Caiden Stachowicz (Photo courtesy Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Office)
FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — A charge of “terrorist threats” was dismissed against the man charged with setting fire to U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman’s Fond du Lac office, a judge ruled Thursday. However, Caiden Stachowicz was still ordered to stand trial on other counts.
Stachowicz, 19, now faces three counts, including arson, attempted burglary and criminal damage to property for the Jan. 19 fire at 525 N. Peters Ave. An arraignment was scheduled for Feb. 17. A status conference for March 25 was also scheduled.
Defense attorney Timothy Hogan argued that the terrorist threat charge should be dismissed because Stachowicz did not communicate any threat ahead of the fire.
“Looking at just the plain terms of what the statute and what the jury instructions require, a threat being an expression of an intention to do harm, is not met by someone allegedly engaging in the conduct in the first place,” he said.
District Attorney Eric Toney argued that the defendant’s actions meet the jury instruction requirement that his actions and subsequent statements met the requirement for the count to be charged.
Judge Tricia Walker said the Legislature wrote the law to address those who make threats, not those who carry them out.
“There was no threat, as it’s stated [in the criminal complaint]. Mr. Stachowicz, by the complaint, engaged in the conduct. There was no threat to do so,” the judge said.
After that decision, the preliminary hearing took place with testimony from Officer Vance Henning, a police detective with the Fond du Lac Police Department, who recounted Stachowicz’s statements to police.
“He stated it was, he feels like the government impeded on the First Amendment rights of the people,” he said. “So it kind of, the TikTok ban was a part of it, but it was kind of more violation of First Amendment rights.”
Stachowicz was then bound over for trial.
According to the criminal complaint, the teen admitted to attempting to break into the congressional office in order to set the fire. When that didn’t work, he wanted to pour gasoline outside the building from the back to the front. According to the complaint, strong winds and fear of injuring himself led Stachowicz to simply light an electrical box in the back of the building on fire.
Prosecutors say Stachowicz was upset over Grothman’s vote in favor of the short-lived ban on TikTok.
According to Toney, “The defendant did make substantial admissions to his involvement. He was found on scene. But the defendant did acknowledge he’s tried, I think in reference to other events, peaceful protests in the past, stating that that didn’t work, which ultimately led to this arson attack.”
Stachowicz was arrested shortly after crews extinguished the fire at the office, located at a strip mall. No one was injured during the fire, but Grothman’s office sustained damage.
Grothman says the dismissal of the charge was surprising.
“I think he made it clear that he wanted to damage the building,” he explained. “And that would seem to me to be about as clear of evidence that all the charges should remain. Nevertheless, he’s still charged with a felony.”
Grothman is a Republican who represents Wisconsin’s 6th congressional district. He was first elected to his seat in 2014.
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