The owner of a wine bar in Albert Lea that has remained open in defiance of Governor Tim Walz’s COVID-19 decrees has been arrested in Iowa.
Clear Lake, Iowa, police arrested Melissa “Lisa” Hanson at 3:20 p.m. Thursday, April 28, and she was held in Cerro Gordo County Jail, Clear Lake PD told Bring Me The News. She was released hours later after posting bail, said JD Carlson, director of Albert Lea Public Safety.
The 56-year-old owns the Interchange Wine and Coffee Bistro in Albert Lea and has spoken out strongly against the governor’s decrees. After posting that her wine bar was open in defiance of COVID restrictions in December and January, she was charged with nine felony offenses (each punishable by a fine of up to $ 1,000 and 90 days in jail).
Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison also filed a lawsuit against her, in which she incurs a fine of $ 9,000.
She had a bail hearing on March 10 related to the misdemeanor charges, but she did not show up. Two arrest warrants were issued for her, and she had been on the run for several weeks until she was arrested on Thursday. walking on Clear Lake beach.
Freeborn County Sheriff Kurt Freitag said Hanson was under surveillance by Sheriff’s Assistants and the Albert Lea Police Department after learning she was staying at an Airbnb she had rented in Clear Lake, Iowa , says the Star Tribune. She was seen leaving Airbnb, when she was arrested.
“She should never have brought him to this level,” Freitag told the newspaper.
Hanson called the warrants illegal in an interview with Albert Lea Tribune earlier this week, claiming she did not attend the March 10 hearing because she did not receive an official summons. She told the newspaper that she left her home so that “injustice could not be done against me” and prevent her from working on the cases against her.
In a live Facebook interview with Action 4 Liberty after being released from prison, Hanson called the warrant “invalid” and asked how much the state and county were spending to find her.
Freitag and other officials told media she had legally received the summons.
She told the Star Tribune that she plans to speak at the “Stand for Liberty” rally and fundraiser for her legal fees. The event, scheduled for Saturday at the Fountain Lake Park lookout in Albert Lea, was planned before his arrest.
Among those planning to attend are Republican state lawmakers and candidate for governor and former state senator Scott Jensen.
In March, Hanson sued the City of Albert Lea, City of Albert Lea, Governor Walz and others over the state decrees and their enforcement, the Albert Lea Tribune reported.
Hanson told the Star Tribune after her release from prison on Thursday that she planned to sue an unknown number of people for $ 100,000 each for keeping her in custody for two hours.
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