Sturtevant Village President Jansen Preliminary Hearing Feb. 15

Sturtevant Village President , Feb. 7, after his bail was reduced to $1,000 during his initial appearance.

Court Commissioner Alice Rudebusch stated the seriousness of the stalking charge against Jansen for upholding a cash bond instead of allowing Jansen released on a signature bond. She also ordered him to have no contact with the victim.

"That means not by phone or anything electronic," she said. "You can't even drive by her house."

Jansen appeared in court via closed circuit TV wearing a dress shirt and seated next to a court-appointed attorney. Stating his lifelong residency in the area, the fact that he's employed and has no prior record did not sway Rudebusch. The state had requested the $5,000 cash bond remain in place.

His next court date is a preliminary hearing at 8:30 am on Wed., Feb. 15. Since he does not qualify for a public defender, Rudebusch ordered Jansen to have an attorney with him for the hearing.

Members of Jansen's family were present in the courtroom but did not stop to speak to reporters on their way out.

Jansen is charged with one count of felony stalking, which carries a potential $10,000 fine and/or up to three years, six months in prison.

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.

Patch contacted Marschke for comment, but he declined, saying that if Jansen goes to trial, he might be called as a witness and doesn't want to say anything that could jeopardize his testimony.

This past January, the victim told police she fears for her safety and is afraid to leave her home to work in her yard or walk her dog. On Feb. 2, Jansen allegedly sent the victim another email with statements about insanity and the definition of insanity and how that might pertain to him. The email also included a link to a YouTube video.

When Mount Pleasant Police contacted Jansen on Feb. 5, the criminal complaint alleges, he admitted to sending emails, letters and leaving rambling messages for the victim on her voicemail but that he didn't really expect her to respond. Mount Pleasant investigators took Jansen into custody and booked him into the Racine County Jail shortly before noon on Sun., Feb. 5, 2012. He was held there in lieu of a $5,000 cash bond.

The Sturtevant Village Board meets tonight, Feb. 7, for its regularly scheduled Board meeting and is set to go into closed session as well to discuss the South Shore Fire Department consolidation contract the village has with the Village of Mount Pleasant. Whether or not Jansen attends remains up in the air, but trustees are prepared to elected an acting president just for the evening.