Green County
Felonies
● Matthew W. Schmid, 40, Albany, was sentenced Oct. 1 to two years in prison and five years on extended supervision after pleading guilty to a Class H felony charge of criminal escape and having his probation revoked on a Class I felony conviction of possessing narcotic drugs. The possession conviction stems from an incident in Monroe on July 30, 2019. Court records indicate Schmid overdosed on methadone in a Green County Justice Center bathroom. A deputy revived him with two doses of Narcan. The escape conviction stems from an incident Aug. 14 of this year. Schmid reportedly took a coworker’s car while out on Huber work release from the Green County Jail. Evansville police stopped him less than an hour after he was reported missing from his place of employment in Monroe.
● Darik M. Dowell, 18, Hannah L. Swenson, 18, and LaShawn T. Thurman Jr., 20, were sentenced at separate hearings in September to periods of probation for convictions related to the burglary of a Town of Clarno home in Oct. 2019. The sentences for Swenson and Thurman, who were both also convicted of breaking their conditions of bond after the burglary, include conditional jail time of 45 days and 90 days respectively. All three defendants are eligible to have their convictions expunged under a state law that grants leniency to young people. Court records indicate Dowell, Swenson and Thurman worked together to break into a home south of Monroe on County P on Oct. 11, 2019, and stole a safe, jewelry, coins and three firearms: a .357 Ruger model GP100 revolver, SIG Sauer 9mm P2022 handgun and SIG Sauer .45 P250 pistol. One of the guns was later recovered by Freeport police during a search warrant. Dowell, formerly of Monroe and now of Mosinee, told police he helped Swenson and Thurman find the house under threat. Swenson, of Monroe, and Thurman, of Freeport, posted photos and videos to social media of themselves posing with guns. In one video, police reported that Thurman was wearing a black Monroe Cheesemakers Track and Field hooded sweatshirt and saying “pow pow pow pow” as he pointed a gun at the camera. In another image, Swenson is pointing a black semi-automatic handgun at the camera with her finger on the trigger while “a filter of an alien waving” partially obscures her face, according to one officer’s description.
● Equez D. Collins, 27, Freeport, was charged Sept. 9 with a Class H felony count of failing to update information as a registered sex offender in April. A warrant is issued for his arrest. Equez was sentenced to prison in 2017 for the rape of a woman in Monroe whom he offered a ride home from a night club, but instead of taking her home he parked in an alley downtown, grabbed her by the throat and sexually assaulted her while she told him to stop.
● Matthew David Gilbertson, 37, Monroe, was sentenced Sept. 11 to four years on probation and ordered to pay over $25,000 in restitution after pleading no contest to a felony charge of receiving stolen property. A charge of taking and driving a vehicle without consent was dismissed but “read in.” His court assessments total $29,118. Court records indicate he stole a 1970 John Deere 4320 tractor out of a shed at a farm on Haddinger Road, Town of Clarno, in June 2019. The owner identified Gilbertson as a former employee at the farm and estimated the value of the tractor at about $25,000, adding that he’d spent about $29,000 to repair it two years earlier. The tractor was later recovered at a property on Sanders Hill Road near Winslow.