GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - Federal charges were filed this week against a man who allegedly set fire to his business.
Jeremy Neumann is facing arson and fraud charges.
The fire was in 2015 at Gambit McDermott LLC, on Leeward Ct. West in Oshkosh.
According to court documents filed Tuesday, prosecutors believe Neumann set the fire as a way to collect insurance money.
Neumann is also facing state charges in connection to the fire.
CECIL, WI (WTAQ) - Sheriff's deputies are searching for the driver of a white Mercedes who may have assaulted another driver last weekend in Shawano County.
Officials say they received a report about a man who suffered substantial injuries from a possible road rage incident on Saturday, June 25 around 4 p.m.
Witnesses saw a clean shaven man in his 40s, between 5'10 and 6 feet tall with a muscular build and his hair combed back. The man was wearing a bright blue shirt with a possible tear and a female passenger inside the car, officials say.
The car was seen leaving Cecil eastbound on Freeborn Street. It was seen in the area of White Clay Lake shortly after the alleged incident and the driver may have an injury near his left eye, officials say.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Shawano County Sheriff's Department at (715) 526-3111.
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - A Sturgeon Bay man returns to court on July 11 for allegedly threatening his ex-girlfriend and her current boyfriend outside a bar last year.
32-year-old Frank E. Thomas of Sturgeon Bay is charged with first-degree recklessly endangering safety, carrying a concealed weapon, disorderly conduct, along with a felony and misdemeanor count of bail jumping.
According to the criminal complaint, De Pere police were called to a bar on Main Avenue around 9:15 p.m. on Sunday, September 20, 2015.
Officers located Thomas standing next to an open passenger side door of a dark colored SUV. A woman was seen sitting in the passenger seat when officers ordered Thomas to get down on the ground.
Thomas allegedly turned toward one of the cops and said he had a knife in his sweatshirt. That cop took Thomas back to his squad car after completing a search of him. A 6-inch blade and a blue handle was found during that search, per the complaint.
The woman was asked what happened, to which she replied that Thomas was her ex-boyfriend and had threatened her with a knife. She allegedly said they just broke up and she moved out recently, while Thomas didn't want the relationship to end.
She claims that Thomas must have, "Tracked her phone via the 'Find My Phone App' because she did not tell him where she was." The woman told police she got a text message from Thomas that said he was outside the bar.
The woman told police she went outside and he was sitting in the passenger seat of his vehicle, with his friend driving. He told her that he had, "A 3-inch blade and if she did not leave with him he was going to go inside the bar and stab her current boyfriend."
According to the complaint, she tried to keep Thomas from getting out of the vehicle to go inside the bar. Thomas overpowered her and went inside the bar. She claims that he began saying things to her boyfriend but didn't hear what was said.
She then told officers that Thomas followed her out of the bar and she tried getting into her boyfriend's vehicle for safety, but couldn't. Thomas then allegedly, "Pulled a knife from his front pocket of his sweatshirt and placed the hand with the knife on the vehicle's dash directly in front of me."
Officers say they smelled alcohol coming from Thomas when they arrived on scene, and a portable breath test (PBT) came back as a .134.
The victim's boyfriend was asked by officers what had happened. He said he was sitting at the bar when Thomas walked up to him and allegedly said he, "Was going to cut his throat." Thomas had his left hand in the pocket of his sweatshirt. He then took his right hand and spun the boyfriend's bar stool he was sitting on around and told him, "Now it's time for you to just walk away."
The boyfriend told officers he got up and walked out of the bar. He said Thomas followed him out and that his girlfriend was with them. Officers were told by the boyfriend that she got into his car and she was going to leave with Thomas, but then Thomas pointed the knife at her.
At that point, the boyfriend yelled for someone to call 911. He said he didn't think anyone called so he did. Then he went back into the bar and stayed on the line with dispatch until police arrived. He allegedly told police that he didn't see the knife until Thomas pulled it from his pocket outside the bar and pointed it at his girlfriend.
