Dad charged with kidnapping 2-year-old daughter, threatening to kill her mother (Pulaski County, Missouri)

Dad MARK SAULEOTOGI KELEISE is a total train wreck....When are the authorities finally going to put this guy away? It's hard to believe somebody hasn't been killed by this @$$ by now.

http://www.pulaskicountydaily.com/news.php?viewStory=3047

Father charged with kidnapping daughter, threatening to kill mother
By: Darrell Todd Maurina

Posted: Friday, November 4, 2011 3:04 pm

PULASKI COUNTY, Mo. (Nov. 4, 2011) — A Laquey man who was arrested Tuesday for parental kidnapping and burglary in Waynesville has an extended history of violence, according to court records, and was called a “persistent domestic violence offender within the city of St. Robert” by police in that city following numerous incidents there dating back to 2009.

Mark Sauleotogi Keleise, 23, was arraigned Friday morning on one felony charge of first-degree tampering with a motor vehicle, a Class C felony with a penalty of two to seven years in state prison, and has a summons to appear in court on Dec. 2 on two more felony charges of first-degree burglary, a Class B felony which could bring him five to 15 years in state prison, and parental kidnapping, a Class D felony which could bring him up to four years in state prison.

According to court records, the kidnapping happened in Waynesville about 8 a.m. Tuesday and involved a two-year-old child. Based on ages, that infant appears to be the same girl mentioned in court documents filed by St. Robert police following a Dec. 7, 2009, case in which Keleise was charged with third-degree domestic assault, a Class A misdemeanor, for attempting to choke the mother of his child with whom he had been in a continuing relationship while living at a home in that city.

St. Robert police reported in 2009 that they had been dispatched to the home where the two lived on Dec. 7 as well as an incident the previous day when no signs of injury were found and Keleise left the residence. However, St. Robert police said they already had three domestic violence reports on file for Keleise in that city, that “all listed domestic assaults have occurred in the presence of their daughter,” and “the incidents documented between Keleise and White are becoming more frequent and more violent.”

It’s not clear from court records what happened, but the 2009 case didn’t result in charges until March 15 of this year, when Assistant Prosecutor Dean Matthews filed the Class A misdemeanor case. Cases were also filed for a Jan. 23 incident this year of third-degree domestic assault and second-degree property damage as well as for a March 23 incident with two counts of third-degree domestic assault and second-degree property damage.

The behavior didn’t stop, according to court records, but instead moved to a different city.

According to court records filed April 28 of this year, Waynesville police responded to the home “for domestics, disturbances or assaults seven times since June of 2010 between Mr. Keleise and sometime residing or family members at this residence.” Waynesville police also said in court documents that he “continues to commit crimes and continues to be involved in domestic violence… does not respect the laws outlined by the state of Missouri or ordinances outlines by the city of Waynesville and shows no regard for others’ rights to not be verbally or physically abused by another.”

In their report, Waynesville police said they received a report on that day that Keleise, by then described as an “ex-boyfriend,” had been allowed by his ex-girlfriend to live at her home in Waynesville because he “had gotten out of Pulaski County Jail a few weeks ago and did not have a place to live.”

Living in the home of his ex-girlfriend didn’t work out and the ex-girlfriend asked him to leave.

“Only after a few days of him staying there… he began to verbally assault and threaten to cause harm to her,” Waynesville police said in court documents. Since Keleise refused to leave, his ex-girlfriend “feared for her safety and her child’s safety and left the residence on April 15 to stay at a hotel.

Leaving for the hotel didn’t solve the problem, either. The ex-girlfriend reported that she received a text message on April 28 stating “I will kill you, try me bitch” and “also sent another text message stating that he was going to destroy her property and wreck the residence before he did leave.” He also came to the hotel “and threatened to damage her vehicle and assault her if she did not allow him to see his child,” causing the ex-girlfriend to have “extreme fear for her safety and her child’s safety due to Mr. Keleise threatening physical harm and threatening to kill her.”

