Crime and Court Roundup: Former Ho-Chunk legislator gets five years prison for bribery

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A former Ho-Chunk tribal legislator has been sentenced to five years in prison for taking part in a multi-million-dollar bribery scheme. Federal Judge William Conley of Madison sentenced 53-year-old Clarence Pettibone of Black River Falls yesterday, calling him a “corrupt official” who took numerous bribes. Pettibone pleaded guilty in April to taking a car and other items, in exchange for his vote in 2006 to award a contract for a tribal housing study. The Trinity Financial Group of Kentucky got the contract for a quarter-million dollars. Prosecutors said it was part of a scheme in which lobbyist Tim Whiteagle got three-million-dollars from companies wanting to do business with the Ho-Chunk tribe. Pettibone chaired the tribe’s Finance Committee. And Whiteagle and others allegedly gave him cash and numerous gifts for his votes on tribal contracts from 2002-through-’09. Authorities said Whiteagle’s girl-friend, Deborah Atherton of Black River Falls, also received money from the deals. Whiteagle and Atherton both await trials on federal charges.

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Fitchburg Police expect charges to be filed by the end of the week against a man who allegedly killed his two-year-old son and injured his estranged wife by hitting them with his S-U-V. Evidence against the 30-year-old suspect has been turned over to the Dane County district attorney’s office, which will consider possible counts of homicide and attempted homicide. The incident occurred Monday at a parking lot in Fitchburg. Authorities said the suspect followed another vehicle with the mother, the child, and another man. According to a search warrant, the suspect confronted his wife about a new relationship she was having – and he told her quote, “You’ll see what is going to happen to you and your child” before he ran them down. After that, police said the suspect attacked the mother with a knife, and had also threatened the other man who was with her. They were returning home from lunch at the time. Two-year-old Yandel Castillo-Castillo was killed. His mother, Maria Castillo-Castillo, was hurt.

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A 17-year-old boy who was murdered in Milwaukee this week was a student at the Wisconsin School-for-the-Deaf in Delavan. State school Superintendent Tony Evers said Dequan Carter was at a party for his father when he was shot and killed. Police said three others were wounded in the shooting incident, which occurred just before midnight Tuesday at a home on Milwaukee’s north side. Police said the party was for “a relative of the victims who had just been released from prison.” Carter’s cousin Princess said a man just walked up and started shooting at party-goers quote, “out of nowhere.” And relatives said the suspect then ran off. They did not know who he was. He’s still at large. Princess Carter said three of her cousins were the ones who were wounded. One was critically hurt. Police said the other two had non-life-threatening injuries. Superintendent Evers said the shooting quote, “didn’t have to happen, and it is a tragedy that this young man left us too soon.” Princess Carter said Dequan was a happy teen despite being deaf. The state School-for-the-Deaf says its Pupil Services Team will provide support for students and staffers who want it. The killing was the 42nd in Milwaukee this year.

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A former drug-and-alcohol counselor for the Sheboygan County Health-and-Human Services Department has been charged with having a sexual affair with a client. 57-year-old Ralph Radey appeared in court yesterday on three felony counts of sexual exploitation by a therapist. Prosecutors said a 41-year-old woman was getting counseling from Radey for about three-and-a-half years when he promised to take her to a resort if she lost weight and remained sober. That was about a year-and-a-half ago. Prosecutors said Radey also met the woman for sex three times between last December and April. A judge set bond at 10-thousand-dollars cash. Radey is due back in court on Monday. He was fired just over a month ago, before the charges were filed. Sheboygan County officials would not say why – but they didn’t they know about the details of his court case until after he was let go.

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