Prosecutors charge Wisconsin legislator Sylvia Ortiz-Velez with disorderly conduct

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Prosecutors charged Wisconsin state Rep. Sylvia Ortiz-Velez with disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor tied to a feud over who was involved in drafting resolutions honoring Hispanics, according to a criminal complaint filed in Milwaukee County. If convicted, Ortiz-Velez could face up to 90 days in jail, court records show.

The charge centers on a dispute that, prosecutors said, began in August as Democrats were preparing resolutions for Hispanic Heritage Month in September, including measures honoring Hispanic heritage and Hispanic veterans. Ortiz-Velez, a Milwaukee Democrat, grew angry because she believed the legislator drafting the heritage resolution had intentionally excluded her from working on it, the complaint said.

Prosecutors said Ortiz-Velez had been invited in June to work on the resolution but chose not to participate; she nevertheless still wanted to help draft the language, according to the complaint. The complaint said the legislator involved in the drafting was not named in the charging document.

Ortiz-Velez also contacted media outlets to say she had been intentionally excluded from the resolution, according to the complaint. The complaint further said she told the resolution’s author that she felt excluded from working on another resolution drafted by the same legislator, which honored Hispanic veterans, noting that her late husband was a Hispanic veteran.

The complaint described additional allegations made to investigators. It said two more lawmakers—who were not named in the complaint—told investigators Ortiz-Velez said she would spread “negative personal information” about the resolutions’ author to the media and that they “are going to do what I want them to do, or I’m going to x, y and z.”

When one of the lawmakers asked what Ortiz-Velez meant, the complaint said she made comments about the resolutions’ author’s personal life and other legislators. The charging document characterized those remarks as “indecent and tended to disrupt the good public order,” but did not provide further details about what was said.

Democratic leaders issued a statement in September saying Ortiz-Velez had made a comment about shooting three caucus members, according to the AP report. The statement came a day after another statement announcing Ortiz-Velez was leaving the Democratic caucus, and Ortiz-Velez denied making a threat in interviews with the Wisconsin news website Wisconsin Right Now and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Ortiz-Velez, who won a third term representing central Milwaukee in November 2024, told Wisconsin Right Now she has endured years of “unacceptable, very vicious, vile and cruel” treatment from members of her caucus and that party leadership allowed it, AP reported. The Legislature’s website still listed Ortiz-Velez’s party affiliation as Democrat on Wednesday, according to AP.

Messages left with aides for Assembly Minority Leader Greta Neubauer and Republican Speaker Robin Vos were not returned, and online court records did not list an attorney for Ortiz-Velez, the AP report said. Ortiz-Velez did not immediately respond to a voicemail message from the Associated Press seeking comment.