Keleise was arraigned on the St. Robert charges on May 13, failed to appear for a May 17 hearing, had an arrest warrant issued and had to post bond, and pleaded innocent on July 8. He didn’t show up again for court on July 26, had his bond increased from $1,000 to $2,000 cash or surety, and eventually posted $27,000 bond on July 29 on four charges of domestic assault, domestic assault with property damage, domestic assault second offense with property damage, and harassment. He eventually pleaded guilty on Sept.6 to reduced charges of third-degree domestic assault, was sentenced to 30 days in the Pulaski County Jail with credit for having already served all 30 days, and was assessed $1,483.50 in court costs and jail bills, as well as $125 for the services of the court-appointed public defender.

Waynesville police filed Class A misdemeanor charges of harassment by threatening via telephone to murder his ex-girlfriend, but that charge didn’t generate any extra jail time. Both the St. Robert charges and the Waynesville charges carried a maximum penalty of a year in county jail and a $1,000 fine, but both led to a sentence of 30 days in the county jail, with credit for his time already served.

Keleise was arraigned on June 24 on the Waynesville charges, pleaded innocent on July 13, failed to appear for a July 26 hearing and had an arrest warrant issued, with bond posted on July 29.

With a Sept. 13 jury trial looming, Keleise’s public defender sent a note on Sept. 1 saying that prosecutors had failed to comply with a request nearly two months earlier on July 6 for phone records of Keleise and his ex-girlfriend, pictures of the text messages, phone records for a specified cell number, and criminal histories of all witnesses. The public defender asked Associate Circuit Judge Colin Long to either order the prosecutors to produce the evidence, grant a delay in the trial, exclude the evidence, or dismiss the case entirely.

The Waynesville charges ended in a Sept. 6 agreement by Keleise to plead guilty with a sentence of 30 days in jail, reflecting time already served, and $118 court costs with a $65 fee to the public defender.

By November, Keleise had moved to a home on Highway P in Laquey but continued to have issued with his ex-girlfriend that on Tuesday of this week involved two different law enforcement agencies.

According to Waynesville police reports filed with the court, Keleise’s ex-girlfriend came to the Waynesville Police Department to report that her 2-year-old daughter had been taken by her father about 8 a.m. Tuesday, and had been seen driving by her home about an hour and a half earlier than that. The girl was taken while the ex-girlfriend left her youngest daughter at home about 7:50 a.m. to take her older 14-year-old daughter to Waynesville Middle School; when the ex-girlfriend returned, she saw Keleise “walking out the front door with their daughter.” She “confronted Mr. Keleise about where he was going (with the girl) and he stated that if (the ex-girlfriend) called the police that he would kill her.”

The ex-girlfriend attempted to follow Keleise, who was driving a pickup belonging to another man from Laquey, but lost contact with him, could not reach him by phone, and said “the only contact that she had from him was him stating that he was leaving the state with their daughter and that she should kill herself” in a message received about 10:50 p.m. Tuesday.

Law enforcement personnel determined the pickup owner had not given Keliese permission to use his vehicle and had reported it stolen; he “had told other people that he was going to Louisiana or in Oklahoma.”

Keleise never managed to make it out of Missouri and police tracked him down inside the Waynesville city limits; St. Robert police and Pulaski County deputies assisted Waynesville police when they found Keleise and his daughter visible through a window, and he was arrested at 2:14 a.m. Wednesday.

The next court date for Keleise will be a Nov. 8 advice of counsel hearing with Associate Circuit Judge Colin Long in which he will meet with attorneys.

The vehicle charge he faces won’t be theft but rather tampering.

“A follow up investigation by deputies revealed that the truck had been loaned to a friend and had not actually been stolen,” according to a prepared statement issued by Sheriff J.B. King. “However the truck had not been returned to the owner which made this a case of tampering first degree.”

The truck was taken on Oct. 29, King said.

It’s not clear where Keleise lives now, though he’s in the Pulaski County Jail in lieu of bond. Court records list him at a Laquey home which is the same address as the man who owned the pickup truck he’s accused of taking without permission; King reported that he had a Dixon address on a street located off Highway 28 closer to St. Robert.