Karl Rieves was accused in Ozaukee County of new felony counts late last year, but the Wisconsin Department of Corrections wasn’t aware of it for weeks, even though he was on state supervision, DOC confirmed.
The supervision of a Milwaukee felon who is a suspect in at least five overdose death investigations and who was accused of reckless homicide in Waupaca County was not revoked, according to the Washington County sheriff.
“It is incomprehensible to me how this individual was allowed to remain in society and continue selling dangerous drugs throughout Wisconsin,” Washington County Sheriff Marty Schulteis said. “He is a suspect in at least five overdose death investigations.”
Karl Rieves, 30, is now charged with another reckless homicide/drug dealing offense in Washington County in connection with the fatal overdose death in Hartford, Wisconsin, of a young mother of four and Air Force veteran named Deborah Stolzenburg. “Deborah was a very creative person, often hand crafting beautiful things for people she loved. She enjoyed art, crocheting and music,” her obituary says (her husband died a few months later.)
But how did Rieves remain on the streets? The tangled case of Karl Rieves indicates a series of alleged systemic failures to get him back in prison involving different authorities: The Department of Corrections, which is the agency in charge of supervising Rieves, admits it wasn’t aware he was accused of new felonies in Ozaukee County or had a warrant issued for weeks – and blames the Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office for not letting them know. However, the Ozaukee County Sheriff’s office says it informed DOC immediately when Rieves ended up in their custody and says DOC is confusing them with another police agency.
The Ozaukee County charges are for felony bail jumping as a habitual criminal repeater that and disorderly conduct. The agency says it did try to revoke Rieves twice before that but other authorities rejected the effort. In at least one case, that decision was made by an administrative law judge whose name we are trying to obtain from DOC.
Karl Rieves Criminal History Explained
On Jan. 12 and again on Jan. 13, before this story was initially published, Wisconsin Right Now asked the Wisconsin Department of Corrections why Rieves’s supervision was not revoked when he was accused of homicide and other serious charges in Waupaca County. They did not respond – until Jan. 16. Court records show that he and two other men are accused of conducting “at least 32 separate drug transactions” over the past month alone.
On Jan. 16, the DOC told Wisconsin Right Now the following:
- DOC tried to revoke Karl Rieves Jr.’s community supervision for “drug-related violations” in January 2023 and May 2023 (Rieves was charged with homicide by delivery of drugs in Waupaca County in 2022.)
- “At the first revocation hearing in March 2023, an administrative law judge (ALJ) ordered that Mr. Rieves’ supervision be revoked. Mr. Rieves’ attorney appealed that decision. In April 2023, the ALJ’s decision was reversed and it was ordered that Mr. Rieves’ supervision not be revoked,” DOC wrote. WRN asked DOC who ordered that Rieves’ supervision not be revoked and is awaiting an answer.
- In the May revocation proceeding, before the hearing, DOC “subpoenaed the primary witness for the allegation; however, the witness died prior to the hearing and therefore was unavailable to testify. The Department submitted the witness’ statement at the hearing along with other evidence. The ALJ did not revoke Mr. Rieves’ supervision. DOC appealed, but the ALJ’s decision to not revoke was upheld,” the agency wrote. WRN also asked DOC for the name of the ALJ who refused to revoke Rieves in this instance, and for the name of the person who upheld that decision.
“Mr. Rieves had been in custody from 12/15/2022 to 09/08/2023 on DOC holds. The Department was required to release Mr. Rieves when the 09/08/2023 decision was issued,” DOC says.
That’s not all. The DOC says that the agency did not realize for weeks that Rieves was back in trouble in Ozaukee County, which started in November 2024.
“Since September 2023, with the exception of a traffic stop where law enforcement released him, DOC was not informed of any other potential violations until Jan. 2, 2025,” DOC wrote. “In Ozaukee County, Mr. Rieves was charged with bail jumping and being party to the crime of disorderly conduct on Dec. 18. The Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office did not notify DOC about the incident that took place on Nov. 22, 2024, the charges on Dec. 18 or when Mr. Rieves turned himself in on Dec. 30.”
