Tim Ryan, tryan@shawanoleader.com
A man accused of browsing Internet obituaries to find vacant homes to break into in several counties, including Shawano, was sentenced in Chippewa County on Tuesday to three years in prison.
Seth R. Furgason, 32, of Junction City, was also sentenced last month to two years in prison for a similar burglary in Trempealeau County. He pleaded guilty in both cases.
Furgason is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Wednesday in Shawano-Menominee County Circuit Court on charges of burglary and theft that occurred in the town of Grant in January.
His alleged accomplice — Casandra M. Miller, 24, of Wisconsin Rapids — is scheduled for her preliminary hearing Friday.
They are accused of breaking into the residence of Eldore and Malinda Mielke, who passed away about a day apart in early January. The burglary was reported Jan. 9.
A safe containing about $12,000 in currency and more than $10,000 in coins and collectibles, as well as jewelry, was reported stolen.
The criminal complaint states Miller told authorities that her boyfriend, Furgason, searched online to find recent obituaries, then used the White Pages and an Internet map application to locate the addresses of the deceased people.
She said Furgason usually selected rural locations for the crimes and that she drove him to and from the burglaries, according to the complaint, and that the burglaries started in September in Portage County.
DNA from a cigarette butt left at the scene of the Mielke burglary tied Furgason to the crime, according to the criminal complaint.
According to the complaint, Shawano County sheriff’s deputies had previous contact with Furgason on Dec. 13, 2012, when he claimed to have run out of gas going to a residence in Wittenberg about 3:40 a.m. Furgason fled the scene before deputies arrived, leaving Miller in the vehicle.
Furgason was taken into custody April 17 by authorities investigating the Chippewa County case.
Miller was found at Furgason’s residence when authorities, including Shawano County investigators, executed a search warrant the same day.
Among the items seized at the residence was a Confederate $5 bill believed to have come from the Mielke burglary.
Furgason and Miller could each face a maximum 12 1/2 years in prison and $25,000 fine if convicted of burglary, and 10 years and $25,000 for felony theft.