A convicted sex offender, released to community supervision in Merrill last month, now faces several felony charges related to bomb threats he made while in a treatment facility.
Jack R. Martinsen, 47, was released Dec. 11, 2014 to the supervision of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections and Wisconsin Department of Health and Family Services.
Charges were filed against him Dec. 22, 2014 related to numerous threatening letters he sent to the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office between 2011 and 2012. In those letters, he threatened to blow up the Lincoln County Courthouse and also made threats against specific judges, lawyers and law enforcement officers in Lincoln County. Martinsen is charged with three counts each of Bomb Scare and Threats to Injure.
Martinson was convicted in 1986 of 1st Degree Sexual Assault to a Child and in 1989 of 2nd Degree Sexual Assault of a Child, after sexually assaulting 10 and 12 year old male acquaintances. On June 25, 1996, Martinsen was committed under Chapter 980 Sexually Violent Persons Law.
In the threatening letters sent from Sandridge Secure Treatment Facility in Mauston, Martinsen expressed frustration over being committed indefinitely under the law.
The last of several letters was sent to the Lincoln County Courthouse. The envelop contained a white powder – which proved to be deodorant – and a hit list of judges, attorneys and law enforcement officers.
A Lincoln County detective met with Martinsen in late November 2014, prior to his release, and Martinsen admitted to writing the letters. He told the detective that, at that time, he thought he was never going to get out of the institution. He said group therapy had since helped him.
In March 2014, the court ordered a Supervised Release Plan to be developed for Martinsen. On Nov. 3, that plan was approved. Martinsen will be required to register with the Wisconsin Sex Offender Registry Program for life.
An initial appearance in Lincoln County Circuit Court on the bomb threat charges is set for Feb. 18.