Bruce Vielmetti

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A 79-year-old Wisconsin man who was arrested when two dozen deputies brought an armored vehicle to his home to enforce a civil judgment has settled his civil rights claim against Marathon County for $90,000.

Law enforcement's show of force at Roger Hoeppner's home in 2014 made national news after it was reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The use of the military-style vehicle, in particular, drew attention in the wake of similar trucks being deployed by police in cities like Ferguson, Missouri, during clashes with demonstrators protesting shootings of unarmed men.

RELATED: Armored vehicle helps collect a civil judgment in a small town

RELATED: Ticket arrives 25 days after armored vehicle came calling

Hoeppner owed the Town of Stettin, outside Wausau, more than $80,000 in accumulated fines and penalties over his storage of pallets and equipment on his property. He had been found in contempt by a judge for missing deadlines to clean up the property.

Officials defended the number of deputies and use of the surplus military truck because of Hoeppner's long-running dispute with the town, and his son's pantomiming a gunshot during an earlier encounter at their home.

Hoeppner wound up arrested, taken to his bank and ordered to withdraw $80,000 to avoid the deputies and tow companies taking the equipment on his property.

Last year, he sued the town, its chairman, the county and several sheriff's officials claiming violations of his Fourth and First Amendment rights. The town defendants were dismissed from the case against the county and various deputies had been scheduled for trial when it was settled in late October.

Hoeppner's attorney, Jeff Scott Olson of Madison, said a mediator helped both sides reach the settlement on the same day that a federal judge issued her order on summary judgment motions.

U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb dismissed Hoeppner's claim that the decision to enforce the civil judgment with so many deputies and the armored vehicle was unreasonable but said his claims that he was arrested without probable cause and that deputies violated his First and Fourth Amendment rights when they seized his phone and camera should go to a jury.

Olson said Hoeppner and his wife, Marjorie, still live at their home on Highway 29, and that Hoeppner still deals in pallets and old equipment, but without the conflict he used to have.

"I think the town's enforcement priorities have changed since the board turned over," Olson said.

All Town of Stettin board members were voted out of office in April 2015.

RELATED:Judge rules againstresident in Stettin controversy

RELATED:Town of Stettin near Wausau settles First Amendment lawsuit

In 2015, a federal jury found that former town chairman Matthew Wasmundt did not violate Hoeppner’s First Amendment rights by stopping him from addressing the Town Board for being disruptive and repetitive.