By Patricia Bogumil
Editor
A 16-year-old from Sturtevant faces multiple felony charges after allegedly stealing a convicted sex offender’s money, vehicle and new puppy.
According to the criminal complaint filed Jan. 14 in Racine County Circuit Court:
On Dec. 2 the victim, age 34, from Racine, filed a theft of vehicle complaint.
He told police that he had met Ashley Haigh in an Internet chat room about five days earlier, a romantic interest had developed, and Haigh had come to his residence.
Haigh told him she was age 19, the victim said, and did not have a problem with his being a registered sex offender, which resulted from his impregnating a 16-year-old girl a few years back.
The victim said he and Haigh spent the night together but did not have sexual intercourse; instead, he fell asleep and when he woke up she was gone, along with $600 in cash missing from a pants pocket, his 1999 Suburban van and his 8-week-old pit bull puppy.
The victim said when he texted Haigh to ask what was going on and tell her he would contact police, Haigh texted him that if he did, she would say they had had sex and she is only 16 years old.
The victim contacted police anyway, according to the criminal complaint.
Police recovered the puppy from the garage at Haigh’s parents’ home. The van and its keys were recovered in Racine, where Haigh texted police that she was leaving it, according to the criminal complaint. The $600 in cash is not reported as recovered.
Police were advised by the Racine County District Attorney’s office to contact the state Department of Corrections sex offender registry to give them a synopsis of the incident to ensure that all guidelines had been followed appropriately.
No charges against the victim are planned. Police report they observed Haigh’s text messages assuring the victim that she was 19 years old.
Haigh faces felony charges of theft from a person, operating a motor vehicle without the owner’s consent and theft of movable property (the puppy). She also faces one misdemeanor theft charge.
If convicted of all charges, Haigh faces a maximum of 22 years, 9 months in prison; $55,000 in fines; or both. She is scheduled to be in court Jan. 23 for a preliminary hearing.
Haigh is also due in court Feb. 8 for a pre-trial conference for felony battery by prisoner and misdemeanor disorderly conduct, charges that were filed Dec. 21 in a separate incident.
-
-
-
-
-
This story has been posted on various news outlets, however the one question that no one seems to be asking is how the girl in the case knew that the alleged victim had such a large amount of cash on him, and specifically where to find it.
The obvious implication would lead authorities to better understand why a teenager would be at all interested in meeting a man in his mid-thirties.
Also, in regards to the stolen truck and puppy, these may be clues as to a deeper problem with the teenager; i.e. – what was she planning on doing with the dog? Did she feel that she could sell it? It’ll be interesting to see if any of these questions are answered during pre-trial hearings.