Serial criminal Cinnabon worker in viral hate video denies she’s racist for bizarre reason
The serial criminal Cinnabon employee at the center of a viral racist video in Wisconsin denied Monday that she is prejudiced, citing her “colored” son.
Disgraced former worker Crystal Wilsey, 43 — who has been charged with more than a dozen various offenses over two decades — later appeared to have badly misused the outdated term for black people, saying her boy just had darker skin because of a health condition.
Wilsey also has a lengthy rap sheet, which includes charges of child endangerment, disorderly conduct and drug possession as well as traffic offenses, court records seen by The Post show.
She lost her job after footage of her foul-mouthed, hate-filled outburst toward a Somali couple at a store branch in Ashwaubenon last week was posted on TikTok.
Wilsey repeatedly called the Somali pair filming her the n-word while also proudly declaring herself to be a racist.
Explore More
Working Americans will get ‘very large refunds’ of up to $2K per household: Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
Accused Charlie Kirk assassin laughs with lawyers during first in-person court appearance
‘Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ actress struck, killed by car while crossing NYC street: sources
The mom from Oneida has since taken to social media to defend her actions, while a fundraiser set up by her supporters has raised $110,000 and counting.
“P.S., to the racism, if you look at my Facebook from 2010, you’ll see on there that I have a blended family, and my son was colored,” she said in the voiceover to a TikTok video she published early Monday.
Wilsey then later appeared to go back on her claim about having a “colored” child by saying a health condition actually made his skin darker.
“Addison’s disease, and he was discriminated called chocolate because he had brown skin – explanation of racism,” she wrote in one comment.
Addison’s disease is a rare disorder caused by an issue with the adrenal glands, which can result in darkening skin.
Court records show that Wilsey was charged with child endangerment, marijuana possession and marijuana drug paraphernalia in February 2022 related to an incident when she was pulled over by state troopers while driving in Erie County, Ohio, according to records.
Her address at the time was listed as Green Bay, Wis.
Wilsey pleaded no contest before being sentenced to two years’ probation and minor fines.
She has also left a trail of legal damage across the Midwest, with a history of more than a dozen charges dating back almost 25 years.
In June 2001, she was arrested for disorderly conduct and domestic abuse and was sentenced to 12 months’ probation later that year.
In September 2002, she appeared in court in Menominee County, Wis., charged with marijuana offenses.
A year later, she was arrested for disorderly conduct in Brown County, Wis., and pleaded no contest.
Then in January 2009, she was again arrested for disorderly conduct in Brown County and sentenced to three days in jail.
In March 2015, she was charged with driving without a license, operating a vehicle while intoxicated and driving under the influence in Hobart, Wis., records show.
She pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated and was jailed for 20 days.
In June 2016, she was charged with resisting arrest and disorderly conduct in Outagamie County, Wis., and sentenced to 90 days in jail after pleading no contest to disorderly conduct.
And just two months later, in the Oneida Tribe, Wis., she was arrested over a DUI for operating a vehicle with a revoked license and driving without insurance and pleaded guilty by not contesting the charges.
Start your day with all you need to know
Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.Enter your email address
By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
After news of Wilsey being fired came to light, a fundraising appeal was set up on her behalf, placing the blame for her racist ramblings on the two Somali customers.
“Meet Crystal: hardworking White mom doing her job at Cinnabon. Two Somali customers decide to make her shift hell with intimidation,” the donation page reads.
“Instead of banning the offenders and backing their employee, Cinnabon fires Crystal to keep the nons happy. We’re not letting this slide. Funds go to making sure Crystal lands on her feet after this betrayal.
“No White person should lose their job for refusing to be harassed by Somalians,” the post says.
As of Monday afternoon, the page has received more than $110,000 in donations.1.2K
What do you think? Post a comment.
Wilsey has defended her actions on her TikTok page when responding to critics.
A user wrote, “You are so embarrassing to the human race. Good luck finding a job from here forward,” to which Wilsey replied, “For defending and inspiring others? Okay Karen.”
Wilsey claimed that the Somali couple who took the video started the dispute and said she was merely defending herself.
“Standing up for myself and turning into a defensive individual for said reasons did not make me racist,” she said.
“The initial word could be referenced to a racial slur, except he called me racist and I returned the comment, and you have no idea what occurred previously to her recording or the harassment I endured.”
She survived being shot at point-blank range. Who wanted Nicki Lenway dead?
By Erin Moriarty
Updated on: November 23, 2025 / 1:30 AM EST / CBS News
This story previously aired on June 8, 2024.
Nicole “Nicki” Lenway, a crime scene investigator for the Minneapolis Police Department, was gunned down in broad daylight — shot twice at point-blank range in a parking lot on the evening of April 20, 2022.
