Judge declines to dismiss case against GC man charged with 5th OWI for driving moped in Menomonie
PROTECTED CONTENT
If you’re a current subscriber, log in below. If you would like to subscribe, please click the subscribe tab above.
Username and Password Help
Please enter your email and we will send your username and password to you.
By LeAnn R. Ralph
MENOMONIE — A Dunn County judge has declined to dismiss the case against a 45-year-old Glenwood City man charged with a fifth offense of operating a vehicle while intoxicated in connection with driving a moped in Menomonie.
Nathan S. Voeltz appeared in Dunn County Circuit Court September 13 before Judge Rod W. Smeltzer with his attorney, Samantha Richie, on a motion to dismiss the charges against Voeltz.
Voeltz is charged with two felony counts of possession of marijuana and a fifth offense OWI and two misdemeanor counts of possessing drug paraphernalia and operating a vehicle while his driver’s license is revoked.
Judge Smeltzer denied the motion to dismiss and scheduled the case for a preliminary hearing December 3 at 3:15 p.m.
According to the criminal complaint, at around 5 p.m. May 18, the Menomonie Police Department received a report of a man who had possibly fallen off his moped and was bleeding from the face.
When an officer arrived, he found the man was in the 2200 block of the Stokke Trail in Menomonie and appeared to be intoxicated and to have a head injury.
When a second officer arrived, he observed that the man, identified as Voeltz, was on the ground and actively resisting the first police officer and personnel from the Menomonie Fire Department. Voeltz was handcuffed, and because he would not cooperate, had to be placed on the fire department’s gurney and secured, according to the complaint.
Officers detected the odor of marijuana and alcohol coming from Voeltz, the complaint states.
The first officer reported that when he had arrived on the scene, Voeltz was still straddling his moped after it had tipped over.
Voeltz eventually began walking away from the officer, and the officer noticed there was a can of beer in the cup holder on the moped.
An unidentified man and woman on the scene told officers they were biking on the trail and had found Voeltz and called 911. They told officers they had not witnessed the crash, and they did not know the man.
According to the complaint, “they had to be released without identifying, due to the male regaining consciousness and becoming uncooperative and combative.”
The criminal complaint also describes Voeltz as being “verbally defiant.”
Judge Smeltzer set bail with a $1,000 signature bond on May 21 and ordered Voeltz, as a condition of bail, not to consume any alcohol.