Two face charges after arrest for stealing purse, fraudulent purchase at Best Buy

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Editor’s note: All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until pronounced guilty in a court of law. The Metro Wire will follow each case to its conclusion, including reporting if charges were amended or dismissed. The Metro Wire does not remove verified stories from its website.

By Brandi Makuski

Plover — Two Stevens Point men have been released on signature bonds after being arrested on initial charges of theft and identity theft.

Jonathon G. Busig and Ronald L. Kirk, both 21, appeared for their bond hearings on June 13 by video from the Portage Co. Jail before Judge Michael Zell. The two were represented for the hearing by attorney Greg Venturini from the public defender’s office. Assistant District Attorney Jedididah Dodge represented the State.

Plover police were called to Lowe’s, 230 Crossroads Dr. in Plover, shortly after 7 p.m. on June 12 when a woman said she couldn’t find her purse after shopping in the store. Thinking she may have left it in a shopping cart, she returned to Lowe’s but couldn’t find it. She gave her statement to the police and then left.

Dodge said the woman called police a short time later to report that her credit card had been used to make a $350 purchase at Best Buy, about two blocks from the Lowe’s at 1145 Commons Cir.

When police arrived at the store, a security officer told police that the two men who made the purchase had already left.

But the vehicle they left in was captured on the store’s exterior surveillance video. Dodge said a short time later, officers located the vehicle and initiated a traffic stop. They identified Kirk and Busig in the car.

Dodge said officers also located the woman’s missing purse and the item purchased at Best Buy inside the car, but he did not say what the item was.

Busig admitted to taking the purse and making the Best Buy purchase, but claims it was done at the direction of Kirk, Dodge said.

Kirk has no criminal record and was released on a $1,000 signature bond.

Busig is already out on bond for a 2023 Marathon Co. case with charges of possessing a firearm as a harassment injunction violation, felony bail jumping, and violating a restraining order. He was ordered released on a $1,500 signature bond.

Both men return to court for an initial appearance in July.