Police: Man ransacks EC church, spends night in building

Dan Holtz, The Leader-Telegram, Eau Claire, Wis.
·2 min read

May 12—EAU CLAIRE — A man ransacked an Eau Claire church on a Saturday night in October and apparently spent the night sleeping under the pastor's desk, police say.

Justin D. Fierke, 37, of Eau Claire, was charged Wednesday in Eau Claire County Court with a felony count of burglary and two misdemeanor counts of theft.

Fierke is scheduled to make his initial court appearance today.

According to the criminal complaint:

A staff member at Chippewa Valley Church, 1805 Goff Ave., arrived at the church Sunday morning, Oct. 25, to find that someone had been in the building.

The staff member was the first one at the building to get the church ready for the day's service. He arrived to find that both the front and rear doors were unlocked.

Items were strewn about in nearly every area of the church. It appeared as if the suspect was looking for something.

In the kitchen, every drawer and cabinet was left open. All the closet doors in the church were open.

In the sanctuary there is a small alcove for the audio equipment. This area was ransacked, with cables pulled out and items strewn all over.

The pastor's office in the basement was the one area of the church in the most disarray.

The floor of the office was almost entirely covered with papers and other items.

Most of these items did not belong to the church or the pastor. They included numerous vehicle registrations, car insurance cards, owner's manuals for vehicles, vehicle maintenance receipts, cigarette lighter phone chargers and other items commonly found in vehicles such as gloves and sunglasses.

It was clear someone had been going through cars, stealing the contents of the glove compartments and center consoles, and brought the items to the church.

There was a jacket, sleeping bag and items of clothing under the pastor's desk. It appears the suspect slept under the pastor's desk.

A partly consumed bottle of soda and leftover pieces of breakfast pastry were found in one area of the church.

Police gathered DNA evidence from the food and the soda bottle.

A laptop computer was missing from the church.

On March 29, Eau Claire police were informed by the Wisconsin State Crime Laboratory that DNA evidence gathered at the scene was linked to Fierke.

If convicted of the felony charge, Fierke could be sentenced to up to seven years in prison.

Recommended Stories

  • U.S. schools fight to keep students in class amid fear of a dropout surge

    Many educators are doing everything they can to track down students who stopped showing up for class during the pandemic. CBS News correspondent Mireya Villareal spoke to one student who managed to get back on track and is set to graduate after getting help from his principal.

  • Man finds five migrant children abandoned at US-Mexico border

    "I don't think they would've made it if I hadn't found them because it got up to 103 [degrees] yesterday," the farmer said.

  • White House fears political fallout from pipeline hack

    The gas may be flowing again, but the White House is more worried than it's letting on about the potential fallout of the Colonial Pipeline hack that caused fuel shortages and triggered price increases, Axios has learned.Behind the scenes: Senior Biden officials are acutely sensitive to the images of lines outside gas stations before Memorial Day — the typical launch to the summer driving season. Republicans also are jumping on the bandwagon, suggesting Joe Biden is a modern-day Jimmy Carter.Stay on top of the latest market trends and economic insights with Axios Markets. Subscribe for freeInflation seeping into the public consciousness and checkbook is giving legs to the attack."I see that everybody is comparing Joe Biden to Jimmy Carter," former President Trump said in a statement Wednesday. "It would seem to me that is very unfair to Jimmy Carter. Jimmy mishandled crisis after crisis, but Biden has CREATED crisis after crisis."While the attempts to paint Biden as Carter are very real, a key difference with regard to the pipeline crisis is that gas disruptions in the 1970s happened in two waves, and lasted months. Colonial Pipeline announced Wednesday it was resuming its operations.What we're hearing: Administration officials were relieved when they learned Colonial would begin reopening, but the crisis is still far from over. Widespread gas shortages and hiked prices are expected to linger for weeks, and concerns over the country's vulnerability to cyberattacks that could threaten the U.S. grid remain at a fever pitch.The big picture: Seeking to calm nerves on Capitol Hill, the White House took the unusual step of arranging for three Cabinet secretaries to brief Congress on the Colonial ransomware attack.The White House's "bipartisan member briefing" on the cyberattack was to be held at 6 p.m. Wednesday, according to an invitation reviewed by Axios.Briefers included Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.Between the lines: The Colonial hack is a wicked problem for the White House. Because it involves a private company, there are limits to what the Biden administration can do unilaterally.The White House issued a long-awaited cybersecurity executive order but it will require an act of Congress to create transformational change.What they're saying: Sen. Chris Coons (D-Del.), a close friend of the president's, nodded when Axios asked whether the White House is more concerned about the situation regarding the Colonial Pipeline than it's letting on."We need to work in a bipartisan way to continue strengthening the legal, the regulatory, the federal, the state and the private infrastructure," Coons said.Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who's been a leading voice in Congress on the issue, told Axios that if Americans knew how many ransomware attacks were happening every day, it would "blow their minds."The Colonial hack, coupled with the Russians' SolarWinds attack — which had a breathtaking scale penetrating some 16,000 companies — has made people realize a cyber enemy could shut down an entire economy, Warner said.What to watch: Warner sees a rare opportunity for bipartisan cooperation.He said he wants to partner with Republicans and the appropriate committees on legislation forcing critical infrastructure companies to report cyberattacks to a public-private entity in near real-time.Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said: "I've been concerned for many years that we don't even have a mandatory requirement that attacks be reported to the federal government, and that information be shared."What's next: That still leaves the challenge of hardening infrastructure.Major energy and other critical companies throughout America are still running outdated and vulnerable legacy computer systems.Jason Crabtree, CEO of cybersecurity and risk analytics company QOMPLX, and a former adviser to leadership of Army Cyber Command, said: "Mandatory reporting of breaches and incursions is a good start, but our government needs to do more.""And companies need to actually walk the walk: by moving their cyber modernization efforts up to the top of the corporate priority list where leadership is held accountable for security program investment like other core business functions.”Like this article? Get more from Axios and subscribe to Axios Markets for free.

