GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – A homeless man is accused of trespassing, stealing items and hitting his girlfriend in Green Bay.
26-year-old James A. Garbe Jr. is charged with six counts including criminal trespass, criminal damage to property, battery and receiving stolen property. The charges cover two separate incidents.
According to the criminal complaint, Green Bay police were called to an apartment in the 100 block of N. Ashland Avenue on Sunday afternoon October 18, 2015.
Officers were told that an unwanted male refused to leave that apartment. He was identified as James A. Garbe Jr. They also learned that Garbe allegedly, “spit on the female and shoved her and hit her in the head.”
The victim was inside a vehicle parked down the road and officers were told that Garbe was at her house and refused to leave. She claimed that her and Garbe dated at one point but they don’t, “have any children together and they have never lived together.”
Officers learned from the victim that Garbe continues to come over to the apartment, staying for however long he wants to and then leaves. She has repeatedly told Garbe to leave and not come back because he isn’t on the lease.
Last night, the victim said that Garbe had punched her after he, “crawled in through her window to get back inside the house and trashed the place.” Officers noticed a red mark on the right side of her face.
When the cops took the victim back to her apartment, she went with officers as they knocked on the door. A different man answered the door and was accompanied by a woman. Both came outside and were patted down for possible weapons and contraband. None was found.
Garbe then appeared at the door and was detained by officers. The victim then took an officer into where she said Garbe got inside. She showed the officer that she had screwed all the windows shut in order to keep him out. It appeared, per the complaint, that the window was unlocked and Garbe slid the window up to gain entry.
The other man who was sleeping in one of the bedrooms because he didn’t have a place to stay told police he, “heard a bunch of yelling and shouting that was coming from the living room last night. He knew the voices were the victim and Garbe because he has been with them a lot and knows who they are.”
While the man didn’t see any type of physical altercation, he did say he heard a disturbance that morning where it sounded, “that Garbe was yelling and throwing things around the house.”
The victim detailed in her statement that Garbe around 10:30 last night after their initial argument, “must have gone to the gas station because he came back with two six-packs of Mikes Hard Lemonade.” She said he drank them all while he was there. The victim kept asking Garbe to leave and he finally got up and left.
After attempting to lock all the doors and windows the best she could, according to the complaint, Garbe came back around midnight with more alcohol. Garbe allegedly was kicking the door and yelling for her to open up. She then says Garbe climbed in through a window and walked into the kitchen area.
Another argument took place, and that’s when Garbe allegedly punched the victim. He then fell asleep around 3:30 a.m. and she left around 4 a.m. to go to a friend’s house and stayed there. The victim then returned with her baby around 10:30 a.m. and got into yet another argument with Garbe.
That altercation led to Garbe again hitting the victim, before the other male came out to see what was going on. She told that man to call the police, with Garbe leaving and kicking the truck she was in causing some dents.
The second incident happened this past June 17 around 10:31 a.m. According to the criminal complaint, Green Bay police were called to the 900 block of Howard Street for a possible disturbance with an unwanted man who was inside the basement of a house.
Officers learned the man’s name was James Garbe and the complainant was the sister of his on-again, off-again girlfriend. Garbe at the time had outstanding warrants.
Before arriving on scene, officers were updated that Garbe was outside. One of the cops saw a man running southbound on Howard. Officers drove down Christiana and saw him run between houses. One officer got Garbe on the ground after he refused orders and a Taser was deployed.
Garbe claimed he couldn’t breathe once he was placed in handcuffs and rescue was contacted to check him out. Rescue cleared him, but he refused treatment and wouldn’t go to the hospital.
Garbe continued to be difficult to deal with for officers, when they searched his wallet. They found a registration and a title for a vehicle for a woman. Garbe claimed the woman asked him to, “Hold onto her stuff for her.”
Also found were several gift cards, while Garbe had a backpack with multiple items including 4 to 5 cell phones with the batteries removed, several wireless Bluetooth speakers, and a Crown Royal bag with 6 to 7 watches inside it and two women’s zippered wallets with the tags still on them.
Officers also found two pawn receipts each for Nextbook tablets with different model numbers which had been recently pawned. They had different names on the receipts.
Investigators contacted the people whose stuff Garbe had, and each of them confirmed that he didn’t have permission to have their stuff.
Garbe was still under conditions of his bond from the previous criminal complaint when he was arrested in June.
James A. Garbe is due back in Brown County court on September 6 for his final pre-trial hearing. If convicted on all counts, Garbe faces more than 4 years in prison.