By Shereen Siewert
A Waupaca man will spend five years in prison after being found guilty of hit and run causing death and third-offense drunken driving in a July 28 hit-and-run crash that left an Amherst teenager dead.
Michael G. Pribbernow, 46, was arrested after an anonymous tipster told police Pribbernow had been at the Wheelhouse tavern the night Tim Michael Cruise II was found lying on Golke Road near Hwy. Q in the town of Farmington. The tipster called police after noting new damage to Pibbernow’s truck, according to court documents.
Cruise, who was walking on the road when he was struck by a westbound vehicle, was pronounced dead at the scene. Pribbernow was arrested about five weeks later.
Pribbernow initially denied involvement in the crash, but DNA recovered on Pribbernow’s vehicle was identified as Cruise’s, according to the complaint.
As part of a plea agreement, charges of homicide by drunken driving and knowingly operating with a revoked license were dismissed but read into the record for sentencing purposes.
Pribbernow was sentenced April 16 in Waupaca County Circuit Court. He will also spend five years on extended supervision following his release from prison, and his driver’s license will be suspended for two years.