Frank E. Thomas, at that time, had been out on bond after he was charged on August 17, 2015, with 5 counts of issue of worthless checks and 5 counts of bail jumping in Door County.
Thomas was arrested that night and had appeared in court on September 21, 2015, in Brown County Court for his initial appearance. The court commissioner imposed a $5,000 cash bond which included a condition that Thomas attend all future court hearings.
The bond was continued during a court appearance on September 29 and October 8. During an arraignment on November 2, Thomas' bond was modified to a $1,000 signature bond with the same condition.
A status conference was then scheduled for January 11, 2016, which Thomas failed to appear at and a bench warrant was issued. Thomas was then arrested and placed into the Brown County Jail on June 9.
Thomas returns to Brown County Court for a status hearing on July 11. If convicted of all counts, Thomas faces nearly 20 years in prison.
FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ) - A man is being sought in Fond du Lac after police say he tried to grab money from a convenience store cash register.
Police say it happened at the Minit Mart, 171 N. Main Street, just before 10:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Authorities say the man reached over the counter while he was making a purchase. The clerk managed to close the cash register and prevent the man from getting any money.
The man then ran out the door on the south side of the building. He didn't show or indicate he had any kind of weapon and no one was hurt.
Police say the suspect was a black man in his 30s or 40s. He had a thin mustache and was wearing a black baseball hat, a plaid or checkered buttoned shirt, a black undershirt, blue jeans and black shoes with white trim.
Anyone with information is asked to call Fond du Lac police at (920) 906-5555 or the Crime Alert number at (920) 322-3740.
MANITOWOC, WI (WTAQ) - A Manitowoc man is in trouble with the law after he allegedly drove into a duplex early Thursday.
Police say both sides of the duplex along with 3 vehicles were damaged in the crash that happened in the 4100 block of Ray Street around 5 a.m.
According to police, the vehicle driven by a 27-year-old man went off the road, slammed into the duplex and continued through the garage. He was hospitalized with non-life-threatening injuries.
No one inside the duplex was hurt.
Anyone with information is asked to call Manitowoc police at (920) 686-6551.
ASHWAUBENON, WI (WTAQ) - Complaints continue to be filed with Ashwaubenon Public Safety from people who are falling victim to the IRS scam.
"One of the important things that we want people to know is that if they're not expecting a call from the IRS, they're not getting a call from the IRS," said Captain Jody Crocker with Ashwaubenon Public Safety.
In the past few days, officials say more victims reported that they were instructed to wire money from their bank accounts and then further to get $3,000 in gift cards or ITunes, Green Dot, or other gift cards and transfer those to them for payment.
In all, these victims are out more than $10,000. Crocker says they were of Middle Eastern or North African descent.
"When the scammers were talking to them, they actually talked to them in their own language," Crocker says. "We know it's a nationwide problem, but if we can get this word out to people that can help other people and encourage them to make those contacts and tell these people what is happening here."
The IRS has seen a huge surge in these phone scams as the callers threaten arrest by the police, deportation and license revocation among other things.
Both Ashwaubenon Public Safety and the IRS urge you to not give out any information and to hang up immediately if you do get a call. You're also asked to contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) at (800) 366-4484.
FOND DU LAC, WI (WTAQ) - Fond du Lac County District Attorney Eric Toney is seeking to put Dennis Brantner on trial again for the 1990 murder of Berit Beck.
His trial ended in a hung jury this week, and Toney says his staff is reviewing records and preparing a second trial.
The 62-year-old Brantner was arrested last year for the murder of the 18-year-old when authorities say they were able to match DNA from his van to the crime.
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - A Green Bay woman is accused of stabbing her boyfriend in self-defense.
30-year-old Hana H. Bihi is charged with two felony counts of second-degree recklessly endangering safety and substantial battery, use of a dangerous weapon. She's also charged with misdemeanor counts of obstructing an officer and bail jumping, use of a dangerous weapon.
