Victims testify about effects of terrifying phone calls
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Tracy Wolf appears at the Rock County Courthouse during his sentencing hearing. He pleaded guilty to making fraudulent phone calls, stalking and 12 counts of felony bail jumping.
JANESVILLE — Karen Coplien spoke fast, even though the Janesville man accused of stalking her and her daughter wore shackles in court Friday.
“These serious charges warrant more time; a lot more time,” she read.
Coplien and her husband read statements asking for a sentence stiffer than the one arranged as part of a plea agreement for Tracy L. Wolf, 36, of 1511 Ravine St.
“I’m not here for payback; I’m here for justice and to let Tracy Wolf know his actions would not be tolerated,” she said.
The calls
Beginning in January, Wolf called the cell phone of Coplien’s 16-year-old daughter 60 to 70 times a day, according to a request for a restraining order. Not knowing where or how Wolf got her number, Coplien’s daughter wrote that Wolf would call several times in succession, one to 10 minutes apart, and leave “obscene” and “scary” messages in her voicemail, according to the request.
Coplien’s daughter became frustrated and scared, causing her to change her cell phone number, but Wolf began calling the home phone number. When Coplien’s husband would answer, Wolf would tell him he was going to find his daughter and come after her, she wrote.
In the criminal complaint, Coplien told police that when Wolf would call the home and speak with her, he would say things such as he was going to “kill your daughter” and that “it’s payback” for calling the police on him.
Coplien and her daughter were among several women who received similar phone calls from Wolf.
One victim told police she received text messages from Wolf that would describe the clothes she was wearing. One message even said he could see her through her window. When the victim looked outside, a man was standing across the street, according to the criminal complaint. But not knowing who Wolf was, she was unsure if the man was him.
Wolf was released on bond after being arrested on the initial stalking charges, but he made more threatening phone calls. When he was returned to the county jail, he continued to make even more calls from the jail to Coplien and her daughter, according to a criminal complaint.
Wolf told police he would get the numbers of his victims by guessing, according to criminal complaints. He knew several of the three-digit prefixes for cell phone numbers in Janesville and would guess the remaining four digits. When he would reach a young female or the voicemail of a young female, he would remember the number and continue making calls, according to criminal complaints. He told police he was going through pressured times and intimidating women made him feel better, according to the complaints.
In addition to making the harassing calls, often of obscene noises and sexual connotations, Wolf used a default password to change the voicemail greetings of his victims to similar noises and sexual references, according to criminal complaints.
Sentencing
The family of another victim spoke on the victim’s behalf in court Friday and said his daughter is finally starting to feel more secure now that Wolf is behind bars.
“(Wolf) terrified (my daughter) to the point where her safety and security was threatened,” the woman’s father said. “I’ve seen no sign of remorse or even accepting responsibility (from Wolf).”
Before sentencing Wolf, Judge James Daley allowed Wolf an opportunity to speak.
Wolf appeared nervous and fidgety as he apologized to the victims, saying he was harmless.
“I don’t know why I did what I did,” he said. “Even though I made threats, my intention was never to harm anybody. I never intended to hurt anybody; I never would.”
The joint recommendation between the prosecution and defense called for a year in the county jail with the RECAP program followed by five years probation.
“I think that though (Wolf) didn’t appreciate the seriousness of his conduct before, I think clearly he does appreciate the seriousness of his conduct now,” Assistant Public Defender Kelly Mattingly said.
But Daley had reservations about the deal.
Daley told Wolf it was hard to believe his story. He pointed out that Wolf continued to make threatening phone calls even though he was locked in jail after being arrested on charges of the same crime.
“My concern is I don’t know if you can control your conduct,” Daley said to Wolf. “I do know that I’ve got to force some sentence here on you which will at least … give these folks some rest and some peace that you’ve taken from them.”
Daley sentenced Wolf to two years in jail and 10 years of probation for one count of stalking, one count of misdemeanor telephone harassment and 12 counts of felony bail jumping.
