MONROE - A New Glarus man is charged with stealing more than $20,000 worth of cheese from a Monroe factory while employed there, and then lying to police about it.
James Jonathon Kremkoski, 36, faces a Class G felony charge of theft and a Class A misdemeanor charge of resisting or obstructing an officer. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 4 in Green County Circuit Court.
The charges are the result of an investigation by the Monroe Police Department.
Kremkoski was employed at Emmi Roth USA Inc. in May 2014 when he allegedly stole five pallets of cheese valued at $20,781.53 out of the warehouse one night. This included a pallet each of Baby Swiss, Havarti, Butterkase, Swedish Fontina and Muenster Loaf.
He then allegedly transported the cheese to Illinois in a borrowed truck and resold it for $1 per pound.
It was not unusual for Kremkoski to resell Emmi Roth cheese, but police say this time was different.
As part of his side business, Jimmy John's Catfish Cheese Bait, Kremkoski routinely bought moldy or "bad" cheese at discount from Emmi Roth and resold it to a Dubuque company that manufactures fish bait.
But on the night in question, police say video surveillance shows Kremkoski ignoring several pallets of bad cheese sitting outside a warehouse cooler. The video then reportedly shows him driving a forklift into the cooler, retrieving five pallets of good cheese and loading the pallets into a flatbed truck.
When questioned, Kremkoski claimed he "wouldn't take good cheese" and that the cheese he loaded into his truck that night was bad and intended for fish bait.
A Monroe detective located the man in Illinois who bought the cheese from Kremkoski. The man confirmed it was good cheese, not fish-bait cheese, and that he in turn had sold it to a "contact" in Iowa.
If convicted of both charges, Kremkoski faces up to six and a half years in prison, six years on parole and $35,000 in fines.
- Katjusa Cisar
James Jonathon Kremkoski, 36, faces a Class G felony charge of theft and a Class A misdemeanor charge of resisting or obstructing an officer. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 4 in Green County Circuit Court.
The charges are the result of an investigation by the Monroe Police Department.
Kremkoski was employed at Emmi Roth USA Inc. in May 2014 when he allegedly stole five pallets of cheese valued at $20,781.53 out of the warehouse one night. This included a pallet each of Baby Swiss, Havarti, Butterkase, Swedish Fontina and Muenster Loaf.
He then allegedly transported the cheese to Illinois in a borrowed truck and resold it for $1 per pound.
It was not unusual for Kremkoski to resell Emmi Roth cheese, but police say this time was different.
As part of his side business, Jimmy John's Catfish Cheese Bait, Kremkoski routinely bought moldy or "bad" cheese at discount from Emmi Roth and resold it to a Dubuque company that manufactures fish bait.
But on the night in question, police say video surveillance shows Kremkoski ignoring several pallets of bad cheese sitting outside a warehouse cooler. The video then reportedly shows him driving a forklift into the cooler, retrieving five pallets of good cheese and loading the pallets into a flatbed truck.
When questioned, Kremkoski claimed he "wouldn't take good cheese" and that the cheese he loaded into his truck that night was bad and intended for fish bait.
A Monroe detective located the man in Illinois who bought the cheese from Kremkoski. The man confirmed it was good cheese, not fish-bait cheese, and that he in turn had sold it to a "contact" in Iowa.
If convicted of both charges, Kremkoski faces up to six and a half years in prison, six years on parole and $35,000 in fines.
- Katjusa Cisar