SHEBOYGAN – An attorney entered not guilty pleas in all seven charges a Sheboygan man is facing accused in a string of criminal damage incidents targeting the same woman, including a case of arson that involved a vehicle fire and spray-painted swastikas on a west-side property.
The pleas came in a preliminary hearing for Chee Moua Lee, 37, who is facing felony charges of possessing, distributing or exhibiting an intimate representation; stalking; arson of property other than a building (as a party to a crime); and criminal damage to property over $2,500 (as party to a crime). He’s also facing three misdemeanor criminal damage charges, all as party to a crime.
Circuit court judge Angela Sutkiewicz said she found probable cause in the case to bind over Lee.
“The allegations here are that he planned multiple events,” Sutkiewicz said. She kept cash bond at $30,000 despite a request by Lee’s attorney to reduce the amount to $5,000.
Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski urged the court to consider upping bond to $50,000, but Sutkiewicz called the $30,000 figure “reasonable.”
The charges stem largely from a June 21 vehicle fire along the 900 block of North 26th Street, but also involve alleged incidents dating as far back as this April. All targeted the same person: a woman who, per a Sheboygan police detective who testified, had been in a relationship with Lee several years ago.
Police last week reported they had arrested and subsequently released a 27-year-old man in connection with alleged damage to the victim’s vehicle. The man’s name hadn’t been officially released.
