MONROE - A competency exam has been ordered for an Evansville man charged in October with repeatedly absconding with a New Glarus girl.
Keith Daniel Hartje, 21, also faces new charges that he broke conditions of his $10,000 signature bond. Six counts of felony bail jumping were filed against him Tuesday.
During an appearance Wednesday in Green County Circuit Court, defense attorney Philip Brehm brought up concerns over Hartje's competency to stand trial.
Judge Thomas Vale ordered Hartje to be evaluated. A competency hearing is set for Jan. 10.
Hartje was charged in October with three Class I felony counts of interfering with child custody, stemming from an investigation into allegations that he caused a 14-year-old New Glarus girl to leave her parents without their consent on three occasions in August and September.
Court records indicate that he and the girl went on road trips together to Illinois, Iowa and around Wisconsin, disappearing for days at a time, shoplifting and committing gas drive-offs along the way. The girl has a history of sneaking out to meet him, and one of her parents had gone so far as to nail her bedroom window shut to keep her from sneaking out.
One of their recent trips caused her to be truant from school in early October. Police eventually located her and Hartje at a cabin on Lake Nebagamon in Douglas County.
On Oct. 16, Hartje signed a $10,000 signature bond with a long list of conditions. Police say he was breaking those conditions within weeks.
He wrote the girl messages to her New Glarus school email account, used Snapchat to message with her, drove past her home and contacted her family, all in violation of his bond conditions, according to police.
In messages they sent back and forth in early November, Hartje and the girl wrote that they missed each other and made arrangements to meet.
She instructed Keith "to park down the road a little bit and walk to her yard so they can hang out," according to a police review of the messages. "(She) tells Keith she has a lot to tell him and asks him to bring her phone and clothes to her."
"I'm ready to kill your dad," he wrote in one message. "I won't, I'm sorry. I'm just very upset."
"Are you going to jail?" the girl messaged him.
"I don't know," he responded, adding an emoji of a crying face.
Hartje signed a $2,000 cash bond and $8,000 signature bond on the felony bail jumping case, with conditions that include no direct or indirect contact with the girl or her family, New Glarus schools or anyone younger than 18 without parental supervision, and no use of social media.
Keith Daniel Hartje, 21, also faces new charges that he broke conditions of his $10,000 signature bond. Six counts of felony bail jumping were filed against him Tuesday.
During an appearance Wednesday in Green County Circuit Court, defense attorney Philip Brehm brought up concerns over Hartje's competency to stand trial.
Judge Thomas Vale ordered Hartje to be evaluated. A competency hearing is set for Jan. 10.
Hartje was charged in October with three Class I felony counts of interfering with child custody, stemming from an investigation into allegations that he caused a 14-year-old New Glarus girl to leave her parents without their consent on three occasions in August and September.
Court records indicate that he and the girl went on road trips together to Illinois, Iowa and around Wisconsin, disappearing for days at a time, shoplifting and committing gas drive-offs along the way. The girl has a history of sneaking out to meet him, and one of her parents had gone so far as to nail her bedroom window shut to keep her from sneaking out.
One of their recent trips caused her to be truant from school in early October. Police eventually located her and Hartje at a cabin on Lake Nebagamon in Douglas County.
On Oct. 16, Hartje signed a $10,000 signature bond with a long list of conditions. Police say he was breaking those conditions within weeks.
He wrote the girl messages to her New Glarus school email account, used Snapchat to message with her, drove past her home and contacted her family, all in violation of his bond conditions, according to police.
In messages they sent back and forth in early November, Hartje and the girl wrote that they missed each other and made arrangements to meet.
She instructed Keith "to park down the road a little bit and walk to her yard so they can hang out," according to a police review of the messages. "(She) tells Keith she has a lot to tell him and asks him to bring her phone and clothes to her."
"I'm ready to kill your dad," he wrote in one message. "I won't, I'm sorry. I'm just very upset."
"Are you going to jail?" the girl messaged him.
"I don't know," he responded, adding an emoji of a crying face.
Hartje signed a $2,000 cash bond and $8,000 signature bond on the felony bail jumping case, with conditions that include no direct or indirect contact with the girl or her family, New Glarus schools or anyone younger than 18 without parental supervision, and no use of social media.