Posted on 08/10/2005 2:31:05 PM PDT by Cowman
Man says Dr. Phil was inspiration to scare wife
Fredonia man to serve 6 months, undergo counseling
Port Washington - A Fredonia man who says he was influenced by TV talk show host "Dr. Phil" McGraw to hire someone to give his wife "a terrific scare" by kidnapping her and locking her in a truck of a car was sentenced Tuesday to six months in jail and ordered to undergo mental health counseling
With the man's wife, five grown children and several friends looking on, Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Tom R. Wolfgram also sentenced Ronald J. Schueller to three years of probation and ordered him to have no contact with his wife and to stay at least 250 yards away from her home.
"The facts of this case don't subject themselves to any rational analysis whatsoever," Wolfgram said, calling Schueller's case one of the most bizarre cases he had ever encountered as a judge, district attorney or in private practice during his legal career of about 30 years.
Schueller pleaded no contest in June to one felony count of solicitation of false imprisonment.
According to a criminal complaint, Schueller offered to pay an undercover sheriff's deputy $1,000 to give his wife "a terrific scare" by knocking her unconscious and locking her in the trunk of a car.
Schueller first told his intentions to a bartender, who put Schueller in touch with the undercover deputy, the complaint says.
Schueller met the deputy in May 2004 at Waubedonia county park west of Fredonia and told him, "I've got a lot of trouble with the wife," according to the complaint.
Schueller also suggested that the deputy steal his wife's driver's license, cash and credit cards to simulate a robbery, that he drive the car to a remote place outside Washington or Ozaukee counties, and that he smash the windows and leave the car, according to the complaint.
When asked whether the deputy should hurt his wife, Schueller said: "Don't hurt her. Maybe just bruise her a little," the complaint says.
Schueller gave the deputy information on his wife's work schedule, her address and photograph of her, and Schueller agreed to pay $1,000 in two installments, the complaint says.
Schueller later told investigators that the idea for committing the crime came to him after watching an episode of "Dr. Phil," a self-help talk show, during which host McGraw said sometimes people need "a good scare" to snap them out of their delusions.
"He convinced himself that he needed to scare her so she would see the error of her ways," said Schueller's attorney, Gerald P. Boyle.
Chandler Hayes, a spokesman for McGraw, said he had no comment on Schueller's case.
Schueller's wife, Virginia Schueller, 57, was granted a temporary restraining order against her husband in June 2004 and filed for divorce two months later. In her petition, she said the couple have been married for 36 years but separated in September 2002.
Schueller is estranged from his five children, all of whom sat in the courtroom near their mother, Boyle said.
Boyle asked that Schueller be allowed two weeks to attend to personal affairs before needing to report to the Ozaukee County Jail, but Wolfgram denied that request, saying that Schueller posed a potential risk to his wife and family.
DId she suffer from teh 'delusion'that her husband was dangerous?
"See what a good time we had when you thought you were going to be raped or killed? It's just like that Dr Phil episode "Re-kindling marriage via psychopathy". Now c'mon sweetheart-- drop that restraining order and let's move back in together."
He should have simply claimed to be a Muslim, then everyone would understand.
Fredonia? wasnt Groucho president there once?
Dr. Phil is scary, if you ask me. Mad TV does the best spoofs of him.
I am getting the glimmer of an idea here...
After that guy killed his wife and put her into a husky tote I bought two of them, and made sure the wife saw them. She laughed at me, and said she was going to stuff me into one of them with a couple of cinder blocks.
I never should have taught her how to handle a heater, now it may well be too late for me.
Before I got married I was the boss, now I am the janitor.
Next thing you know, the Leftmedia will be asking him if he's a "born-again Christian." You know it will all end up being Bush's fault.
Wh....wait a minute.
Y' mean you're NOT allowed to lock your wife in the trunk of your car..??!!!!
NOW they tell me.
But Dr. Phil will invariably ask him if he has 'taken ownership' of what he has done...
Dr. Phil is the devil.
You seem to have hit the nail on the head.
"So how's that workin' for ya, Ron?"
"Before I got married I was the boss, now I am the janitor."
Always, ALWAYS read the fine print, Dude! ;)
"Schueller first told his intentions to a bartender..."
Moe! How could you?!? ;)
Yes. It is "Land of the brave and free!"
http://www.geocities.com/emruf/ds.html
I tried to lock my wife in the trunk once, boy did she
let me have it when she got out the side door of our
mini-van!
What does Dr. Phil have to do with this? Or did he just take the place of the proverbial, "Voices in my head told me to do it?"
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