of Courts to elaborate in court records on how the clerks know a change of address has been submitted.
There was no explanation, as of the November 23 hearing, as to how Whitley had gone from a jail in Utah to Sojourner House in Eau Claire, Judge Peterson said.
Judge Peterson issued a bench warrant for Whitley at 10:06 a.m. November 23 and then ordered a forfeiture of Whitley’s bail of $150 cash and scheduled a bail forfeiture hearing for January 22.
At 1:46 p.m. November 23, Whitley appeared in Judge Peterson’s courtroom by telephone.
Judge Peterson once again quashed the warrant and then reinstated Whitley’s cash bail of $150 and cancelled the bail forfeiture hearing.
Whitley told the court he does not have an address where he can receive mail although he thought he could still use the address on file, according to online court records.
Whitley also told the court he thought he had an attorney to represent him, but Judge Peterson said the attorney had withdrawn from Whitley’s case since no one knew where to find him.
The judge told Whitley to apply to the Public Defender’s office again to obtain an attorney.
Whitley is scheduled for an arraignment hearing in Dunn County Circuit Court December 17 at 2:30 p.m.
During an initial appearance in Dunn County Circuit Court March 9, Judge Peterson set bail at $500 cash and ordered Whitley to have no contact with Cenex/Synergy Cooperative or the Outhouse Bar in Colfax. The cash bail was amended to $200 March 13.
After Whitley failed to show up for several court hearings, the $200 cash bail was forfeited during a hearing August 24, and Judge Rod Smeltzer set a cash bail of $150 for Whitley September 9.
Burglary
According to the criminal complaint, on the morning of March 7, Dunn County deputies responded to the Outhouse Bar on Main Street in Colfax at around 7:42 a.m. for a report of a burglary in progress that had been interrupted.
Food wrappers and a soft drink cup discovered at the bar appeared to have come from Cenex/Synergy Cooperative in Colfax.
One of the deputies made contact with Cenex, and employees confirmed the food and drink items had come from there and said the suspect had left without paying for the items. The employees said they had security video footage of the suspect and a second man who entered and left with him. The Synergy employees were able to provide vehicle license plate number, too, according to the complaint.
After the Dunn County deputies had cleared the bar and had talked to the bar manager, an anonymous caller reported a man had entered some pine trees and had ran northbound across a field near 231 West Railroad Avenue in Colfax.
Footprints
Deputies located footprints in the snow behind a shed at the address, and the deputies followed the tracks, northbound, through some fields and along wood lines.
The tracks turned to the northeast, went to the river bank, followed the river bank to the north, went to the river’s edge and continued north.
Another deputy approached from the west, around a bend in the river from the other deputies, and saw a man standing on the river bank. When the man saw the officers, he went into the river, the complaint states.
According to a report from Colfax Police Chief William Anderson, Dunn County deputies also had begun to track the man with a snowmobile. When the deputies were closing in on the man’s location, and as Colfax officers arrived, the man jumped into the river and began swimming and wading across.
Colfax police officers responded to the other side of the river on 910th Avenue, west of Felland Park, along with an officer from the Wisconsin State Patrol.
When the man came out of the river, he made contact with the State Trooper but was not being cooperative. With the combined effort of the State Trooper, the Colfax police officers and the Dunn County deputies, the man was taken into custody, Police Chief Anderson said.
False names
Whitley initially gave false names to the police officers.
Colfax Police Officer Jacob Pake and Police Chief Anderson drove to the Dunn County Jail, and on the way to Menomonie, the man told the officers his name was David Seymour, with the same date of birth in 1971 as he had given with the other name.
Jail staff and the Colfax officers attempted numerous times to try to identify the man, but he continued to give the same two names.
Police Chief Anderson contacted the Chippewa County Jail, which was able to send a picture of a Joshua A.Whitley. Police Chief Anderson and Officer Pake were able to confirm that Whitley was the man in custody, according to the complaint.
Whitley’s date of birth is April 17, 1988. The date of birth he gave for the two false names was April 17, 1971.
