OTTAWA — A 65-year-old Napoleon woman was indicted on felonious assault and attempted murder charges after a Sept. 5 attack on an 84-year-old Catholic priest.
Frances A. Wilhelm, of 402 W. Main St., Napoleon, was indicted on the charges after a session of a Putnam County grand jury last week.
Wilhelm is being charged on an attack on the Rev. Herman F. Scherger, 84, of Cloverdale, who was attacked at his home.
According to reports from the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office, Scherger arrived at his residence to find an unfamiliar vehicle Sept. 5. When he exited his vehicle, investigators said Wilhelm struck Scherger repeatedly in the head with a hammer before he was able to wrestle the weapon away from her and strike back in self-defense. Scherger then escaped in his car, drove to a neighbor’s home and called the police. Wilhelm also called 911, advising that she had been assaulted.
Scherger was admitted to St. Rita’s Ambulatory Care Center, Glandorf, where he was observed for multiple lacerations to his head and significant blood loss before being released. Wilhelm was taken to Defiance Regional Hospital for psychiatric observation.
She is scheduled to be arraigned at 9 a.m. Oct. 5 before Judge Randall Basinger in Putnam County Common Pleas Court. She was in the Putnam County Jail in lieu of $250,000 bail.
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