Crime & Safety

Sturtevant President Agrees to Plea Deal, Sentencing in July

Sturtevant Village President Steve Jansen will have misdemeanor convictions on his record instead of a felony.

Sturtevant Village President Steve Jansen formally accepted a plea agreement Monday.

Instead of facing  Jansen entered no contest pleas on two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct and one misdemeanor count of unlawful use of a computerized communication system.

He was in court with his defense attorney, Pat Cafferty.

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Because Jansen is not being convicted of a felony, he will still be allowed to vote, to hold office and to own a firearm.

Penalties will include 18 months probation, mandatory counseling, a $500 fine and no contact with the victim. Formal sentencing is delayed until July 9 because the victim's impact statement had not yet been received by the court.

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The misdemeanor charges otherwise each carry a maximum 90 days in jail an $1,000 fine.

During the short hearing before Racine County Circuit Court Judge Timothy Boyle, Jansen answered in a clear voice that he understood the conditions and ramifications of the agreement including that he was giving up the right to a trial and to testify in his own defense.

Jansen was arrested on Feb. 5, 2012 for allegedly stalking a woman he'd been dating. According to the criminal complaint, Jansen and the victim, who lives in Mount Pleasant, were dating but she broke it off in January 2011. Despite reportedly meeting with him a final time that same month to end the relationship once and for all, the victim says that Jansen sent her 10 or 11 email and text messages per day and that in March 2011, she asked Sturtevant Police Chief Sean Marschke to speak to Jansen about his behavior.

After this, contact continued on and off for several months - despite several warnings from both the victim and Marschke that Jansen stop - culminating in a flurry of 13 email messages between Sept. 28 and Oct. 13, 2011. It was at this point Marschke referred the matter to Mount Pleasant Police.


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