Man accused of targeting woman wanted by authorities

A man arrested and charged last year with appearing unexpectedly at the Port Washington home of his ex-girlfriend — much like he did in 2021 when he was convicted of domestic abuse charges — is now wanted by authorities.

Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Adam Gerol issued an arrest warrant for Joshua W. Michaels after he failed to appear for a July 7 court hearing, during which he was scheduled to change his not guilty plea and be sentenced.

Michaels, a former Saukville resident who now lists an address in Hingham, faces domestic abuse charges of disorderly conduct and two counts of violating a no contact order. Those are misdemeanors, but because Michaels is charged as a domestic abuse repeater by virtue of his 2021 convictions, the crimes are classified as felonies.

According to a criminal complaint, 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 on North Montgomery Street 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 baby sit, 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 at him and threatening him but eventually ran away through an adjacent field, 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.

The woman also said she had received hundreds of text messages and calls from Michaels, and when she showed officers her phone they noticed a number of vulgar messages that were sent by Michaels in groups of five or six texts in 10-minute bursts. 

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.

Michaels had been free in lieu of $5,000 bail in connection with the 2024 charges. After issuing a warrant for his arrest last week, Gerol ordered his $5,000 bail be forfeited.