According to the criminal complaint, Green Bay police were called to the 1200 block of E. Walnut Street around 11:45 p.m. on May 21.
Upon arrival to the multi-unit home, officers found a man on the floor in his underwear with blood coming out of his arm, pooling on the floor. A neighbor told officers that the man's girlfriend, identified as Hana Bihi, was in his apartment.
The neighbor said that earlier in the day, the couple had argued about, "Being dropped off in Milwaukee." He told the cops he didn't hear much after that until around 11:30 p.m. when Hana allegedly told him that her boyfriend, "Hit her and she stabbed him." The neighbor didn't see any blood on her and she didn't have anything with her except her son.
Hana Bihi was placed in handcuffs by officers, whom she gave permission to search her apartment. Officers say that Hana had an, "Obvious injury to her eye, which was swollen."
Inside her apartment, officers located a knife believed to be the weapon used to stab the victim in the kitchen sink which had soapy water in it. The victim was taken to a local hospital.
At the hospital, an officer spoke with the victim about what happened. The officer could smell an odor of intoxicants from him and his breath.
Earlier in the day, the man recounted, him, Hana and Hana's relative drove to Milwaukee around 10:30 a.m. Before they left, he said he was involved in a disturbance with Hana in which she began punching him in his face. He claimed he had to defend himself, and, "As a result, grabbed her hands and held them there. He states that he did not punch or strike Hana at any point in time during that disturbance."
They left for Milwaukee, and around 11 a.m., Hana allegedly went to, "Jump out of the car and just be crazy." He says they left Hana on the side of the road, were then contacted by authorities to come pick her up. The victim claimed to have, "Picked up meat in Milwaukee and then later drove back to Green Bay."
When they got back around 8 p.m., he found Hana inside the apartment they share. He had left, then came back between 45 minutes and 2 hours later.
According to the complaint, the victim told the officer that, "She was sleeping in her bedroom and that he began sleeping next to her. He states that she just came up and stabbed him with a knife in the back and then also in the right arm." He then walked to the kitchen area from the bedroom where he says that she stabbed him one more time on the right arm and struck him in the head with an unknown object.
The officer was also told that he fell down to the floor for about 20 minutes. He then began, "Asking for his cell phone to call police," which she was reluctant to do but eventually gave it to him. She also started cleaning him up with no success.
The victim also claimed that he drank, "approximately two 16 ounce Natural Ice intoxicating beverages and that Hana had quite a lot of intoxicants."
Meantime, Hana Bihi was taken to the police station. An officer noted that Hana's right eye was, "Very swollen. It appeared she could barely open it. Her bottom lip was a little swollen. Hana had what appeared to be some dried blood on her bottom lip. Hana also appeared to have blood that was still wet in her hair near her left ear."
After initially refusing to speak or provide a statement to police, Hana agreed to tell her side of the story. She told an officer that her and her boyfriend had gotten into a verbal argument about something, "Petty."
Hana says that sometime during the nighttime hours, he physically attacked her. She says she was struck in the face, "Approximately five times." He used both of his hands. She fought back with her fists in an attempt to stop him.
At first, Hana allegedly denied stabbing him. But after about 10 or 15 minutes of talking, Hana said that she stabbed him after he, "Placed his hands on her chest and pushed her backwards." She fell onto the ground in the living room, hitting the back of her head.
She allegedly then walked into the kitchen and grabbed a knife that was sitting on the counter. Hana then told the officer that she, "May have stabbed him more than one time, but she could not remember." Hana then said she went outside for a cigarette, and that's likely when he called police.
Hana was given a preliminary breath test (PBT) and the reading came back as a .265 BAC.
Hana Bihi is due back in Brown County court on September 19 for a status conference. She's currently in the Brown County Jail on a $5,000 bond. If convicted on all counts, Bihi faces nearly 25 years in prison.
WAUPACA/OUTAGAMIE COUNTIES, WI (WTAQ) - There's a hope that a medical crisis known as blastomycosis doesn't repeat itself this summer.
