MARINETTE, WI (WTAQ) - Charges have been filed against a former Marinette County parks employee accused of embezzling up to $40,000.

David Marquardt is facing four felony charges for allegedly stealing county funds to help pay for a gambling addiction and pay bills for a side business.

A court date has not been set because the judge originally assigned to the case has recused himself.

According to the criminal complaint, Marquardt was hired in May 2013 by Marinette County to be the assistant parks administrator. One of his duties was to handle user fees collected for camping, park use, firewood and other items.

Marquardt then took county funds to help pay for bills at a business he owned. 

A statement that Marquardt signed that appears in the criminal complaint said: 

“Starting in the middle of July I began taking money from the safe to supplement my other daycare business. I would take $600 to $800 at a time to make payroll at the daycare. The money I was taking began to snowball until I was in the hole about $13,000.” 

In all Marquardt was $40,000 short of the money needed to make county deposits, and tried to borrow money from family and friends.

Marquardt also cited a gambling problem as the reason for the thefts.

If convicted of all charges, Marquardt could receive 20 years, six months in prison.

The criminal complaint does not state when he stopped working for the county and how it was terminated.

(Additional reporting from FOX 11).

OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ) - Oshkosh police say a woman has been arrested after she called in a bomb threat to a restaurant.

On Sunday, police were called around 8 p.m. about someone making a bomb threat to Olive Garden. 

The restaurant was quickly evacuated while authorities searched the inside and outside of the building. No suspicious materials were found and the all-clear was given.

Investigators say they traced the call to a 47-year-old Oshkosh woman, who was recently fired from the restaurant. She was arrested and faces a felony charge.

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - The Green Bay Packers will continue to be led by head coach Mike McCarthy for several more years.

The team announced Monday that they've signed McCarthy to a new multi-year contract.

“We are very happy to extend our relationship with Mike,” Packers Executive VP, GM and Director of Football Operations Ted Thompson said. “Over the past nine years, he’s provided great stability and consistency to the Packers organization and our community as an excellent coach and leader. He’s a good man and we look forward to the future with Mike as our head coach.”

McCarthy has guided the Packers to 6 playoff appearances, four division titles, one NFC title and a Super Bowl championship in nine seasons. He has recorded 93 wins overall to rank third in franchise history behind Curly Lambeau’s 212 and Vince Lombardi’s 98.

OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ) - A search warrant details that two UW-Oshkosh professors' concerns that a student may have been making ricin prompted a hazmat search at an area home.

Oshkosh police and the FBI are still not talking about what the hazardous material found at the home in the 800 block of Frederick Street on Friday. However, FOX 11 has obtained a search warrant that shows the 21-year-old man arrested is a student at UW-Oshkosh.

Two UW-Oshkosh professors contacted police about the student possibly making the ricin, according to the search warrant. It also says the man's roommate told authorities three castor bean plants were growing in the backyard.

The seeds from castor bean plants are poisonous to people, animals and insects. According to Cornell University, ricin is one of the main toxic proteins found in castor bean plants.

The FBI was called in over the weekend and has taken the materials back to Virginia to analyze.

No charges have been filed against the 21-year-old man and the DA’s office says he is not expected in court Monday.

(Additional reporting from FOX 11).

NEENAH, WI (WTAQ) - After hundreds of Republican mailings were found dumped in a Neenah trash can late last week, the U.S. Postal Service is investigating the incident.

Most of the pieces urged people to vote for Republican candidate for state assembly Mike Rohrkaste. He was tipped off via a supporter's email.

"It noted that some of my mailers had been dumped into a recycling bin," Rohrkaste told WTAQ talk show host Jerry Bader. ""Maybe it was because the postal carrier doesn’t like Republicans; maybe he (or she) just got tired of delivering campaign mailers."

Tasked with investigating the incident is the Office of Inspector General (OIG) of the U.S. Postal Service.

"We take those types of allegations and incidents very seriously," said Assistant Special Agent Bob Rukes. "And obviously if they have breached that trust, then administrative actions up to removal as well as criminal prosecution are warranted."

According to a blog post written by Bader, most of the get out the vote mailers are from Rohrkaste’s campaign. Some are also from 6th Congressional District Republican candidate Glenn Grothman; others are from a third party group on behalf of 19th District State Senate Candidate Roger Roth.

