Sheboygan County sheriff defends hiring of convicted killer

The Sheboygan County sheriff is standing by his decision to hire a convicted killer as a radio technician, despite questions in the community about whether it is appropriate for someone with that type of record to be working for law enforcement.

“I’m not going to throw him under the bus. I take responsibility for bringing him on,” Sheriff Todd Priebe said of the technician, Rafael George Macias. “If I had known the gruesome details, I may not have taken him on, but what he brings to our agency is nothing but positive.”

Macias was 20 and an airman at Carswell Air Force Base in Texas when he pleaded guilty to killing and dismembering his live-in girlfriend, Julia Adams, also 20, in 1977, according to news reports from the time. Police linked Macias to the crime after he reported her missing, the reports say.

Macias later told police he strangled Adams out of jealousy and put her body into a bathtub, cut it in half with a hacksaw and stuffed it into an Air Force packing crate. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison but was released after 13 after being given credit for good behavior.