Madison, WI – On December 9, the Ozaukee County News Graphic featured a story on a Milwaukee criminal suspected of burglarizing and stealing a vehicle from a property in Mequon on August 1. The suspect in the case is 20-year-old Lazarion Gaillard, an individual who according to the News Graphic “has been charged in dozens of car thefts and burglaries in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties over the past several years.” A September 10 story by WISN characterized Gaillard as “Milwaukee’s Most Wanted Car Thief,” noting that he stole luxury cars from at least 15 victims in the span of two weeks. Senator Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville) issued the following statement in response to the recent reporting on these incidents:
“As the Milwaukee crime problem continues to spiral out of control, local reporting on the most notorious repeat offenders features many of the same elements. Perhaps the most common is a quote from a Milwaukee police officer about how they’ve arrested the same individual several times but said individual ‘keeps making bail.’ Of course, it’s not difficult to ‘keep making bail’ when the local DA and courts set the amount so low as to almost guarantee offenders of all stripes will be released back onto the streets and given free rein to continue to prey on the communities of Southeast Wisconsin.”
“Looking at the record of ‘Milwaukee’s Most Wanted Car Thief,’ his first four criminal cases – all of which happened to involve multiple felony charges – featured cash bail amounts of $750, $750, $3,500 and $1,200, respectively. It wasn’t until Gaillard’s two-week car theft spree this summer, in which he racked up 59 felony charges across two cases, that his cash bail was set at $50,000 and $65,000, respectively. While he remains behind bars awaiting sentencing, the dozens of vehicle thefts and victimization of numerous citizens could have been prevented. Removing almost any deterrent to engaging in criminal behavior creates a breeding ground for career criminals. Look no further than Mr. Gaillard, who has been charged with 75 felonies and 6 misdemeanors across 8 criminal cases in his first two years of adulthood.”
“As we’ve all witnessed in recent weeks and over the past several years, the habitual offenders released back onto the street by DA John Chisholm’s office and the Milwaukee court system do not respect municipal or county boundaries when planning out their next assault on the rights of innocent, law-abiding citizens.”
Sen. Duey Stroebel (R-Saukville) represents the 20th Senate District, which is comprised of portions of Ozaukee, Washington, Fond du Lac, Sheboygan and Calumet counties.
