GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) – A Sturgeon Bay man returns to court on July 11 for allegedly threatening his ex-girlfriend and her current boyfriend outside a bar last year.
32-year-old Frank E. Thomas of Sturgeon Bay is charged with first-degree recklessly endangering safety, carrying a concealed weapon, disorderly conduct, along with a felony and misdemeanor count of bail jumping.
According to the criminal complaint, De Pere police were called to a bar on Main Avenue around 9:15 p.m. on Sunday, September 20, 2015.
Officers located Thomas standing next to an open passenger side door of a dark colored SUV. A woman was seen sitting in the passenger seat when officers ordered Thomas to get down on the ground.
Thomas allegedly turned toward one of the cops and said he had a knife in his sweatshirt. That cop took Thomas back to his squad car after completing a search of him. A 6-inch blade and a blue handle was found during that search, per the complaint.
The woman was asked what happened, to which she replied that Thomas was her ex-boyfriend and had threatened her with a knife. She allegedly said they just broke up and she moved out recently, while Thomas didn’t want the relationship to end.
She claims that Thomas must have, “Tracked her phone via the ‘Find My Phone App’ because she did not tell him where she was.” The woman told police she got a text message from Thomas that said he was outside the bar.
The woman told police she went outside and he was sitting in the passenger seat of his vehicle, with his friend driving. He told her that he had, “A 3-inch blade and if she did not leave with him he was going to go inside the bar and stab her current boyfriend.”
According to the complaint, she tried to keep Thomas from getting out of the vehicle to go inside the bar. Thomas overpowered her and went inside the bar. She claims that he began saying things to her boyfriend but didn’t hear what was said.
She then told officers that Thomas followed her out of the bar and she tried getting into her boyfriend’s vehicle for safety, but couldn’t. Thomas then allegedly, “Pulled a knife from his front pocket of his sweatshirt and placed the hand with the knife on the vehicle’s dash directly in front of me.”
Officers say they smelled alcohol coming from Thomas when they arrived on scene, and a portable breath test (PBT) came back as a .134.
The victim’s boyfriend was asked by officers what had happened. He said he was sitting at the bar when Thomas walked up to him and allegedly said he, “Was going to cut his throat.” Thomas had his left hand in the pocket of his sweatshirt. He then took his right hand and spun the boyfriend’s bar stool he was sitting on around and told him, “Now it’s time for you to just walk away.”
The boyfriend told officers he got up and walked out of the bar. He said Thomas followed him out and that his girlfriend was with them. Officers were told by the boyfriend that she got into his car and she was going to leave with Thomas, but then Thomas pointed the knife at her.
At that point, the boyfriend yelled for someone to call 911. He said he didn’t think anyone called so he did. Then he went back into the bar and stayed on the line with dispatch until police arrived. He allegedly told police that he didn’t see the knife until Thomas pulled it from his pocket outside the bar and pointed it at his girlfriend.
Frank E. Thomas, at that time, had been out on bond after he was charged on August 17, 2015, with 5 counts of issue of worthless checks and 5 counts of bail jumping in Door County.
Thomas was arrested that night and had appeared in court on September 21, 2015, in Brown County Court for his initial appearance. The court commissioner imposed a $5,000 cash bond which included a condition that Thomas attend all future court hearings.
The bond was continued during a court appearance on September 29 and October 8. During an arraignment on November 2, Thomas’ bond was modified to a $1,000 signature bond with the same condition.
A status conference was then scheduled for January 11, 2016, which Thomas failed to appear at and a bench warrant was issued. Thomas was then arrested and placed into the Brown County Jail on June 9.
Thomas returns to Brown County Court for a status hearing on July 11. If convicted of all counts, Thomas faces nearly 20 years in prison.
