SHAWANO, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Additional charges of bail jumping and disorderly conduct were filed Friday against campground owner Ann Retzlaff for her actions Wednesday while she was being arrested on outstanding warrants for a charges related to a traffic stop a year ago.
Retzlaff, 53, is charged with eluding an officer, recklessly endangering safety, and resisting in connection with a May 15 traffic stop. After missing two court dates last fall, a warrant was issued for her arrest. That arrest happened Wednesday at the Harvest Restaurant in Wittenberg.
“Ann was very confrontational during our contact and was yelling very loudly in the restaurant,” said Deputy Matt Higgins, according to the criminal complaint.
Another deputy also said Retzlaff was confrontational, saying “she was going to sue the officers involved in this incident, called officers Nazis and domestic terrorists,” the complaint states.
She was charged with two misdemeanor counts of disorderly conduct, one felony count of bail jumping, and one misdemeanor count of bail jumping.
During an initial appearance Friday from jail by video before Marathon County Judge Michael Moran, Retzlaff continued to object to the jurisdiction of the court, saying she was “sovereign being of light.”
A signature bond was issued on the new charges.
Retzlaff wanted to address the $25,000 cash bond set Thursday on the underlying case, but Judge Moran noted that under the victims’ rights Constitutional amendment, a five-day notice has to be given to the victims that the issue would be addressed. Since no notice was given, it couldn’t be discussed, the judge said.
Retzlaff returns to court May 2 for preliminary hearings on both cases. Bond may addressed then, or possibly before, if she submits a motion and a hearing can be scheduled.
Retzlaff owns Annie’s Campground, near Gresham. At various stages of interactions with police and courts, she has claimed to be a “sovereign citizen” who was not subject to the jurisdiction of police or the courts.
In the case the arrest warrant was issued for, police tried to pull Retzlaff over for failure to stop at a traffic light on May 15, but she did not pull over, the complaint states. Eventually, traffic stop spikes were deployed, flattening her tires, and the vehicle stopped. An officer advised her to get out of the vehicle.
“She stated she did not do anything wrong, and she was being wrongfully stopped. She stated she is a sovereign citizen and will not step out of the vehicle,” the complaint states.
A deputy tried to pry a vehicle door open when Retzlaff put the vehicle in gear to drive away. Two deputies had to move out of the way to avoid being hit by the vehicle, it states.
The vehicle was stopped a second time. A deputy “broke the driver window with his baton. The door was then opened, and Ann was taken from the vehicle and escorted to the ground. She was secured in handcuffs,” the complaint states.
Retzlaff told police she was rescuing an employee from sex traffickers, which is why she didn’t stop for police, and maintained she didn’t do anything wrong.
Retzlaff has been in trouble with the law before. In 2020, she was ticketed for unlawful use of a telephone for posing as a Shawano County sheriff’s deputy. Her campground also came under fire earlier that year for ignoring protocols to slow the spread of COVID-19.
For her November court hearing, Retzlaff sent multiple messages to the court, arguing she feared appearing in court to the COVID-19 pandemic, and asserting the court did not have jurisdiction over her. Judge Kussel rejected the arguments as improperly filed, and noting they did not cite any proper legal authority.
Retzlaff also filed notice with the court she had filed suit through the so-called Unified United States Common Law Grand Jury, demanding the criminal case against her be halted. After the filing, Shawano County Judge William Kussel removed himself from the felony case, prompting the assignment to Judge Moran.
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