A Little Chute man is accused of breaking into his grandfather’s cabin in rural Iola, joyriding in his grandfather’s truck and pointing a gun at a friend while drunk.
Beau A. Racette, 23, is charged in Waupaca County Circuit Court with two counts of burglary, two counts of theft, possession of a firearm by a felon, pointing a firearm at another person, driving a vehicle without the owner’s consent and operating after revocation.
On May 25, Waupaca County Sheriff’s Deputy James Santiago spoke with the owner of some cabins on Roosevelt Road in the town of Helvetia.
The owner said his grandson, Racette, held a party at his cabin while he was away on May 15-16. When the grandfather returned, he found that someone had entered his main cabin and stole more than a dozen bottles of alcohol. His shotgun was loaded with buckshot, and a 20-count box of 12-gauge slugs was missing.
He also believed his one-ton dump truck had been driven without his consent, because there were large clumps of dirt impacted on the front end.
The grandfather said he did not report the incident earlier because Racette had already served time in state prison, and he did not want him to get into any more trouble, according to the criminal complaint.
However, on May 25, the grandfather had gone into the barn and discovered that the rims and tires were missing from his 1979 GMC 2500 truck. A 1 1/2-ton jack and five gallons of gasoline were also missing.
The total value of the stolen items was estimated to be $2,415, which included $300 in missing alcohol.
The grandfather also found an envelope under a chair near the fire ring on the deck. Inside the envelope were bank statements, which gave Santiago a name of a possible witness at the party, an 18-year-old Waupaca man.
The witness said Racette had 17 people over to his grandfather’s cabins for a party. He told Santiago that Racette had keys that allowed him to enter his grandfather’s cabin. He came out with 15 bottles of alcohol.
According to the criminal complaint, Racette and the 18-year-old drove the dump truck along Roosevelt Road while shooting the gun.
Racette allegedly offered to sell the teen the tires and rims off the truck. They were unable to remove them that night, so they returned and took them on May 23, the complaint says.
A second witness told Santiago that Racette became upset about his party getting out of control. Racette allegedly loaded a shotgun and waved it around. The witness said when he tried to take the gun from Racette, he pointed it at his stomach and said, “If you try to take the gun away from me, I’ll shoot you.”
Racette was convicted of burglary and fleeing an officer in September 2009 in Marinette County and sentenced to a total of 5 1/2 years in state prison.