A Michigan man accused of making threats to an Oneida County judge and to a Minocqua newspaper publisher was arrested and jailed Dec. 5 in Michigan, according to a Lakeland Times article citing court records and an Oneida County Sheriff’s Office report.
The article by Times staffer Richard Moore appeared in the Dec. 13, 2024 issue of the Times.
In the article, Moore detailed threats made against both Oneida County judge Michael Schiek and Lakeland Times publisher Gregg Walker, citing an Oneida County Sheriff’s Department supplemental report by Detective Sgt. Gary Loduha on Nov. 2.
Peter Gruich of Clinton Township, Mich., has been arrested and detained in Michigan on charges of threatening injury or harm via computer message, a misdemeanor, and of making a threat to a judge, a felony, according to Wisconsin court records.
The incidents began on Oct. 17, when Walker received a threatening email and reported it to the sheriff’s office. In his report, Loduha wrote that he obtained the email, which originated from a person identified as Pete Smith; however, the email address was that of petertgruich@gmail.com.
The email author sent the email to Walker at 6:17 in the morning, with the subject header reading: “You need to be silenced, a—-e.”
The content of the message read: “Hey punk, it would be a shame if your ‘newspaper’ burned down or if your local pigs stated [sic] getting killed, wouldn’t it? You and your police chief need a big lawsuit you f—- g punk. F—k you, Pete Gruich Nazi Killer.”
Walker, who told police he had not received threats from Gruich before, also said he did not consent to the messages and that “certain security measures had been taken for everyone’s protection,” according to the article.
The article shows that detectives conducted a more thorough assessment of the emails obtained from Google and discovered that Gruich had apparently been sending emails of a similar nature to various organizations throughout the country to include other newspapers and government entities.
Detectives also discovered what Loduha said showed a direct correlation between Minocqua Brewing Company owner Kirk Bangstad and Gruich. Using the same email address as that used to send the October 17 email to Walker, the sender sent an email to Bangstad, reading:
“Kirk, having extensive experience with corrupt cops, I would suggest that you file a FED- ERAL LAWSUIT against the newspaper publisher and its employees, the pig chief and his piglets and the prosecuting attorney and that sh— —e that you reside in. Don’t delay, sue those f—g punks now, in federal court f—k the Nazis. Pete Gruich.” Detectives also found the email to Bangstad was sent roughly one hour after the threatening email had been sent to Walker.
Loduha forwarded the report to the Oneida County District Attorney’s Office for a charging review and requested a felony warrant for Gruich’s arrest.
A criminal defamation charge against Bangstad includes two counts of criminal defamation in which Bangstad published on Facebook a post that included false and manipulated images of Lakeland Times publisher Gregg Walker and Times general manager Heather Holmes in a pornographic rendering.
Bangstad also recently settled the largest defamation case in Wisconsin history by agreeing to a payout of more than $500,000 in a case in which a jury of nine women and four men found that Bangstad had defamed Walker with express malice.
