$28K Aluminum Theft From Muskego Company Leads to Charges for Wind Lake Man

A Wind Lake man has been charged with two counts of theft of more than $28,000 in materials from a Muskego business. Kenneth Lorenz was charged in Waukesha County Circuit Court, and faces a maximum penalty of 16 years in prison, $35,000 in fines or both if convicted.

According to the criminal complaint:

EM Corporation in Muskego contacted police on Dec. 18 to report that aluminum panels were missing from the bed of a tractor trailer. Lorenz had been at the business on Dec. 14 requesting to rent the panels for a job, but was refused because he had still owed the company money for other panels that he had used and not returned.  The value of the aluminum forms was about $28,000

The owner of EM also told police that he had heard from other companies that Lorenz had used their materials to sell them for scrap, according to the report.

About three days after the initial report, police were sent to a job site on Jacob Court in Muskego, where a representative of a construction company also reported a theft of $10,000 of aluminum frames from a trailer.

Working with an investigator in Racine County who was also following reports of similar thefts there, the defendant admitted to two thefts in Racine County as well as the two in Muskego. He told investigators that he was addicted to heroin, which was to the point where he was "ready to run into a gas station and rob them," according to the complaint.

The construction company was able to recover the missing materials at a recycling facility in Union Grove. The materials taken from EM were sold to a company in Norway, according to the defendant, and it has not been confirmed whether those materials were recovered.

Lorenz was charged as well in Racine County court, where he will face sentencing on June 11 after pleading guilty to two counts of theft there. He makes an initial appearance in Waukesha County court May 20.