Crime & Safety

Police Report: Man Exhibits Less Than Total Recall in Yard Sign 'Prank'

Walker sign catches Lomira man's eye, but vigilant bystander catches him in the act of stealing it.

In a confusing case of political incorrectness, an out-of-towner passing through Tosa decided to steal a “Recall Walker” yard sign, but it was never clear whether he wanted such a sign for himself, or wanted the owner not to have it, or perhaps whether he just thought it clever to take it.

At 2:12 p.m. Saturday, a 45-year-old Lomira, WI, man was seen trying to steal the recall sign from a yard in the 500 block of Elmspring Avenue. A woman who was visiting in the neighborhood saw him from her car pulling up the sign and called out to him, asking him what he was doing.

She said he shouted back that he just wanted to know where to get one for himself, then walked toward her. She rolled up her window, fearing a confrontation, and he began to pound on the window, she said. He then got into the passenger door of a minivan and left.

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But the woman took a picture of the man’s license plate, and police were able to locate the man by phone. He told an officer he was returning with his 16-year-old daughter from a walk/run in downtown Milwaukee and decided to “play a prank.” He said he told his daughter to pull over and he would stand by the yard sign.

The officer told him he did not follow how just standing in someone else’s yard next to a sign amounted to a prank, and then the man admitted he was trying to steal the sign – although he didn’t say why.

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Police mailed him a municipal citation for trespassing.

In other recent incidents:

Sunday

At 4:23 p.m., a 15-year-old Milwaukee boy was arrested for defrauding a restaurant after he was detained in the 1500 block of North 60th Street and then identified as one of six juveniles who had just left restaurant, 6750 W. State St., without paying their bill. The six consumed $76.14 worth of food and drinks and then ran out an emergency exit. The boy taken into custody refused to give police any information about his accomplices.

Saturday

At 9:20 p.m., a 24-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested for disorderly conduct after he was reported by a resident for urinating in public at the bus stop at North 60th Street and West North Avenue.

At 9:05 p.m., a Wauwatosa teenager reported that a man had pointed a gun at him while they were both driving east on West North Avenue at Swan Boulevard. He had seen the car swerving back and forth two blocks earlier, and when he pulled up next to it at Swan, he said, the driver pointed a silver handgun at him. He thought the car was a black Chevy Impala but did not believe he would recognize the car or driver if he saw them again.

At 6:15 p.m., a 21-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested for theft at at Mayfair Mall after he was seen concealing two pairs of jeans in a bag and trying to leave the store without paying for them. The True Religion brand jeans he coveted sell for $300 apiece.

At 2:54 p.m., a 25-year-old Milwaukee man was arrested for battery at , 2201 N. Mayfair Rd., after he allegedly attacked a fellow employee, a 36-year-old Milwaukee woman. The woman said that she was sitting at a table in the stockroom when the suspect walked in and cursed her. When she asked him not to speak to her anymore, she said, he grabbed her by the hair and drove her face down onto the table. She said she then pushed him away, and he grabbed her purse and swung it at her, hitting her hard in the side of the face. The man was on probation for a narcotics conviction and was working at Dave & Buster’s on Huber release.

At 9:33 a.m., a Wauwatosa woman reported that some time in the past hour her car had been broken into at the , 8700 Watertown Plank Rd., and property had been stolen. Both the front passenger side window and the rear driver’s side window had been smashed, and her purse and work bag were missing, along with their contents including her wallet. When she called her bank, she was told that transactions had already been made on her credit card.

Friday

At 8:19 p.m., a 17-year-old boy from Denver, CO, was arrested for theft at , 6950 W. State St., after he was seen hiding two bottles of Jim Beam whiskey down his pants and caught trying to leave with them.

At 7 p.m., two customers of , 2885 N. Mayfair Rd., reported that their lockers had been broken into and their wallets stolen. In each case they had locked the lockers, one with a combination lock and the other with a padlock. Both locks were missing, and the victims lost cash and credit cards. A suspect was seen on video footage of the desk area entering without registering just after the cashier stepped away to put away some weights. The suspect then entered the men’s locker room and came back out and left after about four minutes.

Thursday

At 6:21 p.m., the Tosa police officer assigned to Mayfair Mall duty was called to check on a fight near the center court. The officer found that an 18-year-old Milwaukee woman had been set upon by a known 17-year-old Milwaukee girl with whom she has had trouble in the past. The suspect called on five friends who were with her as they beat, kicked and pulled out the hair of the victim in the middle of the mall. Police were seeking the suspect through her last known address in Milwaukee.

At 5:27 p.m., an Oconomowoc woman reported that her car had been stolen from the parking lot of , 10950 W. Potter Rd. She remembered locking the car before going to class. Police found no broken glass or other evidence at the scene.


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