EC man may avoid one felony conviction for co-worker stalking case
May 15—EAU CLAIRE — An Eau Claire man has the opportunity to avoid one felony conviction after authorities say he spray painted a former co-worker's vehicle as revenge for a Facebook post.
Kyle S. Krueger, 34, 423 Summit Ave., pleaded guilty recently in Eau Claire County Court to two felony counts of criminal damage to property. A felony count of stalking was dismissed but considered at sentencing by Judge John Manydeeds.
Krueger was fined $528 for one of the criminal damage charges.
As part of a three-year deferred agreement with prosecutors, the second criminal damage charge will be dismissed if Krueger pays $250, commits no new crimes, pays $4,693 in restitution, has no contact with the woman and undergoes a mental health evaluation.
According to the criminal complaint:
An Eau Claire woman contacted police in September 2019 because her vehicle was damaged with white paint. A week later the car was damaged with black paint.
Her boyfriend was able to wash off most of the paint.
A day later, the woman said she saw a man throwing paint on her vehicle. The man ran away when she and her boyfriend went outside to confront him.
A police officer arrived to find the woman's car completely damaged in white paint.
Two weeks later, the woman again found that a portion of her car had been spray painted white.
In early October 2019, the woman found several notes on her porch.
The notes all said: "You told me you were single these last few months as we hooked up a lot. You are not. Consider the acts committed as revenge."
In late October 2019, graffiti was spray painted in black on the side of the woman's residence.
An investigation identified Krueger, who used to work with the woman at a group home, as a suspect.
During an interview with police in early November 2019, Krueger said his issues with the woman began in September 2019 with a Facebook argument. The woman had posted something about him and referred to him as a stalker.
Krueger said he was dating one of the woman's friends and he thought it upset her.
Krueger said the stalker accusation upset him. He told a friend to say derogatory things about the woman on Facebook.
After an officer told Krueger she had video evidence of him on the woman's property committing vandalism, Krueger said, "Fine, I did it."
Krueger said he carried out the acts to mess with the woman psychologically.
Krueger admitted to throwing paint on the woman's vehicle on three separate occasions to get back at her for calling him a stalker.
Krueger also admitted to spray painting the side of the woman's residence and taking a kayak from her property. He put the kayak in the Chippewa River and it floated away.
Krueger said he also tried to get the woman fired from her job for falsely accusing her of using drugs at work.
