Hit-and-run complaint: Woman told sister she hit Wausau East grad while reaching for phone

Laura Schulte , Karen Madden | Wausau Daily Herald

Show Caption Hide Caption Josie Romero initial appears in court for accused of hit-and-run a Wausau pedestrian Thursday A Wausau woman is jailed on a $150,000 cash bond after she was accused of running down and seriously injuring a pedestrian and then hiding the damaged car in a friend’s garage.

WAUSAU - A Wausau woman is jailed on a $150,000 cash bond after she was accused of running down and seriously injuring a pedestrian and then hiding the damaged car in a friend's garage.

Josie Romero, 27, confessed to her mother the day of the crash that she hit "someone or something" and expected to "be going away for a very long time," according to a criminal complaint.

The suspect also told her sister that she had reached for her phone just before hitting the victim, the complaint said.

Romero was charged Monday with one count of hit and run causing great bodily harm and one count of misdemeanor bail jumping in the crash that left 2014 Wausau East High School graduate Molly Viehweg with life-threatening injuries. The crash happened midday Thursday on North First Avenue on Wausau's northwest side.

Marathon County Assistant District Attorney Sidney Brubacher said the 22-year-old Viehweg hit the windshield and stayed on the hood of the vehicle for a while before she fell off, indicating Romero should have been aware she hit a person.

Brubacher said Romero's desire to make arrangements for her children indicated she intended to flee the area and possibly the country.

Viehweg suffered severe injuries and the case is a serious one, Brubacher said.

"This may very well become a homicide case," he said.

A public defender representing Romero during the Monday court appearance said she didn't know where Brubacher was getting his information — and that Romero turned herself in after police contacted her mother. Romero was arranging to have her children cared for because she feared she was going to jail, the attorney said.

Marathon County Circuit Judge Michael Moran said he was concerned about many of the things he was reading in the criminal complaint filed against Romero. He granted Brubacher's request and set a $150,000 cash bond.

Viehweg had attended Horace Mann Middle School and then Wausau East, where she graduated in 2014 from Wausau East.

"I can just tell you that Molly was an energetic student with a zest for life," said principal Brad Peck.

According to the criminal complaint:

Wausau police responded to a call around 12:30 p.m. Thursday and found Viehweg lying in the roadway at North First Avenue and Knox Street unconscious with injuries to her head. She was transported to Aspirus Wausau Hospital, where she is still in intensive care after undergoing brain surgery.

At the scene, officers recovered part of the suspect vehicle's headlight, and an employee of Brickner's auto dealership of Wausau determined it belonged to a Ford Focus manufactured between 2012 and 2014. Police then used surveillance video from a witness to verify the car was a black Ford Focus, with damage to the passenger side, though the driver and license plate number couldn't be identified.

On Friday, an anonymous tipster told police that the vehicle belonged to Romero and was being driven by her boyfriend, Ethan Novak. The tipster also told police that the vehicle had been taken to Romero's brother, Wilfred Romero, after the crash and that it may have been hidden in Abbotsford. Police confirmed through Department of Transportation records that Josie Romero owned a 2013 black Ford Focus. Police also discovered that Romero had police contact while operating the same vehicle in May.

FIRST REPORT: Hit-and-run victim has 'life threatening' injuries

UPDATE: Suspect arrested in Antigo, car found

Police found that Novak had already been arrested on Friday on an unrelated drunken driving offense and a probation violation. Novak is in the Marathon County Jail.

Later in the day on Friday, police went to a house in the 1200 block of Augusta Avenue in Wausau to look for Josie Romero. Neighbors told officers that they had last seen her the day before, and that the car would typically be parked on the roadway. Romero's employer, Opportunity Inc., confirmed that she had not shown up to work that day, which was "highly unusual," according to the police report.

Police then contacted Romero's mother, who said that Romero had showed up to her house in Antigo on Thursday with her three children and told her that she was "in big trouble and was going away for a long time," according to the complaint. Romero told her mother that she wanted to sign over her children to her mom to care for them. Romero also told her mother that she had hit someone or something and was scared.

Romero told her mother that she returned to the scene of the crash sometime later, but police were already there, so she left. Later that day, Romero's sister confirmed that story to police, and said that Romero had reached down for her phone when she hit Viehweg.

Police spoke with Novak, who said he was at the couple's home caring for Romero's children at the time of the crash. He said he had no knowledge of the crash and that he didn't know where the car was hidden.

Police took Romero into custody on Friday at her mother's house in Antigo. They later discovered, after searching the data contents of her phone, that her car was hidden at the home of her friend, Akaneno Okon, in the 1000 block of North Second Avenue in Wausau.

Okon cooperated with police and allowed them to enter the garage where Romero's car was. The car was noted as having damage to the front end and what appeared to be hair, blood and skin from the crash on the windshield. Police transported the car from the garage, and it is being held by police.

Romero has hearings scheduled for July 27 and Aug. 1. If convicted she faces a maximum of 15 years and 9 months in prison.