Last year one person died. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services says blastomycosis cases are reported throughout the year across the state but so far, there haven't been any outbreaks in 2016.
Last year's outbreak happened in the Little Wolf River near New London and the State says it had 51 confirmed blastomycosis cases.
Blastomycosis is an infection and according to the Centers for Disease control the fungus lives in the environment like moist soil.
The Waupaca County Department of Health and Human Services says the fungus can be found in lakes or rivers.
Jed Wohlt is with the Waupaca County Public Health and Human Services.
"Be aware that it's out there. There's always a potential you could come into contact with it but as long as you're not disturbing the soil and the leaves and the brush, along the riverbanks, you're going to reduce your risk of exposure"
The symptoms of blastomycosis can include cough, chills, fever and muscle aches.
EPHRAIM, WI (WTAQ) - The Door County Village of Ephraim is entering into a new chapter in its history.
Businesses will start selling beer and wine July 1st, now that doing so is legal.
Voters approved the change in April.
The referendum had two questions on the ballot:
Should businesses be allowed to sell beer?
Yes: 127
No: 98
Should restaurants be allowed to sell wine?
Yes: 152
No: 73
Restaurant owners claimed they were losing business because potential customers, wanting a beer or glass of wine, found other places to go.
Twice before, both many years ago, voters had refused to allow alcohol sales.
Ephraim has been dry since it was founded in 1853.
DE PERE, WI (WTAQ) - Just in time for the holiday weekend, De Pere's VFW Pool is reopening to the public.
The west side swimming pool has been closed since Tuesday when a broken water main was discovered underneath the pool building.
According to city officials, the main pool will reopen at 1 p.m. Friday. However, the kiddie pool remains closed.
STURGEON BAY, WI (WTAQ) - Traffic is now flowing again over the Bayview Bridge in Sturgeon Bay.
Wisconsin DOT officials also announced Friday that Highway 42/57 between the bridge and Egg Harbor Road is back open.
The entire area has been closed since March 1st for the $3 million reconstruction project.
According to officials, minor work will continue this month for areas under the bridge. That work will not impact traffic.
APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) - A house fire in Appleton Thursday afternoon apparently started in a clothes dryer.
Fire crews responded just after 3 p.m. for a report of smoke in the basement and flames coming from a dryer in the 1100 block of W. Harris Street.
The flames were quickly doused in the dryer and surrounding area. Firefighters also used fans to clear smoke from the home.
Two children and one adult were home at the time and no one was hurt.
The fire caused about $2,000 in damage.
MILWAUKEE (WTAQ) - A Milwaukee woman who was placed on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list this week has been captured.
A tweet from the FBI Milwaukee's account Friday stated that Shanika S. Minor has been captured in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
According to a release by the FBI Milwaukee Division, Minor was arrested by the Cumberland County Sheriff's Office at a motel near the airport in Fayetteville. At 1:28 a.m. Friday, the FBI Public Access Line contacted the Cumberland County Emergency Communications Center to inform them of info received regarding the possible whereabouts of Minor.
Sheriff's deputies responded to the motel based upon the tip and took Minor into custody without incident. She's currently being held at the Cumberland County Detention Center.
Minor was added to the "Ten Most Wanted Fugitives" list on Tuesday for her alleged involvement in the shooting death of a mother and her unborn child. She's the 10th female to be placed on that list.
APPLETON, WI (WTAQ) - A suicide attempt at the Outagamie County Jail Thursday night has one inmate hospitalized in intensive care.
According to the Outagamie County Sheriff's Office, the 29-year-old hanged himself with a bedsheet. During a routine check of all inmates, jail employees found him around 9:30 p.m.
Corrections officers and nursing staff gave him CPR until paramedics arrived to take him to the hospital.
The inmate, whose name has not been released, had previously been observed around 8:40 p.m.
Sheriff's officials say he's been jailed since February 2. He was sentenced on June 6 for an undisclosed crime and was scheduled to be released October 28.
