VIROQUA, Wis. (WFRV) – A western Wisconsin man was arrested after allegedly making frequent harassing, intimidating, and profane telephone calls to a local sheriff’s office communications center.
According to the Vernon County Sheriff’s Office, 51-year-old Jacob Tomas Sell of La Farge was taken into custody on the morning of December 19 around 6:30 a.m. after showing up at the Sheriff’s Office, disrupting staff who were busy during a winter storm.
Before reportedly disrupting the Sheriff’s Office in person, Sell allegedly made a “barrage of harassing, intimidating, and profane telephone calls to the Sheriff’s Office Communications Center” frequently in the days leading up to Thursday.
Sell was booked into the Sheriff’s Office Detention Center for Unlawful Use of Telephone, Disorderly Conduct, and Harassment. He appeared in Vernon County Circuit Court on Thursday, at 1 p.m., and was released on a $1,000 signature bond.
Jacob Tomas Sell, 51
That bond reportedly carries the following conditions:
- No contact with the Village of La Farge Police Chief unless it is an emergency
- No contact with the Village of La Farge Police Chief’s residence nor the Chief’s family
- No contact with the Village of La Farge Police Department unless it is an emergency and only after calling 911
- No contact with the Village of La Farge village hall or employees except by mail for official business
- No contact with the Vernon County Sheriff’s Office unless it is an emergency
- Sell is allowed to contact the Sheriff’s Office by mail for official business
- The court specifically included Dispatch and Corrections in the no-contact prohibition
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Sell is due back in court on January 8, 2025. Deputies say that formal charges will be sought through the Vernon County District Attorney.
Besides the defendant’s constitutionally protected presumption of innocence, I would like to thank not only my deputies who took an oath but all staff who worked tirelessly, in many difficult situations to protect the defendant’s First Amendment right to free speech. Again, I want to thank my staff for their dedication, patience, and highest level of professionalism in communicating with the defendant as he expressed his grievances.
Sheriff Roy Torgerson, Vernon County Sheriff’s Office
No additional information was provided.
