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ALPENA -- Frederick Bobolts, 62, was bound over on assault, child abuse, and stalking charges on Wednesday in the 88th District Court in Alpena.
Bobolts had multiple assault, domestic violence, child abuse, and stalking charges filed against him, and one charge for animals killing/torturing.
At the first part of his preliminary examination on Sept. 2, Bobolts's three children testified regarding the child abuse charges.
The News does not name minor victims or victims of alleged domestic violence.
Testimony alleged that in one of the incidents, the mother and three kids were trying to leave Bobolts. They came down the stairs. Bobolts was holding a gun and sitting on the couch with one of the children next to him. One of the children testified to seeing that event, but the child on the couch did not remember the incident.
One child testified that they were hit on the head with a ring by the defendant. Another child alleged that they were poked in the cheek in one incident and the defendant grabbed the back of her neck in another incident. The third child testified that they were playing a computer game when Bobolts came up behind her and grabbed her neck.
Two of the children testified that Bobolts broke a guitar by hitting the family's dog with it. Neither saw that offense occur but they did see the broken guitar afterwards. They alleged that Bobolts said he had hit the dog with the guitar and that he seemed to think it was funny.
At Wednesday's hearing, Bobolts's wife testified about the assault, stalking, and child abuse charges.
The alleged victim testified that she had been married to Bobolts since 2011 and they met in 2008. The first incident of abuse she could recall was in 2009.
She testified about the incident where Bobolts had a gun on the couch. She said that he was looking straight at her with the gun in his hand while talking calmly to the child on the couch with him. He said to her "Go ahead, try to take my (expletive) kids."
The alleged victim testified about an event where Bobolts tried to take her phone when she was trying to call 911. She was running away from him and had put the phone in her underwear since her pants did not have pockets. He tackled her and scratched her pubic area while trying to get the phone.
She testified to three incidents of strangulation, with one where she said she threw up afterwards. Her throat was sore afterwards for some time and she struggled to talk or swallow. She had a hoarse voice, and she was lightheaded.
One of the incidents was outside the statute of limitations of six years, so that incident could not be charged. The statute of limitations is a law that sets the maximum time limit to start legal proceedings after an alleged offense occurs.
In the case of the child abuse charges, she said that Bobolts took one of the children in the car with him to purchase marijuana. When they got back, the child had a bump on his head that looked like it could have been caused by Bobolts's skull ring.
She witnessed the incident where one of the children was poked in the cheek. She said that the child's cheek was bleeding and it left a divot.
The alleged victim had text messages that were submitted as evidence of Bobolts' alleged abuse towards the family's dog. He would repeatedly send messages that he was going to beat and kill the dog. He sent a voicemail in one incident that the children heard that scared them. The alleged victim said that they thought Bobolts was going to kill the dog and they were crying.
Alpena County Sheriff Deputy Ryan Minton testified about the children's Child Advocacy Center (CAC) interviews and the Child Protection Services (CPS) process.
During his questioning, he said that one of the children seemed to state more in her CAC interview than she did in court.
Minton was also asked whether one of the children admitted that he was told what to say in the CAC interview by his mother. Minton said that the child stated in that interview that he was not told to say what he was saying.
Defense attorney Joel Bauer in his closing argument brought up a concern that there are no photos of the dog's injuries or veterinary records.
He said that the assault charges that occurred while Bobolts was taking medication may be a mitigating factor in whether the assaults were knowing, intentional behavior.
The alleged victim had described Bobolts as becoming more violent once he started taking that medication. She testified that he used to have cycles of being nice, but the past couple years he has been mean consistently.
Bauer argued that none of the child abuse charges should be bound over.
He said that the child that witnessed Bobolts with the gun while she was standing on the stairs did not actually see the gun.
Bauer said of the child that Bobolts allegedly hit with his ring, that Bobolts may have been "correcting the child one way or the other."
"I don't know that he knowingly or intentionally hit his child, I don't think they proved that," Bauer said. "I don't think (the child) even said that."
Bauer said he thinks it’s harmful that the children had to testify in court about the charges.
"The only potential harm to the children is forcing them through this," Bauer said. "So I don't think any of these charges stand up."
After a break, the two stalking charges, which are related to the alleged personal protection order (PPO) violations, were testified to.
The alleged victim said that Bobolts had sent her messages through Facebook and texted her. When she blocked him on Facebook, he used an old page to continue messaging her. He would also tag her in posts.
She testified that Bobolts drove by her house on at least two occasions after the PPO had been filed.
The two stalking charges are for incidents in two time frames from May 20 to June 11 and June 12 to Aug. 2026.
Judge Alan Curtis bound over the majority of the charges to the 26th Circuit Court. One charge was dropped completely. Two charges of using computers to commit a crime were added in relation to the stalking charges.
Bound over charges include the following:
- Two stalking charges and two using computers to commit a crime charges.
- One count of child abuse second degree committed in presence of another child for the incident where Bobolts had a gun on the couch. The other second degree charge related to that incident was dropped.
- One third degree child abuse charge was bound over for the incident where defendent allegedly hit a child with his ring.
- Third degree child abuse charge bound over for when a child had their cheek poked by defendant.
- Third degree child abuse charge bound over for when a child was grabbed by the throat by defendant.
- One third degree child abuse charge was dropped and fourth degree misdemeanor was added for the incident where defendant grabbed a child's neck while she was playing a computer game.
- One count of third degree child abuse commmitted in the presence of another child was dropped.
- Two charges of strangulation or great bodily harm less than murder.
- One charge of animals killing/torturing.
- Assault with a dangerous weapon for the situation where Bobolts had a gun on the couch.
- Interfering with electronic communications.
Bobolts also has three misdemeanor domestic violence charges which do not need to be examined in a preliminary hearing. Those charges are still pending.
His next hearing will be an arraignment in the 26th Circuit Court in Alpena.
Kayla Wikaryasz can be reached at 989-358-5688 or kwikaryasz@TheAlpenaNews.com.