Timothy Olson found guilty of kidnapping woman, other crimes

Timothy Olson found guilty at trial

A Milwaukee County jury on Saturday found Timothy Olson, the man once dubbed the "Ripoff Romeo," guilty of kidnapping a woman at gunpoint.

MILWAUKEE - A Milwaukee County jury on Saturday found Timothy Olson, the man once dubbed the "Ripoff Romeo," guilty of kidnapping a woman at gunpoint and other crimes.

In court

The verdict:

Prosecutors charged the 55-year-old man with kidnapping, two counts of burglary, misappropriating ID info and misdemeanor resisting/obstructing an officer in the case. He was accused of kidnapping the victim, who was 79 years old at the time, at gunpoint on the day before Thanksgiving 2022.

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The jury had the case for roughly an hour before it delivered its verdict, finding Olson guilty on all five counts.

What's next:

Court records show Olson is scheduled to be sentenced on March 17.

Saturday's proceedings

What they're saying:

Olson is defending himself at trial. He took the stand to start Saturday's proceedings, but after a few minutes, Judge Kristy Yang removed him for violating the rules of the courtroom. He was barred from testifying further.

There were multiple delays throughout the trial, which officially began with jury selection and opening statements on Tuesday. Yang chastised Olson throughout the week for not following courtroom rules.

Following Olson's testimony on Saturday, the prosecution and defense each delivered their closing arguments. 

Closing arguments in Timothy Olson trial

The state and defense delivered closing arguments in the trial of Timothy Olson, the man accused of kidnapping a woman at gunpoint, on Saturday, March 14.

"You heard (the victim) talk about what happened. She talked about how it now appears in her nightmares almost every night and why she's able to remember what happened in pretty good clarity considering it's been three-and-a-half years and she is 82 years old," said Sara Sadowski, assistant district attorney.

"This is a very serious charge, and I would hope that you would all look at everything and know that I'm not the one lying. There's things that were lied about, and I've tried to get this out for quite some time," Olson said.

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After the jury's guilty verdict was read, Olson reiterated his motion to dismiss the charges and said he wanted a mistrial.

While Olson represented himself at trial, an attorney was seated next to him the entire time. That attorney was appointed by the court at Olson's request, but he did not have much leeway in fighting Olson's case. FOX6 News asked the attorney for comment on Olson's behalf, but he did not want to talk.

Complete coverage

Dig deeper:

FOX6 News covered the lead-up to and each day of the Olson trial. Read or watch more of what played out in court each day.

• March 13: Olson testifies in his own defense
• March 12: Police officers, burglary victims take the stand
• March 11: Kidnapping victim testifies despite 'shenanigans' from man accused
• March 10: Jury selected, opening statements shared in kidnapping trial
• Milwaukee kidnapping trial, 'Ripoff Romeo' competent to proceed