Despite having been alerted to the incident late last week, Rukes says at this point they're not ready to call it a politically motivated act.

"That is something we are trying to determine, so far the investigative findings have not uncovered that this is targeting a specific candidate or a specific party," said Rukes.

This is the 3rd mailing Rohrkaste has been involved with this fall and wonders if the other pieces were tossed away as well.

"I hope they were delivered, but I honestly don't know," Rohrkaste said.

Rukes says most investigations of this nature take several weeks to complete.

MADISON, WI (WTAQ) - The only poll that counts will be taken today in Wisconsin, as voters settle an extremely tight and hard fought governor's race.

Republican Scott Walker is going for his second term, but he's facing the voters for the third time since 2010. He defeated Democrat Tom Barrett by 5 percentage points the first time, and by 7 points in his 2012 recall challenge.

Today, Walker faces Democrat Mary Burke -- who recently said she's surprised how thick her skin is, as she's deflected criticisms about her past tenures as a Trek Bicycle executive and state Commerce secretary under Jim Doyle.

Walker has taken a lot of heat himself in the wake of his Act 10 law that ended most public union bargaining, while creating less than half of the quarter-million jobs he promised in winning the governor's office 4 years ago.

Walker says he'll keep working to cut taxes, after reducing them by $2 billion. Burke promises to focus more on the middle class.  

Voters will also choose a new state attorney general. Eight U.S. House seats are up, and a new member will be selected in east central Wisconsin to replace Republican Tom Petri.

Democrats hope to regain the state Senate, but they'll take have to take 3 seats away from the GOP. Voters will also choose state representatives and numerous county officials.

There's also a statewide constitutional referendum on using gas tax revenues only for transportation -- plus advisory referendums in numerous counties on raising the minimum wage and seeking extra federal Medicaid funds under Obamacare.

40 Wisconsin school districts have more than 50 referendum questions on almost $700 million for new and improved buildings, plus higher taxes to keep current programs going.

All polls close at 8 p.m. Voters will not need photo ID's this time, while the U.S. Supreme Court decides whether to impose the state's 2011 ID law for good.

(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)

MADISON, WI (WTAQ) - Some polls were busy and some were not this morning, as Wisconsinites started casting ballots in the November governor's election.

Milwaukee's Sherman Park School had lines before the polls opened at 7 a.m. Steady turnouts were reported in the first two-and-a-half hours at Jefferson Elementary in Wauwatosa.

Not all polls were busy. Lydell School in Whitefish Bay had no lines in the early going.

The statewide turnout is projected to be 56.5 percent, with races for Wisconsin governor and attorney general on the ballot. There are also contests for the U.S. House, including an open seat to replace retiring Fond du Lac Republican Tom Petri.

All 99 state Assembly seats are up, along with half the 33-member Senate.

Voters also have a plethora of county offices to decide, along with 52 school referendum questions in 40 districts.

Racine voters are deciding whether to raise their school taxes by $8.5 million a year for 15 years. Over a half-billion dollars of school building projects are also on the ballots throughout the state.

The biggest is a $99 million package in Hudson for a new high school and a renovation of the current one.

There's also a statewide referendum on a constitutional amendment to not raid gas tax revenues for any other use besides transportation, thus preventing previous raids to bolster public schools. All polls close at 8 p.m.

(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)

MADISON, WI (WTAQ) - Two-and-a-half million Wisconsinites are expected to vote in today's election -- and at least 11.5 percent of those have already got their ballots in.

As of noon Monday, 216,000 absentee ballots were returned to municipalities. That easily surpasses the absentee voting for the 2012 governor's recall election -- but it only represents those communities on the state's registration system, which covers about 70 percent of Wisconsin voters.

The Government Accountability Board says today's total turnout will be the highest on record for a November gubernatorial election. It's projected to be 56.5 percent.

Just over 216,000 votes were recorded during the state's 10-day early voting period. There's been a debate over who that benefits, after majority Republicans shortened the times for early voting this year.

We do know that the top two Democrats on the state's ballot voted early, while the two Republicans chose to wait until Election Day.

Gubernatorial hopeful Mary Burke and attorney general candidate Susan Happ voted last week. Republican Governor Scott Walker and AG hopeful Brad Schimel chose the more traditional route.

All polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)

APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) - Charges have now been filed against a Green Bay man for allegedly stabbing three men inside an Appleton night club early Sunday morning.

