February 27, 2023 at 12:17 p.m.
Jury trial scheduled for Poupart in case involving death of 6-year-old
Another pretrial scheduled for Thompson
By Trevor Greene-
Vilas County circuit court judge Martha Milanowski scheduled the trial at the request of defendant George Poupart's attorney, Daniel Snyder, during a judicial pretrial on Feb. 21.
The trial is scheduled to begin on July 24.
Poupart and Sheila Thompson, 33, of Lac du Flambeau, were both charged after police arrived at their Lac du Flambeau residence on Dec. 3, 2021, at around 3 p.m. and the couple's six-year-old child was found lying in the living room unresponsive.
According to a criminal complaint filed in June 2022, Thompson told investigators she awoke that morning around 7 a.m. and "glanced" at the child who appeared to be asleep while she cleaned. She said she went back to bed around 8 a.m.
Poupart, the complaint says, left around 2:15 p.m. "to run some errands" with the four other children who lived with them, and was contacted by Thompson when she found the child unresponsive.
In the complaint, investigators noted the child appeared abnormally thin and pale, wearing a soiled diaper and infested with lice.
In a preliminary investigation with Lac du Flambeau school officials, the complaint says there were multiple complaints previously filed with Vilas County Social Services on behalf of school staff out of concern for the child's well being.
Though the child was enrolled in school both years prior, according to the complaint, he did not return for the 2021-22 school year.
In a Feb. 1, 2022, joint interview with both Thompson and Poupart, investigators noted the two said they first noticed the child "thinning out" in the fall of 2021, two months prior to his death. When asked why the child had not seen a doctor in two years, Thompson told police there was "no reason" and did not elaborate.
According to a Dec. 8 autopsy, the child's body was reported to have weighed 39 pounds (below the first percentile for six-year-old boys) and the cause of death was believed to be due to complications from diabetic ketoacidosis - symptoms known to consist of excessive thirst, vomiting and abdominal pain.
Thompson's case has been delayed due to her need for the appointment of a public defender.
She is now being represented by public defender attorney Megan McGee Norris. A pretrial in her case has been scheduled for May 16 at 10:30 a.m.
Poupart and Thompson are both still in custody under a $25,000 cash bond.
If convicted, they each face maximum penalties of $100,000 in fines or 25 years in prison or both.
Trevor Greene may be reached via email at [email protected].
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