Man discovers alarm, cameras still working at shuttered theater

The boarded-up Marcus theater in Saukville hasn’t shown a movie in more than two years, but its alarm system and security cameras are still in business — something a 36-year-old Milwaukee man discovered earlier this month.

That man, Japell J. Purefoy, was charged Monday in Ozaukee County Circuit Court with attempted burglary.

According to a criminal complaint, Saukville Police Department Investigator Eric Ramthun responded to an alarm at the theater building at 350 S. Riverside Dr. at 11:27 a.m. Monday, Jan. 15, and found no one on the property.

All doors to the building, which was closed by Marcus Theatres in September 2023, except a rear utility entrance, are boarded up and there are no trespassing signs and a for sale sign on the property, Ramthun noted.

Ramthun spoke with a Marcus Theatres employee who told him no one from the company was scheduled to be at the Saukville location that day.

The employee accessed security camera footage from the Saukville building that shows a minivan entering the theater parking lot at about the same time as the alarm was triggered and a man approaching the rear entrance and trying to open a door, which was locked. The man walks south out of the camera’s view, then returns to the door and tries to force it open before suddenly pausing, looking around and walking back to the minivan, the complaint states.

Authorities identified Purefoy as a suspect, and during a Jan. 23 interview with Ramthun he admitted to being at the Saukville theater building on Jan. 15, according to the complaint.

Purefoy said he believed the theater was abandoned and went there “just looking for scrap or anything,” the complaint states.

Purefoy said when he heard the alarm, he decided to leave the area.

During a Jan. 26 court hearing, Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Sandy Williams set bail for Purefoy at $500 and ordered him not to have contact with the Marcus Theatres property in Saukville.