Caiden Stachowicz (Photo courtesy Fond du Lac County Sheriff's Office)
FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The attorney for the man who allegedly set fire to U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman’s Fond du Lac office has asked for the count of “making a terrorist threat” to be dismissed, arguing there isn’t evidence to support the charge.
Caiden Stachowicz, 19, faces four charges in connection with the Jan. 19 fire: arson, attempted burglary, criminal damage to property, and terrorist threats – interruption of operations. Stachowicz was allegedly upset with Grothman for voting the forced sale of TikTok. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
Attorney Timothy Hogan argued there’s not enough evidence in the criminal complaint, however, to support the terrorist threat charge.
“The jury instruction defines “threat” as “an expression of intention to do harm and may be communicated orally, in writing, or by conduct. The Criminal Complaint alleges that Mr. Stachowicz committed this offense by intentionally setting fire to the congressional district office of Glenn Grothman to cause disruption,” he wrote. “ There are no allegations contained in the criminal complaint that, prior to allegedly starting the fire, Mr. Stachowicz expressed an intent to set the fire. In other words, Mr. Stachowicz never allegedly expressed his intent to start a fire; rather, he allegedly carried out his intent by starting the fire. Allegedly engaging in conduct is not the same thing as threatening to engage in such conduct under the offense with which Mr. Stachowicz is charged.”
Hogan contended the absence of any verbal or written threats, the charge is inappropriate.
“In the case of Terrorist Threats, the legislature has prohibited threatening to cause damage to property with an intent to disrupt government functions. The legislature did not, however, prohibit actually causing damage to property with an intent to disrupt government functions, at least through the charge of Terrorist Threats. The legislature could have worded the charge of Terrorist Threats as “whoever causes or threatens to cause damage to any person’s property,” but they did not do so. Because there are no allegations that Mr. Stachowicz threatened to cause damage to the building prior to allegedly doing it, there are no allegations from which it can be inferred that he committed the offense of Terrorist Threats,” Hogan wrote.
As of Wednesday afternoon, prosecutors have not responded to the motion.
The teen admitted to attempting to breaking 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.
According to District Attorney Eric 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 on N. Peters Ave. in Fond du Lac.
No one was injured during the fire, but Grothman’s office sustained damage.
Grothman is a Republican who represents Wisconsin’s 6th congressional district. He was first elected to his seat in 2014.
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