UPDATE: 3 misdemeanors filed against woman in Wisconsin deer poaching case – Outdoor News
West Bend, Wis. — A Brownsville woman allegedly involved in a southeastern Wisconsin deer poaching case faces three misdemeanor charges that could potentially result in $22,000 in fines and two years in jail if found guilty and maximum penalties applied.
Jessica Jill Kroening, 36, of Brownsville, was charged Oct. 23 in Washington County Circuit Court with contributing to the delinquency of a child, the illegal shining of deer or bear, and obstruction of a conservation warden, according to the criminal complaint.
The charges stem from statements of three juvenile witnesses, who were also involved in the deer poaching incidents, and one adult witness. The witnesses related stories of alleged deer poaching in July and August to sheriff’s department deputies, local police officers, and DNR conservation wardens.
Kroening and three 16-year-old males are alleged to have taken part in an ongoing deer poaching case over the course of roughly a year – from July 2023 through August over almost 200 square miles in Fond du Lac, Washington, and Dodge counties. More than 100 deer are believed to have been killed by the suspects during that time.
The case finally broke open in July after the sheriff’s departments in Fond du Lac, Washington, and Dodge counties went to the media seeking help in solving the case.
According to the criminal complaint, DNR Game Warden Zachary Feest, of Hartford, and Fond du Lac County Deputy Trevor Theisen checked on a complaint of a foul odor coming from a garbage bag on Elm Street in Campbellsport. There they talked to Kroening behind a duplex where they noticed a terrible smell, swarms of flies, and a velvet antler protruding from the bag. Kroening at first said she didn’t know what was in the bag, whether the bag was hers, and said she couldn’t smell an odor, according to the criminal complaint.
Feest and Theisen asked Kroening for permission to look in the bag. They found the heads of four bucks in the bag.
The discussion that day and subsequent days brought up the names of three 16-year-old male teens who were referred to as Juvenile 1, Juvenile 2, and Juvenile 3 in the complaint. Feest, Theisen, Campbellsport Police Chief Andrea Dowland, and DNR game wardens William Hankee, of Fond du Lac, and Paul Metzger, of Sparta, interviewed the three juveniles and other adults who had information about the alleged poaching.
One of the adults is identified as Witness 1 in the complaint. Witness 1 stated that Juvenile 1 “is the one that kills them” (the deer), and that Witness 1 believed Juvenile 1 had been shining and shooting deer for a little over a year with another person, Juvenile 2.
Law enforcement officers then interviewed Juvenile 2, who said they had been shooting deer at night with a spotlight and a rifle for approximately one year, and always used Kroening’s vehicle and firearms owned by Juvenile 1’s family. Juvenile 2 also stated that Kroening is aware of the juveniles shooting deer and has been on the phone with them while they are doing it. He also stated that Kroening, sometimes holding the spotlight from the backseat, and others have accompanied them to shoot deer.
Juvenile 2 stated they had most recently shot deer on Saturday, July 13 when Juvenile 3 was along. Juvenile 2 stated he believed that they shot three deer – two bucks and a doe. If they shoot a doe, they left it in the field to rot, he stated in the complaint.
The officers then talked to Juvenile 3 and his parents at their home in Campbellsport. Juvenile 3 showed officers where they shot deer in July – west of Kewaskum on Lake Bernice Drive, Townline Road, and Highland Drive just south of Hwy. 28 in Washington County. An officer showed Juvenile 3 a photo of the four buck heads seized earlier Kroening’s home. Juvenile 3 stated those were the bucks shot on Saturday, July 13.
Juvenile 3 also admitted to going along and participating in shooting deer on
July 10 and 11 from midnight to 4 a.m.
On July 25, game wardens Feest and William Hankee met with Juvenile 1 at his home in Campbellsport, where Juvenile 1 corroborated information the investigating team had collected earlier. Juvenile 1 stated that he and Juvenile 2 had been going out with a spotlight and shooting deer for months. He estimated they had gone out 50 times. Juvenile 1 stated he saved the heads from the most recent seven bucks to boil them and make European mounts, but he did not get around to it.
That same day Kroening consented to a search of her vehicle. Hankee found a bloody steak knife, a bloody wooden saw, a bloody Milwaukee brand spotlight, three bloody floor mats, a .22 caliber bullet, and two bloody pocket knives. Kroening eventually turned over two rifles the juveniles had used – a .22 caliber rifle and a 7mm rifle. The serial numbers were scratched off both rifles. In the report Hankee said it appeared the numbers had been scratched off recently due to the shiny metal where the serial numbers had been located, as well as metal shavings found on the stocks.
Any charges filed against the three teens will remain confidential because of their juvenile status. Trials for the juveniles, should the charges lead to trials, will take place in Fond du Lac County. It is customary for juvenile cases to be held in the county in which the juveniles reside, regardless of where the alleged crimes took place. The names of the 16-year-olds will not be released unless they are waived to adult court.
Alleged criminal and civil violations of DNR wildlife codes include: Mistreating animals resulting in death; possession of a dangerous weapon; hunting (shooting) deer with the aid of artificial light; hunting during the closed season; possession of a firearm while shining deer; possession of deer during the closed season; loading or discharging a firearm in or from a motorized vehicle; discharging a firearm from or across a highway or within 50 feet of the center of a roadway; hunting within 50 feet of a roadway’s center; transporting a loaded firearm in or on a moving vehicle; possession of game killed by unlawful or unknown means; hunting with weapon/ammunition of inherent design, or used in a manner, not reasonably capable of reducing target to possession (i.e. shooting an animal without the expectation of successfully harvesting the animal); unauthorized taking of live wild animals from the wild; depositing or discharging solid waste on public or private property; and obstructing a DNR conservation warden.
