(Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office)
KENOSHA, Wis. — A Kenosha woman who prosecutors say went on a violent rampage inside a Kenosha gas station, spit on a police officer, and kicked a nurse was only free to do so because, less than 24 hours earlier, Court Commissioner William Michel II released her on a no-cash bond in a separate criminal case—despite prosecutors asking for cash bail. Court insiders say Michel’s continued insistence on releasing dangerous defendants on signature bonds has now become a pattern, and in this case, police say his decision immediately put the community at risk.
(Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office)
On December 22, prosecutors charged Owsha B. Gallagher, 27, of Kenosha, with Throwing or Discharging Bodily Fluids at a Public Safety Worker (a Class I felony), Resisting an Officer, Disorderly Conduct, and Misdemeanor Bail Jumping, after she allegedly stormed into the BP Gas / Kenosha Food Mart at 5145 Sheridan Road with her shirt off, caused chaos inside the business, struck an employee, attempted to bite an officer, kicked a nurse at Aurora Medical Center, and spit twice directly into an officer’s face while being restrained. Police and witnesses described the incident as violent, disruptive, and dangerous.
But what makes this case even more outrageous for many in the criminal justice community is what happened just one day earlier.
On December 21, Gallagher was charged in a domestic violence criminal case after police say she went to the home she shares with her boyfriend and two-year-old child, ripped a television off the wall, threw objects around the residence, broke her boyfriend’s phone, punched and kicked him, and bit him. The boyfriend later told police that he feared Gallagher could seriously injure or even kill him. Gallagher allegedly admitted to drinking, smoking marijuana, and attacking him. Prosecutors charged her with Domestic Abuse Disorderly Conduct, a Class B misdemeanor carrying up to 90 days in jail .
Despite the seriousness of the allegations, Gallagher’s admission of violent behavior, the victim’s stated fear for his life, her admitted mental-health instability, and the presence of a toddler during the incident, District Attorney Xavier Solis’s office requested cash bail to ensure community safety.
Commissioner William Michel II refused.
Instead of requiring even a minimal amount of cash bail, Michel released Gallagher on a no-cash signature bond, ordering only standard conditions—most importantly, that she commit no new crimes. Court insiders tell KCE that prosecutors were deeply concerned with Michel’s decision, warning that Gallagher posed a clear risk to re-offend. Less than 24 hours later, those fears were proven correct, exactly as they predicted.
Police say Gallagher committed the new crimes almost immediately after signing her bond conditions. That very next day, while still under the “no-new-crimes” requirement Michel imposed, Gallagher was back in police custody—this time facing a felony, additional misdemeanors, and accusations of assaulting healthcare workers and spitting on law enforcement. Because of Michel’s refusal to impose cash bail, Gallagher was free in the community to do exactly what prosecutors feared: violently re-offend .
If convicted on all charges in her latest case, Gallagher faces up to five years and three months in prison and more than $30,000 in possible fines. The bail-jumping charge alone exists solely because she violated the conditions Michel put in place just the day before.
According to many within the courthouse, this is part of what they describe as a disturbing pattern from Commissioner Michel—downplaying public-safety risk, disregarding prosecutorial recommendations, and routinely siding with defendants over victims, even when obvious dangers exist. In this case, a no-cash bail decision arguably allowed a violent offender back into the community immediately, and police say the public and frontline workers paid the price.
Gallagher was later taken back into custody and is due in court for a competency hearing on January 7. Whether she remains jailed moving forward—or whether Commissioner Michel once again gambles with public safety—remains to be seen.
18 Responses
Bat shit crazy.
How can we get rid of worthless Michel? He is going to get someone killed!
that is exactly what will happen
Thays the point
This is a perfect example of how horrible our judicial system is. The officers do their jobs and bring offenders in, just to be let out without even a slap on the hand. Something has to change.
Drugs are bad kids mmmkay
That’s a woman?
No one with a Dv related crime should get a signature bond
If you don’t teach them to respect authority when they are young (in schools), why would they have respect for authority when they are are older. Society is failing our upcoming generations.
Absolutely! Starting around 1980
This is my best friend (the boyfriend) they are talking about. he isnt feared for his life. he says he just wants her to get mental help. It was a bad episode gone worse. We genuinely just want her to get help
How about she gets a damn job.
This is Devin Vanbogelen and I’m the man in the case. This is absolutely misleading and wrong. For days before the arrest Owsha was going through some kind of a mental illness and was not herself. Owsha had her ups and downs but this was not like her at all. This was different. The day she got arrested I did call the cops as I felt like I had no choice because I was afraid of her hurting herself as she ran from the home with barely no cloths and no phone on a cold winter day. She sat in jail for a few days and I was told that she had to be separated from the others because she was not mentally okay and can barely speak a full sentence.during her court case her family showed up for her and tried to give her a peice of paper with phone numbers on it because she didn’t have her phone but they denied it. They let he off with a signature bond and her family was going to pick her up and take her to get help. Sounded great to me because that’s the mother of my child and I want nothing more then for her to be okay. Sadly it all went south very fast… her family at court was notified that she will be released after 5pm as that is when they start letting people out. Her family was getting ready to go pick her up when they realized that online it said she got out a little after 4 with no notification. It was already almost 4.40 when they seen it. We got worried because owsha had only shorts on a t shirt and no phone and was going through a bad mental illness during winter. They lied to us all about when she will be released. Sadly when her family showed up owsha was gone and the search began. First 2 cars were out looking for her then 3 then the cops were called to join the search that went for hours. 3 harsh hours later we finally heard that she was found… Sadly the news wasn’t good as she was shirtless yelling I got molested and lost it at a nearby gas station. Someone must of seen her walking and offered a ride and I don’t even want to think about what happened in that car before she mysteriously poped up at a gas station after 3 hours of searching that area. It’s so heartbreaking to think about what happened. This could of all been avoided and she would be at a hospital getting help right now if we were not lied to about when she was getting out. This is seriously disturbing on how they didn’t take a second to even think about what they are doing. It’s the stations fault for lying to us all. All of this is on them. Zero consideration at all for mental illnes. Owsha is a great mother and her daughter wakes up every day looking for her it’s so sad it’s hard to stay strong. Owsha is just sick and she needs help. The system failed her and this is not okay.
I hope she gets the help she needs for your daughters sake. Unfortunately there are limited resources for mental health care. Dont give up and do some research on your own if you have to. You and your family will be in my prayers. Stay strong for her and your daughter.
See the failure in the system? Police came and removed her from the situation to protect you, and her from herself and her mental state. Goes to jail ( not chapter 51 mental detention) and was “not fit” to be with jail inmates…. And still not put on a mental detention… then released with no bail..
What in the actual f@$k? If we need more mental facilities, the state needs to build them. Unfortunately at this time we do. So much mental illness, and they put themselves and others in danger all the time.
How about she stops doing drugs? If she’s locked up as she should be, she’ll get off of them and -walla- she’s sane again!
Drugs are bad. If she does them around the kids, they need to be taken away.
Devin.. She needs to want to get help. Stop blaming everyone else, she assaulted a nurse and resisted officers.Time to be accountable for her own actions, obviously she has mental health issues and I’m sure it’s not something that just occurred overnight. Find her a provider amd hopefully she can be helped.
and who tf are you? stay out of peoples business.