However, when WRN contacted the Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office for comment, they disputed that account.
Court records indicate that a warrant was issued for Rieves’ arrest in Ozaukee County on Dec. 18. He was taken into custody on Dec. 30, the records show.
“On 11-22-24 Rieves was involved in a Disorderly Conduct incident that occurred in the Village of Grafton and was investigated by the Grafton Police Department. Rieves was not arrested; however, charges for Disorderly Conduct were forwarded to the District Attorney’s Office for review,” Ozaukee County Undersheriff Marshall Hermann wrote WRN.
“On 12-18-24 an arrest warrant was issued for Rieves for Felony Bail Jumping – Habitual Criminal Repeated (x2) and Disorderly Conduct – Party to a Crime – Habitual Criminal Repeater. On 12-30-24 at approximately 8:09am Rieves turned himself into the Ozaukee County Jail on the warrants that were issued for his arrest stemming from the incident that occurred in Grafton on 11-22-24. Jail staff observed that Rieves was on Probation and Parole and attempted to contact his Probation Officer by both phone and email to advise them that Rieves was in custody and inquired if Probation and Parole would place a hold on him. A message was left and an email was sent to P&P with no immediate response. At 1:28pm Rieves appeared in court for his initial appearance where he received $25,000 cash bond. On 01-02-25 the Ozaukee County Jail received a faxed Order to Detain from Probation and Parole to place a Probation Hold on Reives, noting that his in-custody date was on 12-30-24.”
DOC was “contacted immediately during the booking process of Rieves that he was in our custody on new charges and inquired if a Probation Hold would be placed,” according to Hermann. He said he believes that DOC “mistook the Sheriff’s Office for the Grafton Police Department regarding not being contacted on November 18th.”
WRN has reached out to Grafton police to determine whether that agency alerted DOC of the November incident involving Rieves.
If you have any additional questions, please let me know. If you have any questions regarding his Disorderly Conduct charges, you will need to contact the Grafton Police Department.
Respectfully,
Undersheriff Marshall Hermann
“A Washington County Sheriff’s official reached out to a DOC agent on Jan. 2, 2025 notifying him that Mr. Rieves was a person of interest in the June 5, 2024 overdose death and asking that DOC place a hold on Mr. Rieves to prevent his release from the Ozaukee County Jail,” according to DOC. “DOC did so and immediately began investigating. Revocation proceedings have begun again.”
The DOC added: “Rieves was charged in the Washington County overdose death on Jan. 10. DOC learned of the charges via Washington County Sheriff’s Office press release and the Jan. 2 request was the only time Washington County law enforcement contacted DOC in this case.”
“Mr. Rieves has been under DOC supervision for two prior felony convictions for manufacturing or delivering heroin. On 02/26/2020, in Milwaukee County case 18CF606, the court sentenced him to one year in prison followed by two years of extended supervision,” DOC added. “On 05/12/2021, in Waukesha County case 18CF1013, the court imposed a sentence of four years in prison followed by four years of extended supervision; however, the court stayed that sentence and placed him on probation for five years. He was ordered to serve nine months of conditional jail time on Huber. Mr. Rieves currently has four pending felony cases in Waupaca, Ozaukee, and Washington counties.”
Rieves was released from state prison on extended supervision in 2021 after being incarcerated for heroin dealing, the Washington County Sheriff’s Department said in a news release, and prison records confirm.
“I hope the message is clear: jurisdictional boundaries will not shield you from justice,” said Schulteis. “This case is deeply troubling…Despite being arrested and charged for similar offenses, and while on extended supervision from the Wisconsin DOC, his supervision was never revoked. To only compound matters he was then granted a cash bond in Waupaca County, allowing him to commit another deadly crime in Washington County.”
“As a public safety leader and the elected Sheriff of Washington County, I am simply outraged,” Schulteis continued. “The fact that he was able to exploit the criminal justice system and operate with impunity is a systematic failure to the citizens I represent. I can only hope that this latest arrest will finally put an end to his drug dealing and prevent future deaths, but this is only one case.”
