MENOMINEE — An Escanaba man was sentenced to prison last week after breaking into a woman’s home, assaulting her, and then injuring a police officer.

Carl James Ruleau, 51, of Escanaba, was sentenced to 54 months to 15 years in prison for home invasion, second degree, according to Menominee County Prosecuting Attorney Jeffery T. Rogg. Ruleau was also sentenced to 32 months to four years in prison on a separate conviction of assaulting a police officer causing injury. Both prison sentences were handed down on May 4, by 41st Circuit Court Judge Mary B. Barglind.

The charges stem from an incident on June 16, 2022, when a 40-year-old female victim reported to police that Ruleau had assaulted her at her home, on Railroad Street in Stephenson. The victim reported that Ruleau had broken through the front door of her home, knocking her down, and then brandished a carpenter’s knife. The victim’s teenaged daughter called 911.

When Menominee County Sheriff’s Deputy Luke Wert arrived at the scene, Ruleau hit him in the jaw and broke the deputy’s radio cord. Wert was later treated at OSF St. Francis Hospital in Escanaba for a torn rotator cuff sustained when Ruleau assaulted him.

Ruleau was convicted of the charges by plea on Jan. 23.

“I am committed to protecting the public from violent criminals, particularly when those criminals target individuals based on their vulnerable status as women, and certainly against police officers,” said Rogg in a press release. “I hope that this prosecution, convictions, and sentences will serve as a deterrent to others who might think about engaging in similar violent conduct.”

Rogg said he and his office are available to support victims and survivors of domestic abuse in Menominee County and to shine a light on the issue that is often kept behind closed doors.

“Contrary to popular belief, physical abuse is not simply a maladjusted person’s occasional expression of frustration or anger, nor is it typically an isolated incident. Physical abuse is a tool of control and oppression and is a choice made by one person in a relationshipo to control another,” he said.