Couple found guilty of criminal damage to property
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — A couple accused of setting a double-wide trailer house on fire in the Town of New Haven has pleaded no contest and been found guilty of misdemeanor criminal damage to property, and both were sentenced to probation and jail time.
A trial had been scheduled this month for Jamie M. Schewe, 35, and Jonathan G. Hopkins, 36, but the trial was cancelled when Schewe and Hopkins reached a plea deal, and a plea and sentencing hearing was scheduled for August 7 before Dunn County Circuit Court Judge Rod Smeltzer.
Schewe and Hopkins both pleaded no contest to an amended charge of misdemeanor criminal damage to property as a party to a crime.
According to online court records, Judge Smeltzer accepted their pleas and found them both guilty.
Hopkins and Schewe were previously charged with one Class C felony count of arson to a building with intent to defraud as a party to a crime.
Judge Smeltzer withheld sentencing and placed Schewe on one year of probation with the condition that she serve 30 days in jail.
Judge Smeltzer granted Schewe Huber privileges for work, for child care and for school.
The judge also withheld sentencing for Hopkins, placed him on one year of probation and ordered him to serve 60 days in jail as a condition of probation.
Hopkins received Huber privileges as well and was ordered to report to the jail by August 16.
Schewe was ordered to report to the jail October 18 so her jail time does not overlap her husband’s jail time.
Judge Smeltzer ordered both Schewe and Hopkins to pay $243 in court costs, to pay a $200 DNA surcharge and a $10 drug surcharge.
According to the criminal complaint, on August 28, 2014, the Dunn County Sheriff’s Department received a request for a fire investigator to respond to 1270th Avenue in the Town of New Haven.
The fire investigator, Deputy Matt Feeney, met with the incident commander for the Boyceville fire department. The structure was a double-wide used as a single-family rental with a detached garage.
The incident commander was concerned about the floor joist being burned completely through near the front entrance and pointed out the renters of the structure, who were identified as Jamie M. Schewe and Jonathan G. Hopkins.
Schewe told Deputy Feeney she and Hopkins lived at the residence, had rented it for the past four years, and the fire had started because of a heat lamp near an aquarium that sat beneath the counter between the kitchen and the living room. The aquarium contained two bearded dragon lizards, according to the complaint.
Schewe also told investigators she and Hopkins had just purchased renters insurance, were in the process of moving closer to Menomonie, and had put some of their belongings in the garage, the complaint states.
Deputy Feeney observed the floor joist by the front door had burned from the top down and was burned completely through while other joists, although damaged, had not been burned through. Where the aquarium was reported to have been located, there was less damage to the joists than by the front door.
A special agent from the DOJ Division of Criminal Investigation Fire Marshal’s office was contacted to investigate the scene.
The special agent determined the heat lamp for the aquarium was ruled out as a cause for the fire, and the origin of the fire appeared to have been near the front door, according to the complaint.
According to online court records, the judge said no restitution would be required.
