## Facts

- Loss-prevention staff at a Racine retail store confronted Pamela L. Peters and her son for shoplifting; Peters displayed a box cutter while trying to flee with additional items.
- After arrest, Peters gave police the name, birth date, and address of “Patricia A. Panzer,” her husband’s ex-wife.
- The State charged Peters under the assumed name and she continued using that identity at her initial appearance and bail hearing.
- The State sought $20,000 cash bail; defense counsel, relying on the false identity and purported lack of criminal history and stable residence, argued for substantially lower bail.
- The court commissioner set bail lower than the State requested, including a reduced cash component and a signature bond, based on the misappropriated identity.
- After authorities discovered Peters’s true identity and criminal history, bail was increased and the State amended the complaint to add identity theft under Wis. Stat. § 943.201(2).
- Peters moved to dismiss the identity-theft count, arguing the complaint did not allege she used the identity to obtain “credit, money, goods, services or anything else of value.”

## Issues

1. Whether using a misappropriated identity during arrest and bail proceedings to obtain lower bail constitutes using that identity to obtain “credit, money, goods, services or anything else of value” under Wis. Stat. § 943.201(2).
2. Whether a criminal complaint alleging use of another’s identity to secure lower bail sufficiently pleads the statutory element of obtaining “credit” or “money.”

## Decision

- The Wisconsin Supreme Court reversed the circuit court’s dismissal of the identity-theft charge and remanded for further proceedings.
- The court held that obtaining lower bail through use of another’s identity is obtaining “credit or money, or both” within the meaning of Wis. Stat. § 943.201(2).
- The court concluded the complaint’s allegations were sufficient because bail is a monetary condition of release and functions as a form of credit securing a defendant’s return to court.

## Legal Principles

- Statutory interpretation begins with the statutory text; if the language is unambiguous, the court applies that meaning.
- “Bail” is defined by statute as “monetary conditions of release” and may include cash bail, an unsecured appearance bond, or both.
- Because bail is “monetary” (relating to money) and operates as a financial accommodation securing appearance, bail can constitute “money” and a form of “credit” for purposes of Wis. Stat. § 943.201(2).
- A complaint alleging use of another’s identity to obtain lower bail adequately alleges obtaining “credit or money” under the identity-theft statute.

## Conclusion

The court held that misappropriating another person’s identity to influence bail terms—resulting in lower bail—falls within Wisconsin’s identity-theft statute because bail is a monetary condition of release and operates as a form of credit; accordingly, the identity-theft charge was reinstated and the case was remanded.


State v. Peters, 665 N.W.2d 171 (Wis. 2003)