From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A former Thiensville psychiatrist who, along with his lawyer girlfriend, led police on a High Plains manhunt that ended in Tennessee this year was back in Ozaukee County Circuit Court Friday on charges he stole the identity of his ex-wife and used it to open bank accounts, apply for credit cards and buy jewelry as revenge for her seeking child support from him.
Judge Joseph D. McCormack scheduled a preliminary hearing for Tuesday in the case of Lyndon K. Steinhaus, 47, who is in custody in the Ozaukee County Jail after spending the last nine months in a Gillette, Wyo., jail.
Steinhaus and Darcy Bogenrief, 42, sent taunting e-mails to his ex-wife, a criminal complaint says.
They used the woman's identity to take an online questionnaire, "Are you a slacker mom?" and sent the results to her; purchased a subscription to the Brotherhood of Father's Rights newsletter; and filed a change of address so that her mail would be forwarded to Oregon, the complaint says.
Steinhaus and Bogenrief were arrested in Gillette on Nov. 8, 2006. Steinhaus was employed there by a hospital as a child psychiatrist after he worked for years as a psychiatrist in Ozaukee and Washington counties.
Steinhaus and Bogenrief are each charged with one felony count of identity theft for financial gain. If convicted, they could be imprisoned for six years and be fined $10,000.
Bogenrief is a Cedarburg native and a Marquette Law School graduate.
"Both of them have special needs that were the catalysts for his actions," Frank Schiro, Steinhaus' lawyer, said Friday.
After being arrested and posting bail in Wyoming, the pair took off on a two-week, cross-country spree that included crossing into Canada, where Bogenrief was arrested for suspicion of drunken driving; and posting bond in Montana by leaving behind a BMW.
They were finally arrested in Brownsville, Tenn., when they stopped at a check cashing store in an attempt to get an advance on a federal income tax refund.
When the tax preparer called the Internal Revenue Service, the preparer was alerted through the National Crime Information Center that the couple was "suspicious."
Steinhaus also was charged in Wyoming with 27 misdemeanor counts of illegally prescribing more than 3,000 tablets of Methylin and methylphenidate hydrochloride, which are closely related to the drug Ritalin, to Bogenrief from May 18 to Oct. 26.
Steinhaus served nine months in jail in Gillette on those charges and then was extradited to Ozaukee County, Schiro said.
Steinhaus is being held on a probation violation in the Ozaukee County Jail stemming from a third drunken-driving charge in Milwaukee County.
According to Wyoming court records, Bogenrief was found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect for charges filed in Wyoming and was committed to a mental health facility.
Bogenrief appeared in Ozaukee County Circuit Court in September and was freed on a signature bond. McCormack allowed her to return to Wyoming to continue receiving treatment. She is due in court Nov. 12.
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