by Dan Colton
for The Beacon

NICHOLAS RINCON

An extensive pattern of alleged abuse, stalking and threatening behavior continues to grow after two more women have come forward with accusations against an Elkhart Lake man.

The nine new allegations, filed in Sheboygan County on Sept. 30, bring the total number of open charges to 16 against Nicholas Rincon, age 37, since the initial complaints were filed this summer. The most-recent Sept. 30 filings charge Rincon with stalking resulting in bodily harm, attempted burglary, second-degree recklessly endangering safety, intimidation of a victim, strangulation, three counts of false imprisonment and one charge of stalking. These latest charges — all felonies — alone carry a combined maximum of 66 years and three-months’ imprisonment.

The 16 total charges stretch across four ongoing cases involving four different victims. Two of the cases, filed July 31 and Sept. 18, involve the same woman. Read about those previous allegations at https://tinyurl.com/y5j8jn7k and https://tinyurl.com/y5434saf

Depending on Rincon’s relationship with the four alleged victims, police said his crimes ranged from witness intimidation to rape, stalking, false imprisonment and assault.

The recent Sept. 30 filings stem from two victims who said they were harassed, terrorized and abused by Rincon between 2014 and 2017. Both said they were romantically involved with him sporadically, but ended the relationship due to his controlling, escalating and abusive behavior.

According to one of the two alleged victims from the Sept. 30 filings, she dated Rincon “on-and-off” between 2012 and 2016. During that time frame, police said he isolated her from family and friends, appeared unannounced at various apartments where she lived and places she worked, and abused her.

At one point, either in 2014 or 2015, police said the alleged victim overheard a door open into her apartment. Based on Rincon’s past behavior, police said the alleged victim knew it was Rincon and fled onto the back porch to hide. Police said Rincon walked through the house, knocked on the porch door and demanded she speak with him.

When entrance wasn’t granted, police said Rincon unsuccessfully attempted to use a credit card to force the lock open.

After about an hour of quiet, the alleged victim packed up a bag and left her apartment. But police said Rincon was waiting outside for her, and she immediately jumped into her car to keep away from him. But Rincon stepped behind the car, police said, trapping her inside the car in the driveway. Police said Rincon remained there until she threatened to call the police and he moved off.

Months later, in November 2015, police said the victim was driving Rincon home after a night at the bars in Sheboygan. During the course of that drive, Rincon allegedly grabbed the woman by her throat and suffocated her. She flailed her arms and subsequently struck Rincon in the nose, police said, which drew blood.

Once the vehicle was pulled over, police said the alleged victim attempted to exit the vehicle and flag down a nearby police car.

“(Rincon) pulled (the alleged victim’s) arms to restrict her from leaving and prevent any movement,” a criminal complaint alleges. “(Rincon) started screaming at (the alleged victim), telling her that he would tell the cops it was all her fault that he had a bloody nose.”

Convinced Rincon would lie to police, authorities say the alleged victim proceeded to drop Rincon off at his apartment. Police said Rincon took her by the arm and brought her into his dwelling.

Once inside, court documents say, “(Rincon) told (the alleged victim) that he would make it up to her, and that conversation went on for about an hour once they got back to his apartment. (Rincon) guilt-tripped (the alleged victim) into staying the night, and they ended up going to sleep at (Rincon’s) apartment.”

Court records indicate Rincon and the alleged victim broke up following that night, but got back together the next month in December of 2015. Shortly afterward, the alleged victim found out she was pregnant with Rincon’s child, according to police.

Police said he accused her of getting pregnant on purpose, that she was ruining his life, and not to post her status of being pregnant on Facebook.

By March 2016, police said the alleged victim was unable to hide the pregnancy anymore and posted about it on Facebook. She did not mention Rincon’s name, police said, except during a private conversation to a friend. However, word reached Rincon that she’d named him as the father, according to police.

Police said Rincon then threatened the alleged victim — now five months pregnant with his child — with implied violence. He demanded she send him a text saying he was not the father, “so he could show it to people and tell everyone that she was a liar,” according to authorities.

Several months later, in May 2016, the alleged victim discovered Rincon was talking with another woman. When she confronted Rincon about the other woman, police said Rincon sent threatening messages.

A short while later, police said, Rincon appeared at the alleged victim’s door and began to pound. She didn’t answer the door, according to court documents, and instead fled up a closet stairway into an attic. For an hour, police said Rincon continued to send threatening messages and pound on the door while she hid.

Later that month, police said she moved to another part of Wisconsin to live with her parents. Court documents allege Rincon visited her there, and by that summer, eventually convinced her to move in with him to Elkhart Lake and “be a family” with their newborn child.

That lasted roughly four days, police said. Once in Elkhart Lake, the alleged victim uncovered more evidence that Rincon was cheating on her, according to court documents.

She moved out, police said, but during the process, Rincon threatened to take full custody of their child and raise it with his new girlfriend.

According to court documents, the new girlfriend and the alleged victim both are both identified as victims in the Sept. 30 filing.

The second woman said she dated Rincon between 2014 and 2017, also on an on-and-off basis, court records indicate. During that time, Rincon allegedly engaged in similar frightening and controlling behavior.

They broke up for a period in the summer of 2014, police said, after she too discovered Rincon was seeing other women.

In one January 2015 instance, her thumb was dislocated after trying to push Rincon out of her apartment. Around that same time, police said she woke up to find footprints in the snow leading up to her window.

Police said he sent her threatening messages with warnings like, “If you see me run.”

The alleged harassment continued into summer 2015 when police said she discovered her car had been tampered with late at night while at a friend’s house. Police said she discovered somebody had turned up her windshield wipers while she was visiting her friend, and a subsequent conversation with Rincon revealed he knew about the tampering.

He allegedly showed up at the same friend’s house on another instance, knocked on the door, and demanded to speak with her.

“(The alleged victim) stated she has no idea how (Rincon) knew she was at … (her friend’s) house.”

According to police, the harassment and stalking of the alleged victim continued until at least February 2016.

“(The alleged victim) stated that the defendant claims he does not do anything wrong, and never admits that anything is his fault,” according to court records.

Court records show Rincon is in custody at the Sheboygan County Detention Center with a cash bond set at $50,000 for the new charges. He was due in court Oct. 7 for a scheduled status conference.

Editor’s note, Oct. 12: According to court records, the third degree sexual assault charge against Rincon has been changed to second degree, which has a maximum sentence of up to 40 years in state prison, a maximum fine of $100,000, or both. The number of open charges is now 16, rather than 17 as originally reported. One count of witness intimidation which was included in an original criminal complaint has been dropped from the current court records. 

See also: Plea deal reached in stalking case