Crime and Court Roundup: Nekoosa High School student looking at criminal charges

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An 18-year-old Nekoosa High School student faces a possible criminal charge, after an incident that sent students home early on Monday. Police have asked the Wood County district attorney for a disorderly conduct charge – but nothing was filed as of late yesterday. Authorities said the teen wrote on a social media site that he had a gun at the school. Once school officials caught wind of it, police arrested the teen – and he denied bringing any weapons to school. The building and grounds were searched on Monday afternoon, and no weapons were found. Normal school activities resumed Monday evening.

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A convicted felon from Kenosha County is facing new felony charges of voting illegally last November. 49-year-old Michael Radtke of Twin Lakes is scheduled to make his first court appearance March 27th on three felony counts of election fraud. Prosecutors said Radtke registered at the polls, and signed a statement that he was not under probation or parole for a felony conviction. But officials found out later that he was still on probation for a 2010 case in Walworth County. In Wisconsin, felons can only vote after they’ve served all their obligations to society, including probation.

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A federal court jury in Minneapolis is about to decide whether three members of an American Indian gang are guilty of racketeering. Closing arguments began yesterday in a nearly two-month-long trial involving the Native Mob, a gang known to terrorize people mainly in Wisconsin and Minnesota. Assistant U-S Attorney Andrew Winter said the Native Mob dealt in murders, drug trafficking, and witness retaliation. Winter said alleged group leader Wakinyon McArthur and members Anthony Cree and William Morris resorted to violence to uphold the gang’s reputation. McArthur’s lawyer, Frederick Goetz, said members may have committed individual crimes – but there’s no evidence of organized racketeering. The three defendants were the only ones not to accept plea deals, after 25 people were charged in a 57-count indictment. Prosecutors say racketeering is a tool that’s rarely used against gangs – but they say it’s necessary in this case in order to take down the entire enterprise. The National Gang Threat Assessment from 2011 listed the Native Mob as among the nation’s most violent Indian gangs. Officials said it was formed in the 1990’s to set up turf for drug dealing.

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A sheriff’s deputy is home from the hospital, after a vehicle slammed into his squad car on a snowy freeway in southern Wisconsin. Columbia County deputy Michael Schultz was helping motorists who slid off Interstate 39-90-94 – and he had just returned to his squad car when it was hit by another motorist who lost control. The squad had its emergency lights on at the time. Schultz was treated at a hospital and later released. The driver who struck him, a 19-year-old La Crosse woman, was not injured. The incident happened Monday night.

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