State Crime and Court Roundup: Oconto Falls teenager sentenced to four years prison for arson

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OCONTO FALLS - A 17-year-old Oconto Falls boy will spend just over four years in prison for starting a fire that caused two-million-dollars in damage to a Catholic grade school.

Vincent Enneper was sentenced yesterday for the February 21st blaze that heavily damaged Saint Anthony School in Oconto Falls. Enneper was given a five-year term, but was credited for the time he spent in jail while his case went through the courts. He must also spend 10 years under extended supervision when he’s no longer behind bars. Enneper told investigators that he entered the building to look around – but he started fires because he got bored, and one of them got out of control. As a result of the blaze, 50 students were moved to another church last February – and the school is using a series of trailers this fall while a new facility is being planned. In June, Enneper pleaded no contest to arson. Charges of burglary and a previous attempted arson at the school in 2006 were both dropped.

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A Walworth County sheriff’s deputy is back on the street, after a prosecutor found that he was justified in shooting a bank robbery suspect. District Attorney Brad Schimel of neighboring Waukesha County said deputy Dan Nichols acted in self-defense when he shot at the suspect’s vehicle and wounded the driver. Nichols had been on administrative duty since last month’s incident. He was putting down puncture sticks to try and flatten the suspect’s tires, when the person allegedly drove at him. That’s when the officer fired his weapon. Authorities said the suspect drove off after robbing a bank in the Walworth County town of Sugar Creek. Officers gave chase through Walworth and Waukesha counties at speeds of over 80-miles-an-hour.

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Two men who graduated this spring from Mequon Homestead High School have pleaded guilty to having sex with a 14-year-old girl on school grounds last fall. DeAngelo Dantzler and Brent Anderson, both 19, entered their pleas yesterday to reduced charges of reckless child abuse. Both struck plea deals, after being originally charged with second-degree sexual assault. Authorities said they drank alcohol with the 14-year-old girl on school grounds, and then had sexual contact with her in a music storage room at the school. It happened last November, after classes ended for the day. The boys told authorities the sex was consensual, but the girl was legally too young to consent. Dantzler and Anderson will be sentenced in November. Meanwhile, the girl and her family have filed a civil suit in federal court against the two men and officials from the Mequon-Thiensville School District. Among other things, the plaintiffs claimed that Homestead High School officials knew about sexual misconduct at the school – and did nothing to stop it. A school attorney said officials determined that the family’s allegations were unfounded, and the School Board rejected damage claims the family had filed.

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A La Crosse County sheriff’s deputy who helped save a man from drowning in the Mississippi River last year is receiving the Carnegie medal for heroism. 41-year-old John Williams of La Crosse is one of 19 recipients being announced today. As a member of the sheriff’s boat patrol, Williams jumped into the Mississippi last June 25th to save a man who jumped in from a rocky area in downtown La Crosse. Williams battled a current that threatened to sweep both men away – and private boaters helped the officer pull the man into a rescue craft. At the time, Sheriff Steve Helgeson said Williams’s actions showed “incredible bravery” and were “truly amazing.” The sheriff’s department gave him an award in May. The Carnegie medal includes a financial grant from the Carnegie Hero Fund Commission. That group has given almost 35-million dollars to around 96-hundred medal recipients since 1904. The late steel baron Andrew Carnegie started the fund after hearing about heroic rescues at a mining disaster that killed 181 people. The commission presents Carnegie awards four times a year. One of today’s other recipients saved a woman from being hit by a car after she crashed her own vehicle in Kansas. Another saved a friend from tidal waves on the Delaware River.

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