Man wanted for nearly a year tased, arrested in Port

A 43-year-old man wanted by authorities for nearly a year on charges he appeared unexpectedly at the Port Washington home of his ex-girlfriend in 2024 — much like he did in 2021 when he was convicted of domestic abuse charges — was arrested last week in Port after an officer tased him.

Joshua W. Michaels, who failed to appear for a July 7, 2025, court hearing and had been on the lam until his arrest last week, now faces additional charges — two counts of felony bail jumping and misdemeanor counts of resisting an officer, possession of drug paraphernalia and operating a vehicle after his driver’s license had been revoked.

According to a criminal complaint, at 7:16 p.m. Tuesday, June 16, Port Washington police officer Jacob Zygowski received an alert from automated license plate reader Flock cameras that Michaels’ pickup truck was in the city.

A short time later, Zygowski spotted the truck in the drive-through of the McDonald’s restaurant in Port. Because Michaels has resisted arrest and fled from officers in the past, Zygowski and officer Jordan Kuck conducted a high-risk traffic stop by driving their patrol vehicles directly at Michaels, the complaint states.

Zygowski then ordered Michaels to get out of his truck, but he remained in the vehicle eating his meal.

When he got out of the vehicle, Michaels walked toward the bed of the truck and reached into it. Zygowski ordered Michaels to raise his hands and drop to the ground as Michaels asked repeatedly, “For what?” The officer then tased Michaels and he was arrested, according to the complaint.

In his truck, officers found a glass pipe that smelled of marijuana and a grinder with suspected marijuana residue in it, the complaint states.

Michaels doesn’t have a driver’s license because it was revoked for a driving with prohibited alcohol concentration conviction, and although he had been ordered to install an ignition interlock on his vehicle, there was no such device on the truck.

During a June 18 court hearing, Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Adam Gerol set bail for Michaels, a former Saukville resident who now lists an address in Hingham, at $20,000 in connection with the latest charges and $10,000 in the 2024 case.

In that case, Michaels faces domestic abuse charges of disorderly conduct and two counts of violating a no contact order.

According to the criminal complaint filed in that case, at 10:19 p.m. Friday, Oct. 4, 2024, Port Washington police officer Tyler Wroblewski received a report of a stalking  incident at a home in Port Washington and was told Michaels was in the garage of his ex-girlfriend.

Wroblewski was also told that one of the woman’s neighbors, who was armed with a gun, had gone to confront Michaels.

When the officer arrived at the home, the neighbor told him that he had called the woman to see if she was available to babysit, which is when she told him Michaels was in her garage and she was scared, the complaint states.

The man said he was aware that the woman was the victim of previous domestic abuse at the hands of Michaels, so he decided to arm himself with a gun and confront him, according to the complaint.

The neighbor said he found Michaels in the woman’s garage, and when he confronted him, Michaels began shouting profanities and threatening him but eventually ran away, the complaint states.

The woman told Wroblewski that Michaels appeared on her porch earlier that night as he had done in the past, as recently as the day before, to intimidate her. She said she ran to her bedroom and locked the door because she feared for her safety, according to the complaint.

She said Michaels also calls her incessantly and showed her phone to the officer, who noticed that Michaels called the woman 23 times around 9:45 p.m. that day, the complaint states.

At the time, Michaels was on probation for his 2021 convictions, a condition of which was not to be within 1,000 feet of the woman’s home.

According to the criminal complaint filed in that case, police officers were called to the woman’s house at 10:27 a.m. Sunday, April 11, 2021, and found the woman wearing only a bath towel and “completely terrified.” As officers were talking with her, the woman was continuously looking around the yard and eventually told them she was looking for Michaels.

The woman said she lives at the house with her three children and was preparing to get into the shower when Michaels walked into her house, probably entering through an unlocked back door, walked upstairs and said he needed to talk with her.

The woman called her mother, who in turn called police. When the woman told Michaels officers were on their way, he left her house. 

The woman said on the day before the incident, she found a bag in her garage that contained photos of her and Michaels and shredded lingerie that belonged to her but that she hadn’t seen for some time.

Officers found Michaels at his Saukville home, and when they confronted him with the woman’s version of events he said they had previously been together for several years and he had stayed overnight at her house, leaving the morning of April 11 after they got into an argument.

The woman said that was untrue. The first time she saw Michaels in her house was when she was in the shower, she said.

  Michaels was initially charged with stalking, but that charge was amended to sending a threatening or obscene computer message. He pleaded no contest to that charge as well as domestic abuse counts of criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct.

Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Paul Malloy withheld a jail sentence and placed Michaels on probation for two years, ordering him not to have contact with the woman or be within 1,000 feet of her home.

In December 2024, Michaels’ probation was revoked in connection with the most recent case against him and he was ordered to serve time in the county jail.