Ashley Luthern

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A Milwaukee teen has been charged in three separate criminal cases since he signed a $300,000 settlement last fall for abuses he suffered at a troubled Northwoods youth prison.

In the first case, the public defender's office stopped representing him after the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel asked about his eligibility for a taxpayer-funded attorney. He then retained a private attorney, but it was not immediately clear based on court records if he would be forced to do the same in the two most recent cases filed this month.

In general, accused individuals complete a multipage financial eligibility form with the guidance of public defender staff early in the court process. If more accurate information is presented later, their eligibility would be revisited, said Randy Kraft, spokesman for the State Public Defender.

Kenyadi Evans, then 17, was incarcerated at Lincoln Hills School for Boys in November 2015 when he refused to go into his room. A guard shoved him inside, smashing his foot in the door and requiring partial amputation of two toes.

The incident led prosecutors to ramp up an investigation into abuse at Lincoln Hills. Agents and attorneys raided the facility a week later and their probe of the prison is ongoing.

Evans signed a $300,000 settlement with the state on Sept. 20, 2016, for that incident. Three days later, prosecutors say, he and two others snatched a woman's car keys from a table at McDonald's and stole her minivan in the parking lot. He has pleaded not guilty and his attorney did not return messages seeking comment.

Earlier this month, while out on bail in that case, Evans was driving a 2011 Lincoln MKZ sedan registered to him and was speeding when he crashed into a house near N. 19th and W. Nash streets, according to prosecutors.

RELATED: Crisis at Lincoln Hills juvenile prison years in making

Officers were called to the area just after 11 a.m. Feb. 12 and found the sedan on fire and several passengers injured in the street. One of the passengers, whose brother was killed in a stolen car crash last year, was unconscious and taken to the hospital for possible bleeding on the brain and broken vertebrae.

An officer spoke to Evans, who appeared to have "glossy eyes" and smelled of marijuana, and Evans said an unknown fifth person had been driving, according to the criminal complaint.

Data from the car showed it was traveling 72 mph on a street with a 25 mph speed limit, police said. The car has a listed value between $9,000 and $11,000 on Kelley Blue Book. Evans was charged Feb. 18 with second-degree recklessly endangering safety and bail jumping, both felonies. His bail was set at $5,000, which he posted.

Arrested on new charges

When he showed up for his preliminary hearing in that case Friday he was arrested and charged with several offenses that have been under investigation since fall.

Evans is accused of carjacking a man at a gas station on W. Lisbon Ave. with two other teens and taking part in the beating of another man at a gas station on Appleton Ave. and stealing his car later the same day, the criminal complaint says.

Evans is scheduled for a preliminary hearing March 7 on the new charges. His bail was set at $50,000 and he remained in Milwaukee County Jail on Monday, according to online records.

Evans, who turned 18 in September, has been acting out, sometimes violently, since middle school, court records show. He ran away from group homes, assaulted a teacher and stole a van before he was sent to Lincoln Hills on a theft charge. There, he often was in the segregation unit for fighting.

Soon after Evans' toes were crushed at Lincoln Hills, he attacked an inmate at a Wauwatosa detention center. He was convicted of battery in June.

Patrick Marley of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.