(FRANKLIN, Wisc.) — The arrest of a man accused of financially preying on women he meets through dating apps followed weeks of warnings from Wisconsin police to be on the lookout for the alleged perpetrator.
It also came as the man — 52-year-old Timothy Olson — was being sought for questioning in the recent death of a woman he was with at a South Milwaukee bar when she fell unconscious, dying days later, according to police. She was the third woman to have fallen unconscious while in his presence, according to police. Her death is under investigation and it is not known at this time if any crime has been committed, police said.
Olson was arrested in Franklin, Wisconsin, on Tuesday after allegedly committing three burglaries in the city, including one involving a 79-year-old woman who rebuffed him in a bar. A warrant was also out for his arrest on personal identity theft charges after he allegedly withdrew hundreds of dollars from a date’s bank account in September.
“We’re glad he’s off the street,” Franklin Police Chief Rick Oliva told reporters Tuesday. “There’s no doubt this person would continue to do what he did until caught.”
As multiple investigations involving Olson are underway, here’s what we know so far.
Sept. 2
A woman who resides in Mount Pleasant, a village in Racine County, goes on a date with Olson that allegedly ends with him stealing her debit card and withdrawing $800 from her account, according to a criminal complaint. The woman was only identified by her initials in the complaint.
The victim connected with Olson on Match.com, where he reportedly went by the name “Tim Wilson,” according to the complaint. She had met him in person once or twice before this date, during which they visit several establishments in Racine, Zion, Mount Pleasant and Caledonia, according to the complaint. At around 10 p.m. she asks him to drive because she is tired and “she soon blacked out,” according to the complaint. The woman doesn’t remember anything else from that night and believes she might have been drugged, according to the complaint.
When she wakes up, she discovers Olson had taken her car, according to the complaint. When she contacts him about it, he claims he can’t remember anything from the night and suggests she drugged him, according to the complaint. He allegedly tells her he left the car at an Applebee’s and she is able to retrieve it there.
At some point the victim also discovered four unauthorized withdrawals on her debit card totaling $800 from two gas stations, prompting her to contact law enforcement, according to the complaint. She initially thought her card was stolen from a bar that night, though surveillance footage allegedly captured Olson withdrawing the funds from ATMs at both locations — on Sept. 2 at around 10 p.m. and Sept. 3 at around 6 a.m., according to the complaint.
Detectives with the Mount Pleasant Police Department were unable to locate Olson’s Match.com profile and believe he deactivated the account, the complaint stated.
Nov. 9
A warrant is issued for Olson’s arrest in connection with the Sept. 2 incident, court records show. He faces multiple counts of felony personal ID theft for financial gain, according to the criminal complaint. The complaint notes that Olson goes by several aliases, including Timothy Wilson.
The Racine Police Department issues a safety alert regarding Olson to “caution the women in Racine County and get the public’s help in locating a male subject who has met women on dating apps and victimizes them, resulting in financial loss.”
“The Racine Police Department is looking to speak to Olson regarding a similar incident out of our jurisdiction,” the department said. A spokesperson later confirmed to ABC News they are unable to share any further details due to the ongoing investigation.
Nov. 17
Olson is with 55-year-old Kim Mikulance when she loses consciousness at Powers on 10th, a South Milwaukee bar, according to local police. Mikulance suffers an “unknown medical emergency” at the bar and is transported to a local hospital, police said.
Surveillance video shows Olson and Mikulance, a Cudahy resident who was a regular at Powers on 10th, sitting together at the bar before she loses consciousness, police said.
“I saw the look on her face and I saw she was holding a drink and she kind of started leaning back,” Sam Anderson, who was bartending at the time, told ABC Milwaukee affiliate WISN. “She was in here for maybe five minutes until she hit the ground.”
Nov. 21
The Racine Police Department updates its initial safety alert to say that Olson has been linked to “another woman in a bar who fell unconscious while in his presence” on Nov. 17 — the incident at Powers on 10th, a spokesperson for the department confirms.
This marks the third woman Racine police are aware of from other jurisdictions who “ended up unconscious while being in Timothy Olson’s presence,” the department said.
Nov. 22
Mikulance dies at the hospital, according to police. Her death is under investigation by the South Milwaukee Police Department, which is awaiting autopsy results. Olson is a person of interest in the investigation and is being sought for questioning, police say.
“At this time, the investigation is ongoing and it is not known if any crime has occurred, or if this incident is related to any other investigations by other jurisdictions,” the department said.
Nov. 23
Olson allegedly finds his next victim at a bar in Franklin, a city in Milwaukee County. He approaches a 79-year-old woman at an unidentified establishment and offers to buy her a drink, though she declines, according to Oliva. When she leaves, he allegedly approaches her in the parking lot with a gun, forces her into her car and holds her “for a number of hours,” Oliva said. They drive to at least one ATM and he allegedly takes her cards and withdraws cash, according to Oliva.
Nov. 28
Olson is spotted in Franklin at a business on South 27th Street at night, according to local police.
Nov. 29
Officers spot a man believed to be Olson pushing a bicycle on the 7000 block of South 35th Street in Franklin at around 10:15 a.m. local time, according to Oliva. As officers approach, he flees into a nearby condominium complex and after a “brief struggle” is tased and taken into custody, according to Oliva.
He faces charges of kidnapping, burglary and identity theft stemming from the Nov. 23 incident in Franklin, Oliva says. Prior to his arrest, Olson was allegedly involved in at least two burglaries in Franklin, according to Oliva.
While in custody of the Franklin Police Department, Olson is interviewed by detectives from the police departments in Franklin, Racine and South Milwaukee, according to Oliva.
Olson is being held by the Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office, online records show. It is unclear if he has an attorney who can speak on his behalf.
Police across the jurisdictions are continuing to work through evidence.
“These are active investigations,” Oliva said. “There’s a lot of evidence to be processed.”
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