By Shereen Siewert
WAUPACA — An 18-year-old Waupaca man who fatally shot a friend in July while playing “cops and robbers” will spend the next 10 years in prison.
Austin Hovarter was 17 when he shot 15-year-old Jacob Peglow July 26 at a rural Waupaca home but was charged as an adult. He was sentenced this month in Waupaca County Circuit Court after being convicted of first degree reckless homicide.
Hovarter’s 14-year-old brother told police he was in the room on the day his brother pulled a .22-caliber pistol from an open safe, pointed the gun at Jacob and fired, according to the criminal complaint. The younger boy told police the firearm was not normally loaded and was typically kept in his parents’ bedroom.
Hovarter in September told an officer with the state Department of Criminal Investigations that he “used the revolver four or five times playing cops and robbers,” and had pointed the gun at his brother and pulled the trigger “many times” on each of those occasions. He also said he and Peglow were playing a game when the shooting took place and that he thought the gun was not loaded, the complaint reads.
Waupaca County Circuit Judge Troy Nielson on March 21 also ordered Hovarter to spend 10 years on extended supervision after his release from prison. Hovarter will also be required to speak once per year about his experience during a hunter’s safety course, and to pay $16 per week to the Jacob Peglow Memorial Fund after his release.
