(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
A Kenosha man who drives a tow truck for Jantz, was charged today with felony stalking for allegedly tormenting, threatening, and stalking a Kenosha Police officer between October of 2022 and May of 2023. Justin L. Conklin, 33, of Kenosha faces a maximum sentence of three-and-a-half years in the Wisconsin Prison System. In court today, he was given a $5,000 cash bail by Kenosha County Circuit Court Commissioner William Michel.
(Kenosha County Sheriff)
According to the criminal complaint:
On April 23, 2023, Kenosha Police “Officer Jenny Gilbert” reported to the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department that she has been stalked by her ex boyfriend, Justin Conklin. She told deputies that she began dating Conklin in November of 2020. She described the relationship as abusive. For example, he would threaten to kill her, her daughter, and other law enforcement officers, threaten to kill himself, would need to know where she was at all times and threatened to show up at her work if she didn’t respond fast enough, threaten to contact her supervisors, lie about family members dying to gain sympathy, etc. Conklin also verbally abused her, calling her a worthless bitch, cunt, whore, slut, prostitute, piece of shit, etc. Officer Gilbert advised that Conklin has bipolar disorder and does not properly take his medication, making him volatile and explosive.
On June 28, 2022, Officer Gilbert advised that she ended the relationship and told Conklin not to contact her anymore. Part of Conklin’s job was to respond to police calls and tow vehicles away after crashes and arrests. He had a KPD Scanner in his tow truck. Gilbert said that Conklin had a police scanner in his tow truck and would respond to calls for a tow truck where Officer Gilbert was, even though he wasn’t the driver dispatched. This is called “jumping” calls, or going to calls instead of the tow truck that was dispatched.
Several instanced of Conklin call-jumping were reported and corroborated by law enforcement officers and other citizens and captured on squad video. Officer Gilbert advised that these incidents made her sick to her stomach, caused her heart to race, and caused her extreme distress. She expressed multiple times how fearful of Conklin she is and that she wants all contact to stop.
A Kenosha County Sheriff’s Detective interviewed an employee of Jantz that told him that Conklin was indeed stalking Officer Gilbert. He stated that when Conklin is on a call where Officer Gilbert is on scene, he said Conklin always takes longer. They are told by management to get in and get out, which Conklin usually does, except if Officer Gilbert is on scene, then “the situation gets dragged out.” He gave two examples of accidents where they were both dispatched and Conklin either did not do his part of the job or took way longer than necessary, specifically because Officer Gilbert was on scene. He described the Conklin as a manipulator and compulsive liar. He said Conklin has at least five police scanners that he uses and always listens to. He also expressed fear over this situation, including that Conklin will do something to Officer Gilbert because Conklin is bipolar and doesn’t take his medication.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
In court today, Conklin was camera shy and his from KCE’s photographer. When he wasn’t hiding, his head was down.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Conklin didn’t speak in court today, but Officer Gilbert wrote a statement that Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Alexis Bauer read in court today. Officer Gilbert’s statement wrote in part:
“I would be grateful for the opportunity to attend and have my voice finally heard but, unfortunately, the defendant, has caused such an incredible fear for my safety as well as that of my family that I simply cannot…While trying each day to do a job I was most passionate about, serving and protecting the citizens of Kenosha, he made an already tumultuous career terrifying for me simply by his choice to refuse to leave me alone… I very hesitantly attempted to obtain an emergency protection order but, unfortunately, due to the nature of my job, the verbiage of the injunction did not stop the exact behaviors I was trying to prevent and he was able to continue jumping my calls and engaging in acts which caused me great fear but it could not be charged due to the verbiage of the injunction.”
The restraining order is in affect until 2027.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Conklin hired Attorney Ted Kmiec, who had his mistress die in his bed, accused this author of planting cameras inside his home, and doesn’t go to trial much, as his attorney.
An arrest warrant was issued for Conklin on July 17, 2024, and he was arrested the next day. One of the owner’s of Jantz, Steven Jantz paid Conklin’s bail two hours after he was booked into the Kenosha County Jail, according to a receipt obtained via public records. KCE spoke to Jantz Wednesday and he said that he didn’t want to talk about Conklin’s arrest but called Conklin a “hard worker” and said he’ll “wait to see what happens” with the criminal case. Conklin has a prior domestic abuse conviction in which he threatened to kill his own mother. According to that criminal complaint, “Conklin and his mother were arguing about a phone call the defendant made. As the argument escalated, Ms. Conklin tried to get her cell phone to call 911 and have the defendant removed. The two began wrestling over the phone, and the defendant stated, ‘If you lay a hand on me, I’ll fuckin’ kill you.’ The defendant managed to get the phone away from his mother.”
Conklin is due back in court on August 13, 2024 for a preliminary hearing.
(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
36 Responses
Anyone that needs a tow, needs to not call Jantz anymore, since they support this madman.
Sorry but I don’t think Jantz should be thrown under the bus for a crazy employee. They have been around for decades and they do a great job.
The owner of Jantz bailed this scumbag out. So yes, they definitely should be thrown under the bus!!
That is because Jantz treats their employees as family.
They have a bi-polar employee that isn’t taking his meds. I’ve had to have my car towed before and was given a ride in the truck. I shutter to think someone might climb into this man’s truck with him not on medication and have him have an episode. And to bail this man out is insane.
Don’t protect scumbag family
Jantz bailed him out! 🤢
Every time I’ve gone to Jantz, they are complete assholes to me and the other customers, even old ladies. The only reason they’ve been around for decades is because no one else wants to run a junk yard, and the owner of the other junkyard got shot a long time ago.
This is the tow yard not the junkyard and who got shot?
The guy at Schneiders. Must have been 10, maybe 15 years ago.
