Man fatally struck retired detective with SUV and fled on foot, leaving Modelo beer can on passenger seat

Inset, left to right: Tom Roberts (Green Bay Police Dept.), Obilio Tomas Sargento Roblero (Pulaski County Regional Detention Facility). Background: The area in Wisconsin where Roblero killed Roberts in a hit-and-run crash (Google Maps).

A 34-year-old man in Wisconsin will spend more than a decade behind bars for killing a retired police officer, striking the 60-year-old as he was helping a pair of stranded motorists before fleeing the scene on foot, leaving behind the SUV with an empty can of beer in the passenger seat.

Oconto County Circuit Judge James A. Morrison on Tuesday sentenced Obilio Tomas Sargento Roblero to 15 years in a state correctional facility plus an additional 10 years of extended supervision, court records show.

The sentence was handed down just over two months after Sargento Roblero pleaded no contest to one count of felony hit-and-run involving death in connection with the crash that left Tom Roberts, a former Green Bay police detective, dead. The court credited Sargento Roblero with 680 days of time served.

The case dates to the evening of Oct. 25, 2024. Roberts was driving his all-terrain vehicle (ATV) along Shawano Line Road near Nelson Road in Gillett when he spotted two people whose utility task vehicle (UTV) had broken down, according to a report from WLUK, citing a probable cause affidavit.

One of the UTV riders told investigators that it was just after 7 p.m. when Roberts stopped and offered to tow their disabled vehicle, the Green Bay Press-Gazette reported. Roberts had just finished connecting a tow strap from his ATV to the stranded UTV and climbed back onto his vehicle when he was suddenly struck by a GMC Acadia traveling west.

The witnesses said that after hitting the good Samaritan who stopped to help, the driver of the Acadia got out of the SUV and ran from the scene, according to WLUK.

Deputies and emergency medical personnel responded to the crash, pronouncing Roberts dead at the scene.

Investigators recovered a Modelo beer can from the passenger seat of the SUV as well as a cellphone, both of which investigators placed into evidence before the vehicle was towed away, Wisconsin Right Now reported.

Authorities eventually identified Roblero as the driver and tracked him to a hotel in Jacksonville, Arkansas. Authorities took him into custody several days after the crash.

According to reports, Roblero borrowed a phone after the crash and called his wife, telling her he had been driving home when a deer ran into the road. He said he swerved to avoid the animal, which is when he saw the UTV and the ATV, but was unable to stop. He further claimed that after striking one of the vehicles, he panicked and ran from the scene.