Three felony counts of aggravated battery have been filed against 26-year-old Andre Stackhouse. He was arrested at Antro Nightclub on W. College Avenue.

Around 12:30 a.m. officers say they saw Stackhouse swinging a knife on the dance floor at two other men. Cops had to use a Taser to subdue Stackhouse and recover the knife.

Authorities say one of the victims was stabbed in the abdomen at least once and required immediate surgery. The other two were rushed to the hospital and were treated and released.

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - A four month jail sentence was given to a former De Pere Unified School District employee for illegally accessing district computers.

Court records show Jared Carlson pled no contest to misappropriating identification information, criminally accessing date and destroying computer data.

According to authorities, Carlson was a disgruntled former employee who used a teacher's name and password to get into the system. He entered his own personnel file, but then also destroyed data in the system including term papers, teachers' lesson plans and athletic records.

Brown County Judge Kendall Kelley imposed and stayed a total of 5 years in prison Friday.

Carlson was placed on extended supervision for 8 years and then on probation for 12 years, according to online court records. Also, any computer use must get permission from his probation agent.

CATO, WI (WTAQ) - A wildlife rehab center in eastern Wisconsin is caring for a rare pelican and several other birds -- and it's asking people for frozen and raw fish to feed the patients.

Wildlife of Wisconsin is curing the injured pelican at its facility in Cato in Manitowoc County. The pelican was by residents at a mobile home park in Brillion.

Rehab specialist Susan Theys tells the Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter that her workers don't know where the bird came from. The pelican had a head injury, and parasites from starving -- and they fed him with a tube for a week.

The Cato center also has a blue heron, an osprey, and several gulls on the mend. That's why it has a fish shortage that it's asking folks to help with.

Theys expects the pelican to stay at her center for another week before it's released at Green Bay or in Florida. She says pelicans migrate through the eastern part of Wisconsin, and a few have begun staying near Green Bay.

(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - One of the five men convicted of killing Green Bay paper mill worker Tom Monfils in 1992 is seeking a new trial, while making a stunning claim.

Keith Kutska, who's now being assisted by the Wisconsin Innocence Project, filed motions last Friday requesting a new trial. 

Kutska, along with Michael Johnson, Michael Hirn, Dale Basten, Rey Moore and Michael Piaskowski, were convicted for their roles in the murder of Monfils. Piaskowski is the only one not serving a life prison term after having his conviction overturned by a federal judge.

No hearings have been set on the motion.

According to the new motion, a “despondent, shamed and angry” Monfils left his work area, walked to the pulp vat, tied the rope and weight, and entered the vat voluntarily. His body was found the next day.

The 145-page motion also contends that suicide is a more plausible theory than the conspiracy of the six men convicted.

“We note a particularly telling aspect of this case that is probative of Kutska’s actual innocence and that of his co-defendants – that, if Kutska and they were in fact guilty of beating and murder Monfils, at least one of them, long ago, would surely have admitted to some involvement, no matter how minimal, in that crime at some time during the 22 years since Monfils’ death,” it states, according to FOX 11.

As supporting evidence, there are several affidavits.

Among is one from Cal Monfils, Tom’s brother. His states that Susan Monfils, Tom’s wife, initially commented that Tom committed suicide. And while “I cannot say for sure if Tom took his own life, but every day it seems to make more sense than 6 men keeping secret about an assault which there are no witnesses to and is based only on a theory,” Cal Monfils writes.

Brown County Judge and former district attorney John Zakowski was unavailable for comment.

(Additional reporting from FOX 11).

OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ) - The death of an Oshkosh woman found behind a garage over the weekend is under investigation.

Oshkosh police were called to the 100 block of W. New York Avenue around 3:30 p.m. Saturday and found the 47-year-old unresponsive.

According to investigators, the woman was at some downtown area taverns and appears to have been heavily intoxicated prior to her death.

Cops think the woman was new to the area and was trying to find her way home.

Authorities are awaiting results of an autopsy. They say the public is not in any danger and the incident appears to be isolated.

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - When Governor Scott Walker arrived at Green Bay's Austin Straubel International Airport Monday, somebody urged him to go to his car so he doesn't see Mary Burke who happened to be there.

The Republican Walker rejected the advice, and went over to say hello to his Democratic challenger. Both were rushing around the state to try and round up votes for Tuesday.

