A 57-year-old Chicago woman has been sentenced to 60 days in jail, 12 months of probation and 60 hours of public service after a jury found she falsely claimed to one Ogle County dispatcher that she had witnessed a shooting near a Rochelle rodeo site and asked another whether police would investigate if she said she had. Jodie Wiederkehr was also sentenced to 10 days in jail for misdemeanor harassment by telephone, a term that will run alongside her other jail time.
Dozens of Calls Over a Fabricated Shooting
According to MyStateline, Wiederkehr was sentenced to 60 days in jail, followed by 12 months of probation and 60 hours of public service, for felony disorderly conduct involving a false report. The outlet reports that the 10-day jail term for misdemeanor harassment by telephone stems from a separate conviction tied to the same string of calls. Per the Ogle County State’s Attorney’s Office, the jail sentences will be served at the same time.
Prosecutors said Wiederkehr called Ogle County dispatchers 27 times on May 25, 2025, and told dispatcher Taylor Burke she had seen someone get shot at 16989 Ritchie Road, south of Rochelle, while asking dispatcher Susan Anders whether police would investigate if she said she had, even though she knew that wasn’t true, according to Shaw Local. A deputy who responded to the location found no evidence that anyone had been shot, the station's report notes.
A Motive Tied to Animal Cruelty Complaints
The reasoning behind the fabricated report, as laid out in court, traces back to frustration over unrelated complaints. Wiederkehr testified that after 17 calls, police continued to refuse to respond to her reports of animal cruelty, so she said she saw someone get shot because she thought it would cause a response, per the same account from Shaw Local.
The calls concerned a rodeo location near Rochelle, where Wiederkehr has previously been a vocal critic of how such events treat animals. The dispute over the fabricated shooting report unfolded against the backdrop of that broader controversy, though the jury's verdict addressed only the calls themselves.
Split Verdict From the Jury
The case went to a jury that returned a mixed result. Sources differ on the exact date of the verdict: MyStateline reports the jury found Wiederkehr guilty of one count of disorderly conduct (false report) and one count of harassment by telephone on June 17, 2026, while Shaw Local reported the jury found her guilty of one count of false reporting, a Class 4 felony, and one count of misdemeanor harassment by telephone on June 16, 2026.
Jurors found Wiederkehr not guilty of a second count of disorderly conduct involving a false report, according to MyStateline's reporting on the case.
Defense Calls the Prosecution Retaliatory
Wiederkehr's attorneys with the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project and the People’s Law Office pushed back hard against the case itself, framing it as payback rather than justice. Her defense argued the case was a vindictive prosecution in retaliation for Wiederkehr's criticism of law enforcement for failing to act.
No additional detail on the judge's full reasoning for the sentence has been made public, and Wiederkehr's attorney said they would seek review in a higher court.
