Bonovich Back in Court

Brian Bonovich appeared in Door County Circuit Court by video conference with his attorneys on Feb. 16 for an adjourned preliminary hearing. Photo by D.A. Fitzgerald.

Brian Bonovich, 50, was back in Door County Circuit Court last week for an adjourned initial appearance that lasted little more than five minutes.

It’s the first time the Door County real estate owner, developer and Baileys Harbor resident appeared since Nov. 14, 2023, when he was arrested on 10 felony charges of possession of child pornography. 

Police had searched Bonovich’s home and took numerous electronic devices, and found more than 70 images and videos that showed children, from infants to preteens, engaged in sexually explicit conduct (more than 44 images or videos); in exploitative situations (27 images or videos); or in animation depicting sexually explicit conduct (one image), according to the complaint filed.

During the Feb. 16 adjourned initial appearance, Bonovich and his attorneys – Craig Mastantuono and Leah R. Thomas – appeared by Zoom video conference before Door County Circuit Court Judge David Weber. That same day, Door County District Attorney Colleen Nordin had filed an amended criminal complaint. Bonovich’s attorneys acknowledged their receipt of the new version, but said they hadn’t had a chance to review it in its entirety or with Bonovich.  

“At some point, we need to discuss a preliminary hearing,” Weber responded.

“Yes,” Mastantuono said. “It’s our intention to request a preliminary hearing. As I said, there were some issues with regard to the complaint that had been filed. That was the subject of the discussion between ourselves and the state, and that’s resulted in this amended filing. That’s my long way of saying I don’t know if there will be issues raised by way of motion prior to the preliminary hearing on the amended complaint.”

They asked for leeway on the scheduling of the preliminary hearing to allow for the filing of a motion. 

Wisconsin law requires a preliminary hearing within 20 days of the initial appearance, which had taken place in November. During the preliminary hearing, the state shows probable cause that a felony was committed and that the defendant likely committed it.

Mastantuono said Bonovich was not waiving his right to a preliminary hearing, but would waive the 20-day requirement. Weber confirmed that with Bonovich – which is the only time he spoke – and then scheduled a status conference in April. 

“If motions are filed between then and now we will deal with the motions,” Weber said.

A comparison of the original and amended complaints shows all of the charges and number of counts are the same, but more details had been added in support of the state’s case and the time frame had been broadened. 

That time frame for possession of child pornography, according to the complaint, was between Jan. 13, 2021 and May 4, 2022, the day police conducted the search of Bonovich’s residence.  

The circumstances leading to that arrest began on March 1, 2022, according to the complaint, when officer Chad Mielke of the Sturgeon Bay Police Department was reviewing the web for recent Peer 2 Peer (P2P) offenders who had been uploading and downloading child abuse material (CAM) within the previous month in Door County. 

Mielke found a target in Door County who had uploaded CAM files on the P2P network identified as BitTorrent, a communication protocol for P2P file sharing, enabling users to distribute data and electronic files over the internet in a decentralized manner, according to the complaint.

Nordin declined to comment on the case or answer any questions about it, including why 18 months passed between when Bonovich’s electronic devices were seized, May 4, 2022, and when he was arrested, Nov. 14, 2023. 

The complaint shows that during that time, Officer Mielke was unable to obtain all the data off the personal computer, and sent it to the United States Secret Service for assistance in obtaining a forensic image of the device. Mielke did not receive that data back from the Secret Service until on or about Oct. 17, 2023, according to the complaint, and began a forensic analysis.

Bonovich is now scheduled to be back in court on April 23 at 10:40 am for a status conference. During that, the defense will let the court know if it wants to have a preliminary hearing and when they’d like to have that scheduled, Nordin said. Though she declined to discuss the case, she did answer questions about the process.

“It [the status conference] is just a check-in to give them the opportunity to review everything and see how they want to proceed before we get to the prelim point,” Nordin said. 

Until then, there is no plea from Bonovich.

“In a felony case, they don’t enter a plea until after they’ve been bound over for trial,” Nordin said. “So either the prelim is contested and they are bound over or they waive the prelim and they are bound over.”

Bonovich’s bond was set at $7,500 in November and he was barred from any unsupervised contact with minors, as well as forced to surrender his passport. Weber said during the Feb. 16 hearing that he remains subject to those conditions.

The maximum sentence for each of the 10 Felony D charges carries a $100,000 fine and imprisonment for not more than 25 years.