Michael S. Hammond, 49, Milwaukee, was charged in Waupaca County Circuit Court with three counts of burglary, two counts of theft, obstructing an officer and attempted burglary.
On Sept. 28, 2012, a resident of Fox Trail in Mukwa called 911 and reported someone broke into her home and stole seven rings and three necklaces. She said she suspected her neighbor, Hammond.
On Dec, 2, 2012, a resident of Hutchinson Road in Mukwa called 911 and reported that when his family came home, they found someone had been in their home. The caller said the suspect drove away in a red Pontiac.
When Deputy Nick Traeger arrived, he found the caller and Hammond in the driveway.
According to the criminal complaint, Hammond told Traeger he had been driving past the house when he saw two men standing next to a green pickup truck in the driveway.
Hammond said he turned around and came back to the house. As he pulled into the driveway, the pickup truck pulled out, spinning its tires as it took off down Hutchinson Road.
The frame of the service door between the garage and the house had been busted.
The owner of the house told Traeger he suspected Hammond because he had seen Hammond come around from the back of the house after he had discovered the burglary.
On Dec. 7, 2012, Traeger spoke with the homeowner again, who said his neighbor had seen a red Pontiac driving by the house, slowly and repeatedly the day of the burglary.
On the morning of Feb. 11, 2013, a 17-year-old girl living on Klatt Road in Mukwa called 911 and reported a red car had driven past her house twice, then parked in the driveway. She said the driver had left the car, rang the front doorbell, then walked around the house.
Capt. Don Conat with the Waupaca County Sheriff’s Office responded to the call.
He found fresh tire tracks in the snow on the driveway and footprints outside the house.
The footprints went back and forth between the garage and the front door and around the garage.
The girl told Conat she was home sick from school. She said a red car had pulled into the driveway, and a man wearing a blue hoodie with a baseball cap came to the front door and rang the doorbell. She did not answer because she was home alone.
She said the man then drove away, but returned a short time later. He again rang the doorbell, then she heard him attempting to open the locked key box on the service door.
She also said she saw the red car driving north on Fox Trail.
Conat drove down Fox Trail and saw a red Pontiac matching the girl’s description parked in a driveway. It was registered to Michael Hammond.
As Conat was obtaining information on the car, a middle-aged man came out of the house and wanted to know what Conat was doing in his driveway. Conat, who was in plain clothes and an unmarked vehicle, showed Hammond his badge.
Conat pointed to the nearby home on Klatt Road and told Hammond he was investigating a complaint that a suspicious person had been in their yard.
Hammond reportedly said he had been at the house to see if they needed someone to shovel their snow.
Deputy Traci LaBrosse subsequently arrived at the house on Fox Trail. When she questioned Hammond about the incident, he denied trying to get into the garage door or attempting to open the key box.
On March 14, Detective Sgt. John Mocadlo obtained transaction reports and photos of jewelry Hammond allegedly sold to pawn shops in Milwaukee.
The woman whose home had been broken into in September identified the necklaces in one of the photos as belonging to her. She also told Mocadlo her neighbor may also be missing jewelry.
Mocadlo then spoke with the neighbor, who said she had not reported the missing jewelry because she thought she had misplaced it. She identified some of her missing jewelry in the photos.