FOX CROSSING, WI (WTAQ) - Officials with Canadian National Railroad say they're closing a railroad crossing in the Fox Valley later this month.
The crossing on American Drive, between Cold Spring and Green Bay roads in the Village of Fox Crossing, will start 7 a.m. July 11 and is expected to last through July 15 or 16.
Crews with CN are rebuilding the railroad crossing.
The detour, according to the village's street department, takes drivers along Jacobsen Road, Highway CB, either Highway II or Constitution Drive and Independence Road.
GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) - Before drivers hit the road for the Fourth of July holiday weekend, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation want to remind you about some potential areas where traffic backups are expected.
All construction will be suspended at noon on Friday until Tuesday morning July 5. However, there is the potential for slowdowns and backups on main highways and interstates in Brown, Marinette, Manitowoc and Winnebago counties due to traffic control devices, detours and ramp and lane closures.
Here is a list of road construction projects that may affect highway travel:
1) I-41/I-43 interchange and I-43 in Brown County:
2) I-41 mainline in Brown County:
3) Highway 172 and I-41 interchange in Brown County:
4) Highway 172 in Brown County:
5) I-43 in Manitowoc County:
6) U.S. Highway 141 in Marinette County:
7) U.S. Highway 10 in Winnebago County:
You can find out more information on work zones and incidents at the 511 Wisconsin website.
BROWN COUNTY, WI (WTAQ) - Three men have been arrested in the past two weeks by the Brown County Sheriff's Department for crimes against children using the internet.
In a statement by the sheriff's office, multiple unrelated investigations took place through information gathered by investigators of individuals that were going to sexually assault a child under the age of 16.
According to deputies, 49-year-old Ronald V. Tiber, 23-year-old Dustin L. Fruzyna and 37-year-old Ryan P. Larsen were arrested on charges of use of a computer to facilitate a child sex crime and child enticement. Larsen is also facing a charge of trafficking a child.
The investigations are part of the continued mission to stop the exploitation of children over the internet, officials say.
Investigations for all three men are ongoing and the sheriff's office worked in cooperation with the Green Bay Police Department, De Pere Police Department and Ashwaubenon Public Safety.
The Brown County Sheriff's Department is asking the public to speak to their children and assist in identifying more victims that may have been assaulted by these men. Any information relating to these cases should be referred to the Brown County Sheriff's Office Internet Crimes against Children Division at (920) 448-4230.
Parents are also reminded to check their children's phones and social media accounts often to protect their children and others from illegal activity.
MANITOWOC, WI (WTAQ) - The city of Manitowoc has taken ownership of the former Mirro Building.
That's according to Mayor Justin Nickels, who spoke about the move to officials take over the building at 1512 Washington Street.
Back in June 2015, the Manitowoc City Council voted to order E.J. Spirtas Manitowoc LLC to tear down the building.
The seven-story building housed the former aluminum cookware plant, which closed in 2003. It has been empty since.
Last December, FOX 11 reported Nickels hoped to have demolition start sometime this year, when a new apartment project was scheduled for completion. Those apartments, known as the Artist Lofts, are in the old Plant No. 3 building on Franklin St.
MADISON, WI (Wisconsin Radio Network) - The state Republican Party is making some changes to the list of delegates it plans to send to the national convention in Cleveland later this month.
About a half-dozen delegates and alternates are being changed, which includes the removal of Lt. Governor Rebecca Kleefisch and Bradley Foundation CEO Mike Grebe as delegates.
Assembly Republican Leader Jim Steineke (R-Kaukana), former Governor Scott McCallum, former U.S. Rep. Mark Green and David Karst round out the list of alternate delegates who have been replaced.
New additions to the list include State Senator Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) and party GOP activist Don Taylor.
All 18 of the state’s at-large delegates are pledged to Ted Cruz, after the Texas senator won the state’s primary in April.
The Republican National Convention takes place July 18-21 in Cleveland, Ohio.
