Update 1/5/16 – Dean Schoenewald is headed to prison.
Tuesday, a judge in Kingfisher County sentenced him to 15 years for burglary, kidnapping and threatening to shoot his son.
The incident happened months after we confronted Schoenewald about allegations he was running a bogus charity.
Schoenewald must serve out 85 percent of his sentence, which means he’ll be eligible for parole in 2028.
Update 9/29/15: New details tonight from our In Your Corner team involving Dean Schoenewald.
He’s accused of posing as a charity to collect donations around our state, but that’s not what landed him behind bars.
When we confronted him last year on the side of the road, he told us he was raising cash for suicide prevention and veterans, although he never could prove where the donations were actually going.
The former TV weatherman and professional mascot was accused of doing the same thing in Philadelphia.
His troubles followed him to Oklahoma.
Friday, he pleaded guilty to kidnapping and threatening to shoot his 4-year-old son in Kingfisher County.
Schoenewald was previously convicted of breaking and entering and violating a protective order.
He’s still behind bars in Kingfisher County.
We’ll keep you posted on the case.
Update 5/1/15: For weeks, our phone was ringing off the hook with complaints about a guy begging for money on street corners.
Dean Schoenewald says he was raising cash for suicide prevention, but he never could show us where the cash was going.
His latest troubles are far more sinister and could carry a hefty sentence behind bars.
Right now, he’s locked up in the Kingfisher County Jail accused of kidnapping and threatening to shoot himself and his 4-year-old-son.
Court records show Schoenewald showed up at his ex-girlfriend’s house armed with a small pistol, took his son and the young boy’s older sister hostage, duct-taping her hands together.
Late last year, we told you Schoenewald had previously been slapped with four protective orders.
He was also convicted of breaking and entering.
Schoenewald never could show us proof of where his donations went.
Besides suicide prevention, he claimed he was raising cash for veterans.
You’ll remember he was pushing a veteran, who we later learned was a convicted sex offender, clear across the country to Washington DC.
We didn’t let ’em get far.
We’ll keep you posted on Schoenewald’s case.
OKLAHOMA CITY – For months, our In Your Corner hotline’s been ringing off the hook with calls about a guy begging for money on street corners.
Dean Schoenewald says he’s raising awareness and cash for suicide prevention.
Our In Your Corner team tracked him down to find out if that was true or not.
During the interview with In Your Corner reporter, Scott Hines, Schoenewald said he wasn’t padding his own pockets and said he was using the donations for printing costs and to pay people to solicit more donations, money many donors thought was going towards suicide prevention.
“Some of them [are] homeless people,” he said. “We’re happy to let them distribute the 35 warning signs.”
Anna Fullington oversees the call center at HeartLine Oklahoma, the leading suicide prevention outreach program in the state.
“He hasn’t given us any donations that he’s raised in our name,” she said.
Fullington says their office has also been inundated with calls about Schoenewald and whether or not he is legit.
She said, “None of our fundraising efforts include panhandling or approaching a vehicle on the road for dollars.”
Schoenewald offers no apologies.
Back in 2009, he was accused of doing the same thing in Philadelphia.
“Some say? I love some say,” said Schoenewald during an interview with NBC10 investigative reporter Lu Ann Cahn. “I’m passionate about trying to stop the tragedy of suicide.”
At the time, he was paying girls to drum up donations.
“We also produce 30 minute assemblies for the schools,” claimed Schoenewald.
When asked to identify one school at which his foundation had held an assembly, he said: “Okay, we’ve only done one, and I’m not sure which one exactly that is.”
Schoenewald says he left the east coast following Hurricane Sandy.
We know, before he landed in Oklahoma, he was an Atlantic City TV weatherman and mascot for a number of professional sports teams.
He even tried buying the Oklahoma City Calvary basketball team.
Then, there’s the time he staged this controversial protest on flag day.
Schoenewald accused KFOR of being like Russia.
He said, “They think you should be jailed for burning a flag.”
Now, he says he’s sticking up for veterans, like Ron Karcher who says he had no idea about the flag burning protest until we told him.
“I would tell you he’s not very patriotic,” Karcher said.
Schoenewald’s latest over-the-top fundraising endeavor is raising money and awareness for veterans by pushing Karcher halfway across the country to Washington DC.
“We don’t raise very much,” Schoenewald said.
There’s a lot Schoenewald kept secret from the veteran, like his four protective orders and prior convictions, including breaking and entering.
Then, came a bombshell we never saw coming.
While we were recording, total strangers pulled their pick-ups over and got out to donate money to the cause.
These strangers had no idea they were shaking hands with a convicted sex offender.
That’s right.
The veteran in the wheelchair, Ron Karcher, served hard time for raping a child.
Schoenewald claims it came as a shock to him, too.
Right after our interview, they called off their trip to DC.
Last check, the two went their separate ways and are now back living in the Oklahoma City area.
Schoenwald never could show us proof of where the donations are going.
The In Your Corner bottom line: Trust your instincts, and do your research before donating to any charity.
