Angry probationer: Kroboth back in jail

The man convicted of the attempted murder of his wife while wearing a vampire mask on Halloween in 2004 has decided he wants to be released from supervised probation in Arizona, according to court documents. And that quest for independence has landed him back in the slammer in Charlottesville for the second time this year.

Former financier Kurt Kroboth got into trouble with his probation officers earlier this year when he filed paperwork for a trip from his current residence in Green Valley, Arizona, to San Francisco and took an unannounced detour to Eugene, Oregon, to see his son, who reported him to police.

That excursion earned him six months for a probation violation. Kroboth was sentenced to seven years in prison in 2006 for attempted murder, and he had a 23-year suspended sentence, including 20 years for breaking and entering into his ex's house. As a condition of the suspended jail time, Kroboth was ordered to be on good behavior, supervised probation and parole for an indefinite amount of time, according to Albemarle County Circuit Court records.

Upon his release from Albemarle Charlottesville Regional Jail June 21, he met with Nicole Ocheltree, his probation officer in Charlottesville. "He was very adamant that he was going to go to Arizona but was NOT going to abide by the conditions that Arizona had stipulated for him," writes Ocheltree in a violation report. "Kroboth made it clear that his intent was to make Arizona not accept him so Judge Peatross would have to take him off supervision so he would be free to go where he wanted without the constraints of probation conditions."

Kroboth also vented that he was angry over even being on probation after the six months in jail and that he didn't feel he had done anything worthy of being placed on supervision, his probation officer notes. Kroboth blamed his ex for his troubles with his son, saying the son "never was in fear of his life and the entire situation was something Jane was involved in," says the report.

And according to Ocheltree, Kroboth was angry that his ex-wife allegedly sold his car while he was incarcerated and the commonwealth's attorney would not press charges because it would make the wife "the victim all over again."

Three days later, Kroboth refused to sign a conditions of probation form in Arizona on June 24. His Virginia P.O. ordered him back to Virginia immediately, and Kroboth said "that was not something he could do," according to the report.

By August 5, Virginia was in trouble with something called the Interstate Compact Agreement because of Kroboth not cooperating with Arizona probation. The Grand Canyon state did not want someone with his violent criminal history living there unsupervised, according to Ocheltree's report.

Albemarle Commonwealth's Attorney Denise Lunsford issued a motion to return him to custody, and when he did show up to report to his Virginia probation officer August 12, he was arrested. His court appointed attorney Liz Murtagh declined comment on her client's latest legal situation.

Kroboth's vampire-mask attack on his sleeping wife nearly 10 years ago shocked Charlottesville. Court testimony during his 2006 trial revealed an attempt to hire someone to kill his ex, and when that failed, he decided to handle it himself— although he later told the Hook he never intended to kill her. Evidence showed he cut the phone and electrical wires to the Albemarle house the couple once shared, and tried to sedate her with a chloroform-soaked rag. She successfully fought him off when he tried to throw her over the second-floor landing, and after she pleaded for her life for the sake of her children, he fled.

Kroboth was denied bond when he appeared in Albemarle County Circuit Court August 15. He'll be there again September 4.

Read more on: Kurt Krobothprobation

1 comment

me thinks it is time to lock him up and throw away the key