“Someone wanted me dead,” Lenway tells “48 Hours” correspondent Erin Moriarty in her first television interview.
Lenway was shot while picking up her child from a parenting center. “That’s when my life changed forever.”
“I’m halfway in between my vehicle and the door. And this person comes running up from behind me,” Lenway tells Moriarty. “Shots were being fired. I fell to the ground … And the shooter stands over me and continues to try to shoot … I felt my neck and then could see the blood.”
The shooting was caught on surveillance video. It was also witnessed by a woman in her car sitting at a red light.
“I … was just drivin’ home … and I saw a person run up to another person,” said Emilie Clancy, who pulled over to help until first responders arrived. “I heard two bangs and that other person collapsed.”
Lenway is alive today. But who wanted her dead?
A GOOD SAMARITAN’S QUICK THINKING SAVES SHOOTING VICTIM’S LIFE
As Emilie Clancy later told police, she couldn’t quite believe what she saw and heard on that April evening as she drove home from having dinner with a friend.
Emilie Clancy: I was coming up and I saw the two people and then all of a sudden I heard bang, bang!
Emilie Clancy: Stopped right here at this intersection.
As soon as the light turned green, Clancy sped through the intersection and pulled up next to the victim.
Emilie Clancy: I opened the door. I said,” are you OK?” And she said, “No, I’ve been shot.”
Nicole “Nicki” Lenway Ford was shot and bleeding in the parking lot of Familywise, a parenting center, where she had gone to pick up her son. The 33-year-old was no stranger to violence. She worked as a forensic scientist for the Minneapolis Police Department. And right after being shot, she called 911.
DISPATCH: 911, what is the address of the emergency?
NICOLE LENWAY: (inaudible, gargling sounds)
Emilie Clancy: She’s barely breathing … could barely say any words other than her name … And I said, “get in the car.”
Clancy took over the 911 call and followed the dispatcher’s instructions.
Emilie Clancy: I could see that there was blood coming out of her neck. … they said … “put a jacket or something around her neck.” And I said, “yeah, I have one right here.”
Within minutes first responders arrived.
OFFICER (body cam video): Were you the one that called?
EMILIE CLANCY: Yes
OFFICER: Where’s the victim? Who’s shot?
The dramatic scene was captured on police body cameras.
FRIEND (body cam video, outside car): Oh my God! Oh my God!
OFFICER: What’s going on?
Emilie Clancy: She was scared. … really scared.
EMILIE CLANCY (body cam video): I’ve got pressure on the neck. She got shot in the arm as well.
Emilie Clancy: She was in a lot of pain. She was having a hard time breathing.
Emilie Clancy: I just looked her in the eyes … And I said, “Nicki, we’ve got this. We’ve got this. … Just stay with me.”
Emilie Clancy: I don’t think we can ever recreate … how powerful of a moment that was. I just wanted her to know that she wasn’t alone in this.
Emilie Clancy: And if that was the only thing I can give to this poor girl, like that — that would mean something to me.
PARAMEDIC (body cam video | to Nicki): Alright, dear, Can you walk? We’re gonna get outside and we’re gonna go into the ambulance—
PARAMEDIC: Gonna bring you to the hospital, alright?
Erin Moriarty: One of the most surprising things about the video … is that you had to walk to the ambulance.
Nicole Lenway: Yeah.
Erin Moriarty: I couldn’t believe it…. Were you aware of how badly injured you were?
Nicole Lenway: I don’t think so. … I think I was in shock maybe. I didn’t realize how bad it was.
PARAMEDIC (body cam video): Try not to move your head left or right, OK?
Nicole was loaded into the ambulance, and soon lost consciousness.
The news spread quickly that a Minneapolis police employee had been shot. Nicole’s then-boyfriend, Minneapolis Police officer Donovan Ford, was at home.
Erin Moriarty: What is it like to get that phone call that the woman you love has just been shot?
Donovan Ford: I had no words. … I went flying down to the hospital. … I was in a panic.
When Ford arrived at the Hennepin County Medical Center, he wasn’t prepared for what he saw.
Donovan Ford: She was basically unconscious … She had tubes down her throat and all that.
Erin Moriarty: When you did finally get to talk to a doctor, what did they tell you?
Donovan Ford: She’s in bad shape. We’re going to do our best to, you know, save her life, essentially.
Nicole had a perforated lung, severe damage to her vocal cords and a bullet lodged between two of her ribs. She was in critical condition.
Donovan Ford: I’m in law enforcement, so when they say critical, that means essentially they’re close to the end. … and where she was shot, typically, people don’t survive. … I was praying, a lot.
As doctors rushed to save Nicole, outside the FamilyWise parenting center her colleagues at the police department got to work.