State prison records say the Department of Corrections – an agency run by Gov. Tony Evers’ cabinet secretary – released Rieves on extended supervision on Feb. 16, 2021.
The prison stint stemmed from a 2018 heroin dealing case out of Milwaukee County, for which he received a 1-year prison sentence in 2019. He then reoffended in Waukesha County, court records show. The court records show that he was originally charged with reckless homicide dealing drugs in the Waukesha County case but only ended up being convicted of heroin dealing. In 2021, he was sentenced to 9 months Huber jail, as well as a four-year stayed prison term, four years stayed extended supervision, and five years of probation.
After being released on state supervision in 2021, Rieves was accused of the following crimes in Waupaca County:
- 1st-degree reckless homicide, deliver drugs, as a repeater. Filed Dec. 14, 2022. Judge Vicki Clussman ordered $10,000 bail in January 2023.
- 2 counts of 1st-degree recklessly endangering safety. Filed April 2023. On April 26, he posted $10,000 bond. The bond hearing was held before Judge Raymond Huber.
While on state supervision and out on bail from those Waupaca County cases, Rieves then allegedly sold the fentanyl that killed the 39-year-old Hartford woman whose death is the subject of the recent charges, the Sheriff’s Department noted in the release. Rieves is now charged with 13 offenses in Washington County, including reckless homicide as a repeater. He also has open bail jumping and disorderly conduct charges in Ozaukee County.
Washington County Sheriff’s investigators “made several arrests early Thursday morning in connection with a fatal drug overdose that occurred in the City of Hartford in June of 2024,” the release announced.
Karl Rieves was released from the Wisconsin State Prison system “on extended supervision in 2021” and, while out on the streets, “he was arrested and charged in Waupaca County for his role in multiple overdoses, including one fatal in their jurisdiction. He was out on bond on that case while remaining on extended supervision with the Wisconsin Department of Corrections (DOC) when he allegedly sold fentanyl relating to our death,” the Washington County release says.
Two other men have been charged in connection with the alleged drug ring, 23-year-old Laron Horton and 19-year-old Tony Robinson.
Horton’s past record includes a second-degree recklessly endangering safety charge in Milwaukee County. In 2022, he received 6 months in jail and a stayed prison sentence. He is now charged with fentanyl dealing in Washington County, as is Robinson.
Robinson has no adult criminal history in Wisconsin.
The investigation “started with the City of Hartford Police Department investigating the deadly drug overdose,” the release said.
“The Washington County Sheriff’s Office Multi-Jurisdictional Drug unit opened an investigation into the source of drugs and was able to identify the suspect as a 30-year-old City of Milwaukee man,” the release says.
“Washington County investigators collaborated with the Washington County District Attorney’s Office, the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation Overdose Death Initiative, and the Wisconsin Counterdrug Program for several months. This investigation culminated Thursday morning with three search warrants executed by tactical teams in the City of Milwaukee and one in the Village of Grafton,” the release noted.
“A stolen Glock handgun that had been altered to allow it to operate fully automatic was also recovered during the search along with illegal narcotics,” the release says.
“This investigation came to a successful conclusion today as a direct result of the hard work and dedication of many investigators. We are grateful for our assisting agencies, including the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI), City of Milwaukee Police and Fire Departments, North Central HIDTA, Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office, the Washington County Medical Examiner’s Office, Hartford Police Department K9 Flash, and Grafton Police Department.”
Washington County Sheriff Martin Schulteis added, “This case is bittersweet for me. Jurisdictional boundaries often create significant challenges for law enforcement in cases like this. Our investigators traced the fentanyl that killed the victim back to a sale in the City of Milwaukee; however, our jurisdiction does not typically extend into Milwaukee. I appreciate the strong partnerships with the Washington County District Attorney’s Office, the DCI Overdose Death Initiative, and the Wisconsin Counterdrug Program. Their support allowed us to extend our reach into Milwaukee to address those selling these dangerous drugs to our citizens.”
-This story was updated to reflect the new information that DOC provided on Jan. 16 and its efforts to revoke Rieves twice, in addition to the agency not realizing he was accused of Ozaukee offenses for weeks.
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