APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A woman admitted to going into more than a dozen Kaukauna homes under construction, turning on the water and leaving, causing tens thousands of dollars in damage, according to charges filed Thursday.
Kendall Strobel-Nieft told police “she never got in trouble as a young woman and this made her feel something she hasn’t felt before.”
Strobel-Nieft, 40, was charged in connection with four of the incidents. She faces four counts for each allegation: burglary and criminal damage to property.
In court Thursday, bond was set at $25,000 cash. She returns to court Oct. 21. A preliminary hearing wasn’t scheduled as she does not have an attorney.
Assistant District Attorney Joshua Dryak described Strobel-Nieft’s alleged actions while arguing bond Thursday.
“The allegations here are that Miss Strobel-Nieft entered residences that were nearly done being constructed. She would turn on the water in the sinks and showers, and manipulate them so that the water would fall out of the various faucet area, flooding the houses. This resulted in significant damage to these various houses and wasted hundreds of thousands of gallons of water,” Dryak said.
According to the criminal complaint, Strobel-Nieft initially told police she was looking at homes to get ideas for remodeling or building a new house.
“However, she eventually admitted that she went into homes and had turned on the water Ms. Strobel-Nieft was able to confirm that she had entered the residences and turned on the water, and position the water to flood the house, causing damage to the homes. Ms. Strobel-Nieft admitted to Detectives that the sole purpose of entering the homes was to damage them by turning on the water. Ms. Strobel-Nieft said she never got in trouble as a young woman and this made her feel something she hasn’t felt before. Ms. Strobel-Nieft would also go on to admit that she went into over 20 homes, and the amount and dates of entering them started to blend together. She noted that in each case, if the water was turned on, she would leave it on to cause damage to the homes, but some of them did not have the water turned on,” the complaint states.
Four specific incidents are charged in the complaint:
A residence on Bens Way, July 27 to July 29, of 2024, estimated damage of $20,000.00,
A residence on Boxer St., between June 6, 2021, and June 7, 2021, estimated damage between $40,000.00 to $50,000.00,
A residence on Antelope Trail, between July 9, 2021, to July 11, 2021, estimated damage of $2,500.00.
A residence on Red Fox Lane, between August 27, 2021, and August 29, 2021, estimated damage of $32,000.00.
In a social media post, Kaukauna Police estimated the total damage at more than $230,000.
Kaukauna police requested that any contractors, builders and/or home owners to file a report of any suspicious activity or damages to homes that may have been unreported in the last five years. Please contact the Kaukauna Police Department at 920-766-6333 and reference incident #K24007593.
FOX 11 reached out to developers in the area where the crimes occurred but we have not yet heard back.
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