As part of the plea agreement, the court earlier dismissed 11 other counts of telephone harassment, seven counts of felony stalking, six counts of felony bail jumping, one count of misdemeanor obstructing an officer and two counts of unlawful use of a computer to send harassing messages. The judge, however, was allowed to consider the dismissed charges when sentencing.
As part of Wolf’s probation, he is not allowed to have a cell phone, use a computer that has access to the Internet or have contact with the victims or their families in all of Wolf’s stalking cases. If he violates his probation, Wolf would be looking at 72 years in prison.
Sep 2, 2009 at 9:56 a.m.
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My 21-year old daughter moved into her own apartment near her office. Of course it makes a lot of sense, except that it scares her dad half to death I am not the first father to worry about his young daughter striking out on her own and living by herself in an apartment. But this was my daughter, and I was going to worry as much as I wanted. But beyond that, I wanted to make sure that she was as safe as I could possibly make her.
After a few weeks went by, I asked my daughter, Melinda, how things were going and if she had encountered any problems or had any safety concerns.
“I have been getting some screwy phone calls,” she said. “I think they are just guys who want to have some fun. But they are a bit scary. You just never know, because I am alone and maybe somebody would like to verify that so that they would know there is no one here to help me in case of a threat.”
I knew that there would be moments like this, so I had to maintain my composure and assure her that there was something we could do to help her with this problem. What this something was I had no clue.
There is a man in my office who I go to for all questions related to what kind of help is out there for any kind of problem I can raise. He lives on the computer and he is an encyclopedia of computer help knowledge. So I went to him with my problem. Of course he had an answer.
“What your daughter needs to do is to make sure these callers know there are a lot of different people living at her place,” he said. “No one would dare attempt anything when they realize she is not only not alone, but there are several others either living there or visiting often.”
“So,” I asked, “you’re saying she has to get some roommates? Her place really is not that big. I’m not sure that’s going to work.”
“Not roommates” he said, “just their voices.” That’s when he told me about The Voice Changer, which you can get at www.yoursecurityandsafety.com/voicechang....
“With The Voice Changer,” he said, “your daughter can answer the phone every time with a different voice, just by pressing a button.”
There are two versions, he said, TVC-1 disguises your voice by digitizing it; the degree of change can be adjusted as you are speaking by pressing a button on the front of the unit. Melinda can make it sound like a man or just a different person. She can even make it sound like a robot.
TVC-2 has 8 different voice changing settings. Just press a button and a man can sound like a stranger, a woman like a man, a granddad like a child, etc.
That was the answer, no doubt. I ordered TVC-2, gave it to my daughter, explained how to use it and suddenly the strange phone calls have halted. To callers who don’t know her, it probably sounds as though she is running a rooming house. Good. I haven’t heard too many instances of a rooming house being invaded by a predator.
Aug 26, 2008 at 1:55 p.m.
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What a joke 2 years County time for victimizing minor girls and doing it while in jail. Our juditial system needs a makeover big time as he should be doing prison time. No cell phone well in jail a pay phone he had access to was his weapon. The victims must be elated at the sentence he received. Is he allowed a house phone?
Aug 16, 2008 at 7:52 p.m.
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The guy is definitely a creep who has serious need of counseling. But sex offender treatment is geared toward people who actually commit sexual offenses, which he did not. Just because we have a hammer, don't assume everything is a nail.
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Note that the primary tool we have for monitoring sex offenders, beyond simple probation, is an electronic monitor (bracelet). That would have no impact on his ability to make harassing phone calls.
Aug 16, 2008 at 2:18 p.m.
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In order to be made to go through sex offender treatment one must first be convicted of a sex offense.
None of the charges - including the dismissed ones - were sex offenses.
Aug 16, 2008 at 11:40 a.m.
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Sounds to be a type of pedophile!
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