Woman Leaves 26 Harassing Phone Calls ... For Herself, Police Say

A 34-year-old Milwaukee woman is accused of telling police a tall tale in an apparent attempt to get an acquaintance of hers in hot water.

It backfired.

Sara Schmidt was charged in Milwaukee County Circuit Court with one count of knowingly violating a harassment injunction/temporary restraining order and obstructing an officer. The misdemeanors carry a combined maximum sentence of approximately 1 year of imprisonment, $11,000 in fines, or both.

According to the criminal complaint, on April 2, Schmidt reported to police while she was in the parking lot of the YMCA, 11311 W. Howard Ave., she was attacked by two women. One of them said, “(The victim) got his way.”

Schmidt told Greenfield police the women had punched her. An officer, however, noticed scratches on the back of Schmidt’s hand and her forearms, injuries that were not consistent with the kind of attack Schmidt described.

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Court documents say Schmidt told police the victim was an acquaintance, but both she and the victim had temporary injunctions against each other. Schmidt had also been served with a harassment injunction that prohibited third party contact and making false reports against the victim, effective for four years.

Schmidt claimed the victim had made several harassing phone calls to her and left at least one message the day before. When police listened to the message, it was a low, female voice that said, “Don’t bother showing up for court tomorrow because you will get hurt.”

It turns out the phone calls did not come from the man’s cell phone but rather a pay phone at a Clark gas station near Schmidt’s home.

Police say Schmidt left 26 voicemails for herself from the payphone, including one April 2, that said, “You (expletive), I got (slight pause) … (the victim) got his way anyways, and now you need to (expletive) die.”

Video surveillance shows Schmidt making the calls to herself, according to the complaint filed on April 16.

On April 11, Schmidt was called into the Greenfield police station again, where she was arrested. She admitted that she had been making the phone alls to her own phone and that the “attack” at the YMCA was not real; she had scratched her hand and forearms in the YMCA parking lot, the complaint says.