Man adds to list of domestic abuse convictions, time behind bars

A 29-year-old Saukville man with a long record of domestic abuse convictions added to it and the time he will spend behind bars last week.

Dale J. Wolfe, who had six domestic abuse convictions in the last decade, made it seven when he pleaded guilty last week in Ozaukee County Circuit Court to disorderly conduct, domestic abuse, for an Aug. 9, 2023, incident in Saukville during which he hit a woman in the face.

Judge Paul Malloy sentenced Wolfe to six months in the county jail, but the fight earned him more time than that.

Wolfe was on probation at the time in connection with a 2019 domestic abuse  felony bail jumping conviction, and because of the 2023 fight, his probation was revoked. Since Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Steve Cain initially withheld a sentence and placed Wolfe on probation for three years, Wolfe returned to court after his probation was revoked and was sentenced by Cain in February to 18 months in prison and 18 months of extended supervision in the 2019 case.

In the latest case, Saukville police who were called to Wolfe’s home on Dekora Street on Aug. 9 arrived to find two children sitting outside the home crying and pointing inside.

Inside the house, a woman and another child were screaming. There was also another child in the house as well as Wolfe’s ex-wife, according to a criminal complaint.

The victim, who called 911, said she and Wolfe, her boyfriend, got into an argument because one of his children who was visiting wanted to go home. She said Wolfe rushed towards her, so she got in his face and asked if he was going to hit her. That is when Wolfe hit her in the face, the complaint states.

She said the fight continued upstairs and Wolfe punched a hole in a wall.

Officers said the woman had visible injuries from the fight.

Wolfe’s ex-wife said she came to the house to pick up her two children and heard yelling. She went inside and saw Wolfe and his girlfriend yelling and swearing at each other, according to the complaint.

Wolfe ran from the house when police were called but turned himself in the next day. He said he and his girlfriend did have a fight but she started it.

Wolfe, who admitted to drinking prior to the fight despite the fact he was ordered to maintain absolute sobriety as a condition of his probation, said he ran from the house because the last time he got into a fight with a woman he went to prison for two years.

In the 2019 incident, police were called to Wolfe’s home, which was on Stoney Ridge Way in Saukville at the time, on June 13 by a woman who said Wolfe showed up at the house even though he was ordered not to have contact with her as a condition of bail in another case. When she told him to leave, he became angry and punched holes in a wall while threatening her.

Wolfe pleaded to two crimes in that case — felony bail jumping and criminal damage to property, domestic abuse — and while Cain initially withheld a sentence for the bail jumping conviction, he sentenced Wolfe to one year in prison followed by one year of extended supervision for the criminal damage to property crime.

In revoking Wolfe’s probation, Administrative Law Judge Christine Hansen concluded that he violated the conditions of his supervision in the 2023 incident by hitting the woman, punching a hole in the wall, drinking and failing to complete a batterer’s intervention course as he had been ordered to do.

Hansen wrote in her findings that while she agreed with the Department of Community Corrections that Wolfe needs anger management treatment, “given Mr. Wolfe’s repeated acts of violence toward his domestic partners, any treatment Mr. Wolfe needs can only safety be provided at this juncture if Mr. Wolfe is confined.”