By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Forbes trial scheduled for next week
Placeholder Image

The trial on 11 felony charges and four misdemeanor charges for a Platteville man after a hostage incident in Platteville Oct. 1 will be held next week.

Douglas J. Forbes, 24, Platteville, is charged with 10 counts of felony bail jumping, and charges of strangulation and suffocation, misdemeanor battery, possession of drug paraphernalia and disorderly conduct, all as a repeat offender. 

A pretrial conference and jury selection is scheduled for Tuesday, with the trial beginning possibly Tuesday or Wednesday before Grant County Circuit Judge Robert VanDeHey.

Forbes has been in the Grant County Jail since his arrest Oct. 1. Bond was set at $1,000 cash for each set of charges, with a requirement he have no contact with the victim, according to court records.

Platteville police received a report Oct. 1 of a domestic violence incident around 9 a.m., in which the victim reported being kicked and strangled Thursday morning and on two previous occasions. The victim told police that Forbes had the victim’s 8-month-old son with him, and police didn’t believe the child was in immediate danger. But after the victim called Forbes later to arrange for an earlier exchange time, police said Forbes threatened to harm himself and the boy if the victim didn’t meet or contact him.

The Grant County Crisis Resolution Team entered the house around 2:45 p.m., and police arrested Forbes, who was hiding in some cabinets in the house.

After Forbes was arrested, according to the criminal complaint, Forbes called an unnamed woman asking her to call Forbes’ probation officer and the district attorney and tell them that she had lied, and that “it will all go away and that they don’t have evidence if we tell them we only had a verbal argument.” Forbes is alleged to have told the woman “she’s scared and that it’s a lie and that it didn’t happen and tells her if charges are dropped he can get help.”

Forbes faces unrelated charges in Lafayette County for receiving or concealing stolen property, felony possession with intent to sell marijuana, operating after revocation, and felony bail jumping. Arrest warrants were issued for Forbes Aug. 20 and Aug. 26, according to court records.

Forbes was placed on two years probation in Grant County in October 2014 for misdemeanor possession of marijuana as a repeater. Charges of possession with intent to deliver marijuana and operating after revocation were dismissed, according to court records.

Forbes was placed on three years probation in Grant County in January 2012 after he pleaded guilty to three counts of manufacture or delivery of up to 200 grams of marijuana, a felony. Forbes’ probation was revoked in May 2014 and he was sentenced to 18 months in prison and 18 months extended supervision. The prison sentence was reduced by 486 days credit for time served.