Then maybe Jantz should get rid of the employee?
Wow !
Having your boss bail you out. Sad.
As an employer I sure wouldn’t have. Let the employees live their own lives. Don’t get involved with them to this extent. That’s what family is for.
It might not be right but Jantz is going to receive backlash for his support of this guy.
Should have just walked away
Dirt bag
I don’t know what happened in this particular case, but as a general rule this is good advice: Don’t harass someone who carries a gun for a living.
Willliam Michel is unpredictable as a commissioner. I’ve seen cases where it’s a slam dunk and he’ll let them walk free. Others where the evidence isn’t strong at all and he will throw his weight at them. He seems to play With the system. This guy actually buried himself. Let it go before she pops your ass on the job out of fear dude. Gonna throw your life away dummy
He literally denied my restraining orders against my sister and her bf when alone in my temp restraining orders I had 5 incident and by the time we had court this passed Monday I had like 8 more I could have added and he still denied it and they still keep stalking and harrassing me
Perhaps Jantz should be removed from the call list for agencies until they can control their employee? They admitted knowing what he’s doing, but apparently didn’t discipline or fire him over it.
If you’ve got a loose cannon stalker working for you, standards are pretty low.
Jantz is part of the corrupt Kenosha machine. I’m sure this driver is family or something. Their clan is huge and dysfunctional.
I agree. Jantz should be taken off the list for calls to crashes if they are going to support this kind of behavior.
Shocking…. I guess he was only charged because she is KPD. And they were not married. But if you spouse or your ex husband behaves the same way or worse…. It’s take it up with family court. And we all know Kenosha family court doesn’t do a thing.
I certainly hope you have not experienced this, though, it would not surprise me if you had. I don’t think victim-blaming is ever ok though and you should consider that victims, regardless of their profession, are often not treated well by certain law enforcement officers. DV Laws/Mandatory arrests in WI are written a certain way so that it is SUPPOSED TO take away the ability for an officer to use “discretion” to blow off a domestic. If you experienced physical or sexual violence at the hands of your spouse and reported it, they are required by state law to write a report stating a domestic situation occurred and articulate their probable cause to arrest or articulate their belief that an atrest should not be made. DVs are the most dangerous situations to be in and, if you feel your case was not handled appropriately, any citizen can make a complaint at any time. They may initially try to talk you out of it but stand your ground as domestic violence is very well-covered under the law for the purpose of protecting victims from both their spouses/living partners and negligent agencies. You can hold your police department accountable and you should.
Try holding KPD accountable. It won’t happen. I’m not blaming her, I’m pointing out how the system is. There are different rules for different people when it comes to DV, and crimes such as the ones in this article.
It’s not domestic violence unless they live together. So many cases wrongfully misclassified. Making way for a class action lawsuit in the future.
“ It’s not domestic violence unless they live together”??? Who told you that? Because it’s totally not true!
Arthur would be correct. You have very inaccurate information, sir. If you google WI state statute 968.075, you will have a very clear description of what defines a domestic relationship.
Lawyer and client…two pieces of shit.
This dude is a complete fucking tool. He shows up to work only when he feels like it, has tried to get in fights with n has threatened “his employees” since he is the “Operations Manager”. He is n has been the reason people leave. The owners knew this was going on n let him continue to do whatever he wanted. He is a compulsive liar, manipulates everything n everyone and uses the job to hook up with as many people as he can n has been caught doing it! The owners let him get away with murder n they won’t ever stop. The company is shady AF for letting him continue working there much less in a management position. Great example he sets when he doesn’t call or show up n then just decides he’s not coming to work for a week or two. N when he does show up, he just acts like a bitch to everyone including bosses because he’s unstable n a dick. Not to mention they also consistently bail out their alcoholic mechanic Leo who shows up to work drunk to work on YOUR vehicles. Yet another fine example of their choices in who they chose to continue employing despite MANY drunken days at work.
Sounds like you got fired and you’re mad about it. Good luck getting another job by bashing the last employer.
Not even close buddy. Just glad they are finally being exposed for some of their shady shit. Many of us have told them the issues we had to their faces but unless you are this lazy piece of shit drug user or the alcoholic, they claim they will do something about it n never do shit.
“thankful I quit”
sound like he was fired?
hmmm logic
I remember this man. He is short tempered and not someone to fuck with.
Well looks like he’s gonna be fucked now
I agree , don’t fuck with him , just shoot him in the front & claim self defense—- that’s the best thing she can do for herself & society
Oh shiiitt the article is updated to show he’s an even bigger piece of shit then even I thought. N its even more fucking wild they keep him around n managing people. He has always shown a violent n aggressive side but to fuckin live with ur parents in your 20s and fuckin physically fight with your own mother to try to stop her from calling the cops to remove you n then tell her your gonna fuckin kill her makes you a special kind of fuckin piece of shit. Guess it covers the comment before about older ladies being treated like shit. He beat up his own mom and said he was gonna fuckin kill her and based on what he did to this girl, it seems to be his “signature” when it comes to how he treats women. Fuckin crazy. #Jantzisguiltytoo
It amazes me how all these people can come on here and bash someone or this company I’m sure the people who are commenting aren’t perfect had problems and domestic problems at some point don’t you remember you had to get the cops involved to get your crazy girlfriend out of your house that you rented from this company now you work for another company and want to bash them not a good ideal
Oh look, it’s another family member of the fuckin tool to the rescue! Maybe you can do more damage to him here to like on FB. You are all fuckin crazy. Idk who TF you think I am but I def fuckin never rented shit from Jantz n I never had any domestics or cops involved either so. Anyone with common sense would leave that shit hole once they see what really goes down.