MONROE — John H. Loresch, the Illinois man convicted in August of scamming businesses across southern Wisconsin, faces a new charge of attacking a fellow inmate in the Green County Jail.
The criminal complaint, filed earlier this month, is a glimpse of misbehavior that Sheriff Jeff Skatrud said everyone at the jail endured for months. Loresch had been in the jail since February and in August was sentenced to time served and extradited to Illinois for parole violations and to face similar theft charges there.
“I think it’s safe to say he’s one of the worst behaved inmates we’ve had in a long time,” Skatrud said. “The anxiety and stress it caused staff was off the charts.”
According to jail deputy reports filed with the criminal complaint, Loresch, 51, head-butted another inmate so violently on the morning of Aug. 13 that the victim’s “upper teeth jammed behind his bottom teeth, causing one of his lower teeth to be knocked loose.” A pool of blood collected on the floor underneath the victim from his bleeding nose.
The attack happened in the midst of a “heated argument” between inmates about racism and slavery, sparked by a story on the news about Black Restaurant Week in Madison. Witnesses reported that Loresch said “If white people had that, it would be racist” and he proceeded to use a racial slur repeatedly while talking to the victim.
An inmate overhearing the discussion tried “to calm the situation and change the subject,” a jail deputy later wrote, but Loresch persisted and “rushed up” on the victim, yelled in his face and then suddenly head-butted him so fast and hard it “stunned” him. Jail deputies reviewed surveillance video that confirmed the victim’s description of the attack.
The victim had to be taken to the Monroe Clinic ER. Loresch was left with a nick on his forehead from the victim’s glasses.
A jail deputy noted that when deputies tried to question Loresch about the incident, Loresch denied doing anything wrong and escalated his aggressive attitude “as he is known to do.” The deputy wrote that Loresch “has had many violent outbursts, some of which have resulted in summoning patrol deputies and Monroe police officers to the jail for cell extractions.”
As a result of the incident, Loresch faces a Class H felony charge of battery by prisoners and a Class I felony charge of substantial battery.
“That morning was his last morning here. We shipped him to Rock,” Skatrud said, referencing the Rock County Jail. A week later, Loresch was brought back to Green County and sentenced to time served for theft convictions. He is currently incarcerated in Illinois.
The head-butting incident is indicative of Loresch’s behavior during his time at the Green County Jail, Skatrud said. On other occasions Loresch pushed over a TV that was secured to a stand, threw food and made threats against jail deputies and their families.
In addition to five jail rule violations, four incidents involving Loresch were serious enough to require multiple deputies or assistance from the Monroe Police Department, Skatrud said.
Chief of Police Fred Kelley said his officers responded to the jail at least twice, in March and June, to assist with handling Loresch.
Loresch has over three dozen forgery, theft and drug convictions in Illinois dating back to the late 1980s. Between getting out of prison in July 2018 and his arrest in February, he racked up dozens of new charges. Court records indicate he went on a crime spree targeting dozens of unsuspecting cashiers, bartenders and other service employees in Wisconsin and Illinois with a well-rehearsed scam to get cash.