Walker said he suggested that they have a photo together and put it on Twitter. Both did, and Burke wrote, "What are the odds?"

Walker talked about the encounter Tuesday right after he voted in Wauwatosa. He said it was fun and as he put it, "It shows in the we're still all Wisconsinites, no matter who you are voting for."

(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)

GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - Fans are being reminded to be extra careful if they're looking for Green Bay Packers tickets for this weekend's big match-up against the Chicago Bears.

Packers' officials said Tuesday that they've received several reports of counterfeit tickets circulating online from secondary sources.

Fans should only purchase tickets from official sources and team partners like NFL Ticket Exchange and Packer Fan Tours.

“With the Bears game this Sunday, we understand that many fans will be looking for tickets,” said Packers director of ticket operations Mark Wagner. “We want to remind them to be wary of potential counterfeit tickets when purchasing online or from someone on the street. We strongly encourage fans to only purchase their tickets from NFL Ticket Exchange or Packer Fan Tours.”

TOWN OF MENASHA, WI (WTAQ) - An arrest has been made in connection with the October death of a man inside his Town of Menasha apartment.

Police announced Tuesday that 42-year-old Sean Oehlke was arrested on charges of felony murder and burglary. Oehlke was previously jailed on a probation hold earlier in the investigation.

On October 24, authorities were called to 68-year-old William Summers' apartment in the 2500 block of Wilson Court. A neighbor reported checking on Summers and said he had not been seen or heard from that morning, and the neighbor believed he may be dead.

Officers found Summers dead inside the apartment where he lived alone. Investigators believe a burglary of the man's apartment led to his death.

Town of Menasha police also say Oehlke was on parole for a conviction of burglary while armed.

MADISON, WI (WTAQ) - Incumbent Republican Congressman Reid Ribble has won re-election, defeating Democratic challenger Ron Gruett.

Ribble, who resides in Sherwood, will serve a third term in the U.S. House. He was first elected in 2010.

He serves on the Budget Committee, the Agriculture Committee, and the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

Gruett has served on the Chilton City Council since 2003.

TOWN OF VINLAND, WI (WTAQ) - A person who had their iPod stolen this past summer may have gotten a photo of the thief -- from the "cloud."

According to the Winnebago County Sheriff's Department, the iPod was among the items stolen from an unlocked vehicle June 21st on Highway A in the Town of Vinland.

Later, the owner of the iPod found that someone had taken a photo using the stolen item through the iCloud feature. iCloud is a service where items stored on a device can be accessed remotely.

When the iCloud featured is turned on, any photo taken with a device is automatically uploaded and available to be retrieved.

Authorities are working to try and identify the person in the photo above. Anyone with information is asked to call Det. Craig Quick at (920) 236-1365.

OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ) - Authorities in Winnebago County are search for a hit-and-run driver that caused a crash which closed Highway 44 in the Oshkosh area.

Investigators say it happened near Clairville Road around 10 a.m. Wednesday and involved injuries to the other vehicle. That part of Highway 44 has since re-opened.

The suspect vehicle, which was described as a possible 1995 model white GMC Sierra extended cab pickup truck, was last seen headed east on Ripple Avenue from Clairville Road.

The truck also had a black tool box in the bed with several stickers in the back window. The tires were very large and extended past the truck's wheel wells.

The truck would have front-end damage from the crash. Anyone with information on the truck is asked to call (920) 236-7300, ext. 0.

Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation is asking drivers to avoid the area. The detour route takes drivers on Highways 91 and FF.

OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ) - An Oshkosh man is due back in court Thursday, on charges connected with a series of robberies near the UW campus in Oshkosh.  

A preliminary hearing was scheduled for 19-year-old Jake Sizemore, after a public defender was assigned.

Sizemore is charged in Winnebago County with felony robbery by force and 3 misdemeanors -- two for battery and one for illegally carrying a concealed weapon.

He was arrested October 26th, after he allegedly tried robbing a UW-Oshkosh student who got away and called 911. Police say they've tied the defendant to an October 20th mugging of an Oshkosh student who was punched in the face and was robbed of a backpack with a wallet and laptop.

Sizemore is also named in the October 21st stabbing of two students during a robbery attempt. On the 26th, police said 3 students were able to identify Sizemore during the incident in which one of the purported targets fled.

The defendant is under a $50,000 bond.

(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)