Port woman charged after her children say she hurt them

    A 38-year-old Port Washington woman accused by her children of hitting them with a leather belt was charged Tuesday with felony child abuse.

    The woman, who is not being named by Ozaukee Press to protect the identities of her children, faces two counts of physical abuse of a child, a crime punishable by a maximum 1-1/2 years in prison and two years extended supervision.

    According to the criminal complaint filed in Ozaukee County Circuit Court, a 12-year-old boy told authorities that at about 6:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 28, his mother hit him with a leather belt on his forearm at his home.

    A police officer noted a six to eight-inch mark on the boy’s forearm, the complaint states.

    The boy and his sister, who was 13 at the time, said their mother stopped hitting the boy after the girl intervened, according to the complaint.     

    The girl, who turned 14 the day after the incident, said her mother grabbed her by the hair, dragged her out of the house and forced her into a car. The girl said her mother was saying “very bad words to her,” the complaint states.

    The girl told police that her mother drove to Upper Lake Park in Port Washington, where she hit her with a belt, according to the complaint.

    An office reported seeing an “area of slight discoloration” on the girl’s right wrist, the complaint states.

    According to police, the boy called his father shortly after the incident and told him his mother had hit him. The father called police.

    Judge Paul Malloy authorized the release of the woman from jail in lieu of a $1,000 signature bond. He ordered her not to have contact with her children.

    A 38-year-old Saukville woman already in trouble with the law for allegedly forging a check from her ex-fiance was charged Monday with stealing a $2,750 diamond ring from a jewelry store.

    Onyetta M. Kretlow was arrested after she tried to resell the ring, as well as another piece of jewelry, at a shop near the jewelry store shortly after she stole them, according to the criminal complaint filed in Ozaukee County Circuit Court.

    Kretlow was charged this week with one count of felony retail theft, a crime punishable by a maximum 1-1/2 years in prison and two years extended supervision.

    Last week, Kretlow was charged with one count of forgery, a felony punishable by a maximum three years in prison and three years extended supervision.

    According to the complaint in the theft case, an employee of Armbruster Jewelers in Cedarburg told police that on Tuesday, Jan. 15, Kretlow was looking at rings in the store and appeared to be trying to distract the person helping her. At one point, the employee said, Kretlow was seen behind the counter where diamond rings are displayed.

    Kretlow eventually made a purchase and left the store.

    Employees were not aware Kretlow had stolen jewelry until the owner of the nearby Pagoda Fine Jewelry store told them that Kretlow tried to sell her two types of rings sold by Armbruster Jewelers, the complaint states. That’s when employees discovered a $2,750 Hidalgo diamond ring and $195 silver promise ring were missing.

    When the jewelry store called Kretlow in an attempt to recover the jewelry, she said that store employees mistakenly put the rings in the box with the item she purchased, according to the complaint. Kretlow then returned the jewelry.

    Employees told authorities it’s highly unlikely that happened.

    When confronted by police, Kretlow told them a similar story. But after being told that surveillance video showed her behind the counter where the Hidalgo rings are kept, Kretlow admitted to trying to sell the rings but insisted she did not knowingly take them from the store, the complaint states.

    In the forgery case, Kretlow’s ex-fiance told authorities that when the couple was engaged to be married, he wrote a $200 check to a caterer. After the wedding was cancelled, he said, Kretlow told him that she destroyed the check, according to the complaint.
    It was later discovered, however, that Kretlow had written her name over that of the caterer and cashed the check, the complaint states.

Woman accused of saying she ordered ‘a hit’ because of son’s sentence

    A 48-year-old woman has been charged with threatening an Ozaukee County judge for allegedly saying she put “a hit” on him because of the sentence he imposed on her son.

    Shelly A. Froelich of West Allis faces one count of battery or threat to a judge, a felony punishable by a maximum three years in prison and three years extended supervision.

    She’s also charged with one misdemeanor count of unlawful use of a telephone-threatening harm.    

    According to the criminal complaint filed in Ozaukee County Circuit Court, a woman called the county jail on Jan. 16 and asked to speak to Circuit Judge Tom Wolfgram.

    When the deputy who answered the call told her the judge was out of the office but would be in the next day, the woman said, “Good, tell him I have a hit on him,” the complaint states.

    The caller went on to say she was upset by Wolfgram’s treatment of inmates, particularly her son, then hung up, according to the complaint.

    Because of the threat, special police patrols were assigned to watch Wolfgram’s home.

    Authorities traced the call to Froelich, whose son, Jason Twieg, is a jail inmate.

    A detective went to Froelich’s home and was invited in by her husband. Although Froelich denied making the threatening phone call, her husband told the detective he heard his wife talking on the telephone at the time the call to the jail was made and said she has called the jail and made threats before, the complaint states.

    On Jan. 27, 2011, Twieg, a former Belgium resident, was sentenced by Wolfgram to one year in prison and one year in the county jail for violating restraining  orders on multiple occasions, according to court records.

    Ozaukee County Circuit Judge Paul Malloy set Froelich’s bail at $1,000 during a Jan. 17 hearing and ordered her not to have contact with Wolfgram or his home.

    Froelich’s case has been assigned to a Waukesha County judge.