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Truck-building crash leads to felony OWI

An Iola man with four prior drunken driving convictions and a pending OWI case from February 2014 faces a sixth OWI charge after crashing his truck into a Waupaca business.

Charles G. Thiele, 53, is charged with felony OWI, two counts of felony bail jumping and operating after revocation.

At approximately 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 26, Waupaca Police Officer Nathan Nelson was dispatched to the H&R Block on West Fulton Street.

Witnesses told Nelson that a silver pickup truck collided with the building, left the scene and headed west toward the U.S. Highway 10 exit ramp.

Dispatch then informed Nelson that the truck had been seen turning around in the Burger King parking lot on West Fulton and going into the nearby Village Inn parking lot.

Nelson went to the Village Inn and spoke to a witness who pointed out the room where the driver of the pickup had gone. Nelson took Thiele into custody.

A blood test indicated that Thiele had a 0.130 blood-alcohol level, the complaint says.

On Feb. 20, 2014, Thiele was charged with a fifth drunken driving offense and released on a $2,000 signature bond with the condition that he not consume alcohol and comply with Soberlink restrictions.

On March 3, Thiele was charged with felony bail jumping after failing to comply with Soberlink restrictions. He was released on a $2,000 signature bond.

On April 30, Thiele was charged with two misdemeanor counts of issuing worthless checks.

On May 28, Thiele was charged in Dane County with felony stalking. He was convicted on Aug. 13 and sentenced to serve eight months in Waupaca County jail with work release privileges.

Also on May 28, Waupaca County issued a warrant for Thiele’s arrest because he failed to make a court appearance.

On July 23, Thiele appeared in Waupaca County Circuit Court and Judge Raymond Huber revoked all of his signature bonds and set a $5,000 cash bail.

On Nov. 12, Judge Philip Kirk amended Thiele’s bond to a $2,000 cash bail, which Thiele posted.

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