  • Boris Johnson's unpaid £535 debt 'nothing to do with Downing Street flat'

    Boris Johnson is the subject of a county court judgment for an unpaid debt of £535, it emerged on Wednesday, as Downing Street insisted the claim was "totally without merit". Official documents show that the judgment is from October last year and is registered to 10 Downing Street. It relates to an unpaid debt of £535, but it was unclear to whom he owed the money. On Wednesday Downing Street said an application would be made to "strike out the claim" because it was "totally without merit". Sources claimed the judgment was a result of a "vexatious" claim. A well-placed source said that it related to a defamation claim against the Prime Minister that should not have been dealt with by the county court. A No 10 spokesman said: "An application will be made for an order to set aside the default judgment, to strike out the claim and for a declaration that the claim is totally without merit." He added: "I can confirm it is nothing to do with the refurbishment of the Downing Street estate, where all such bills have been duly paid, either by the Government or by the Prime Minister personally."

  • Number of Texans buying health coverage through Obamacare soars

    More Texans have enrolled than during the same periods in 2020 and 2019 combined.

  • Super Me review: Why becoming instantly rich isn't a good thing

    Super Me is a cautionary fable against wishing for unearned wealth, but it needed more work in executing that idea.

  • Taiwanese cities tighten restrictions after COVID-19 cases rise

    TAIPEI (Reuters) -Taiwanese cities are tightening restrictions on access to public venues like gyms and libraries after a rare rise in domestic COVID-19 infections that has spooked the stock market and unnerved the island. Early and effective prevention steps, including largely closing its borders, succeeded in shielding Taiwan from the worst of the pandemic. It has reported just 1,231 infections so far.

  • Norris scores 9 seconds into OT, Senators beat Maple Leafs

    Josh Norris scored nine seconds into overtime and the Ottawa Senators beat the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-3 on Wednesday night to finish the season. Mitch Marner turned over the the puck to Brady Tkachuk off the opening face in the extra period, and Tkachuk fed Norris for his 17th of the season. Parker Kelly scored in his NHL debut for Ottawa, Connor Brown had his league-leading fifth short-handed goal, Nikita Zaitsev had a goal and an assist, and Filip Gustavsson stopped 30 shots.

  • A drunk Florida man was ‘enraged’ about Tom Brady — then he went on the attack, cops say

    A Florida man who police say hit a friend multiple times and shoved his wife after being enraged over an argument involving NFL star Tom Brady found himself arrested over the weekend.

  • Ellen DeGeneres' show is done. And fans think Dakota Johnson 'threw the first brick'

    Does it matter that Dakota Johnson's tense Ellen DeGeneres interview didn't bring about the end of the host's talk show? Not to folks on social media.

  • 2 planes collided midair near Denver, and one was forced to parachute to the ground

    One aircraft was equipped with a parachute that allowed it to float to the ground. No injuries were reported on either aircraft.

  • Students for Trump founder accused of posing as NYC lawyer while in NC gets prison

    John Lambert, who co-founded the national group, attended Campbell University in North Carolina.

  • 'The Ellen Show' is ending, prompting dozens of jokes about Dakota Johnson and her iconic appearance on the talk show

    The actress' 2019 interview on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" went viral after she called out the host for skipping her 30th birthday party.

  • 10-year-old girl working on baseball field with dad dies in ATV crash, Ohio family says

    A 10-year-old Ohio girl helping her dad prepare a baseball field died in an ATV accident, officials say.

  • Ellen DeGeneres says the decision to end her NBC show isn't related to former staffers' allegations

    The 63-year-old comedian announced that she will end her eponymous talk show after 19 seasons in 2022.

  • White House on Liz Cheney: 'Disturbing' to see her attacked for speaking truth

    The White House is alarmed over the GOP’s barrage of attacks on now former Republican conference leader Rep. Liz Cheney, casting its Wednesday morning ouster of the Wyoming lawmaker as “disturbing.”

  • Russia jails former opposition mayor for calling for Navalny protests

    A court in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg jailed its former mayor for nine days on Wednesday after finding him guilty of using social media to urge people to protest for the release of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny. Yevgeny Roizman, who served as mayor of Russia's fourth largest city from 2013 to 2018, was charged with organising an illegal rally after he urged his nearly 500,000 followers on Twitter to take to the streets. "Organising (a protest) means one tweet and a retweet," Roizman wrote on Twitter, mocking the ruling.

  • US hits China and others for repressing religious freedom

    The Biden administration on Wednesday took aim at China and a number of other countries for repressing religious freedom as it forges ahead with its aim of restoring human rights as a primary focus of American foreign policy. The condemnation was similar to that lodged by the Trump administration, which had been criticized for prioritizing religious freedom over other rights, and reflected continuity in the U.S. position that China’s crackdown on Muslims and other religious minorities in western Xinjiang constitutes “genocide.” Much as his predecessor did, Secretary of State Antony Blinken used the release of the State Department’s annual International Religious Freedom Report to lambaste China for severe restrictions on its citizens’ ability to worship freely.

  • We'd need 5 to 10 years' notice to stop a killer asteroid heading for Earth

    In a recent NASA simulation, scientists had six months to stop a hypothetical asteroid from hitting Earth, and they failed. That wasn't enough time.

  • GOP leader claims no one 'is questioning the legitimacy of the presidential election' just hours after ousting Liz Cheney for refusing to support Trump's election lies

    In May alone, Trump has released eight statements falsely claiming the election was "rigged," "stolen," or corrupted by widespread voter fraud.