2-12-15 sheboygan man accused of vandalizing brandon veterans memorial

An arrest warrant has been issued for a Sheboygan man charged with vandalizing a veteran’s memorial in Brandon.  Fifty two year old Joseph Ross is charged with criminal damage to a memorial that honors the dead.  The warrant was issued this week after Ross failed to appear in Fond du lac County Circuit Court for a motion hearing.   Brandon police chief Tom Dornbrook says Ross was arrested in December in connection with the incident last fall at the memorial located in the Brandon Community park.  Dornbrook says a park surveillance camera captured the incident on tape.  “The guy drove in in a Dodge conversion van with a bicycle on the back and some very distinctive stickers on the side windows of the van and walked over to the memorial, looked around bent over picked up an object and wrote in the cement.  We saw him take his shoes off and then stepped into the cement,”  Dornbrook told WFDL news.  “He left about ten minutes later and walked to a different part of the park and drew a big heart in the sand of the volleyball courts.”    Authorities were eventually able to track down the suspect to Sheboygan where Dornbrook says Ross confessed and apologized and said he was distraught over the death of a friend.   But since making his initial court appearance Dornbrook says Ross’ behavior has become more strange, filing several briefs with the court…and this week failing to show for a motion hearing.  Dornbrook says the cost to repair the damage is estimated at $1500 and he says at this point the village doesn’t have the money to  make those repairs.