On the ground they found three discharged bullet casings and blood. They quickly learned Nicole had been at FamilyWise to pick up her son who was on a scheduled visit with his father, her ex-boyfriend, Tim Amacher.
OFFICER (body cam video): Are you Timothy, sir?
TIM AMACHER: Yes.
Officers caught up with Amacher, as he was finishing up his visit with their 5-year-old son Callahan. He had been at the center for hours.
OFFICER (body cam video): … and then you’ve been in the back with your son the entire time?
FAMILYWISE WORKER: Yes, he was in …
In the community, Tim Amacher was well liked, and a respected local taekwondo instructor. Amacher seemed worried about Nicole.
TIM AMACHER (body cam video): Is she OK? She going to be fine?
OFFICER: I mean, she’s stable right now, but it’s really serious.
And he had an idea about what may have happened. He thought it had something to do with a case she worked.
TIM AMACHER (to investigator): She was afraid cause she had thought people were driving by her house.
TIM AMACHER: She changed her last name to her middle name. … She shut down her social media.
TIM AMACHER: She had drive bys of Minneapolis coming to her house all the time. … She had me bring over my — my shotgun to her house. … She was, she was in fear.
But police didn’t find any obvious connections to Nicole’s cases. They searched Tim’s Jeep and asked if he owned any other cars.
OFFICER: This is your only car?
TIM AMACHER: No, no. I have a Challenger, too.
And then let him go.
Police continued to look for evidence, canvassing the building and surrounding area searching for security footage, and discovered cameras from FamilyWise, a bank across the street and an elementary school around the corner had captured every second.
The first images of Nicole arriving to pick up her son. Then someone dressed all in black running her down from behind. The moment the shots were fired. The shooter fleeing on foot and then driving off in a black Dodge Ram truck.
But the truck had no license plates, and police couldn’t tell who was driving. The next day, Nicole regained consciousness, and she told police that she was sure she knew who was responsible.
Nicole Lenway: I just knew it had something to do with Tim. I just knew.
TIM AMACHER (to police): Well, of course, I’m gonna be the first guy you, guys, to look at.
Nicole Lenway: I didn’t know how he was involved, but he was involved.
THE TAEKWONDO MASTER AND THE CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATOR
The tenets of the Korean martial art taekwondo include courtesy, self-control, integrity. The most skilled, like Tim Amacher, are called “Master.”
Nicki would come to believe that Amacher was somehow involved in her shooting. But in the world of taekwondo —
Pat Zellmer: He was a very good instructor.
Pat and Claire Zellmer were part of a Amacher’s tight group of friends, and also familiar with his World Taekwondo Academy.
Claire Zellmer: People would definitely refer to him as Master Amacher within the — within his school. … But they would also, if they were still students and they were friendly outside of the school, he was still Master Amacher.
People gravitated to Amacher — his physical skill, business savvy and easy confidence. A leader who seemed to have it all figured out.
Pat Zellmer: He’s charismatic, driven, intense.
Claire Zellmer: He can draw people in and make them feel this connection with him.
And his reputation continued after dark.
Erin Moriarty: The mayor of the nightlife here?
Charlie Dettloff: I would say that’s a fair assessment, very much so, very much so.
Charlie Dettloff knew Amacher well before he met Nicki, and witnessed firsthand, the power of Tim’s personality.
Charlie Dettloff: So, I moved back here in about 2001.
Erin Moriarty: And was Tim Amacher already living next door?
Charlie Dettloff: He was. He was living next door.
Amacher was a helpful neighbor, with style and appeal you couldn’t miss.
Charlie Dettloff: He loved fashion. Loved the right jeans, and the right shirt, and the right boot. … And always had to be the best.
Erin Moriarty: Was he a good friend to you?
Charlie Dettloff: Yeah, he was a great friend.
Erin Moriarty: And where was Tim living?
Charlie Dettloff (pointing at Amacher’s house): Tim’s bedroom was in the back corner here.
And according to Dettloff, there was a waiting list of women who wanted into Amacher’s bedroom.
Charlie Dettloff: Coming and going. Yeah, they would pull up right here … the front light here was um, purple and if that light was on then the women knew they could go in.
Erin Moriarty: Are you serious?
Charlie Dettloff: I’m not kidding. It was almost like the, you know, the red light district.
Erin Moriarty: Juggling a lot of women.
Pat Zellmer: Yes.
Erin Moriarty: At once?
Pat Zellmer: Yes, of course. … It seemed like there was a different girl every night.
Erin Moriarty: What did women see in him?
Claire Zellmer: I don’t know because I didn’t see it.
But many other women seemed to see much in Tim Amacher.
Erin Moriarty: How did you meet Tim?
Nicole Lenway: I met Tim by going to his gym.
Erin Moriarty: And when did you start dating?
Nicolei Lenway: Shortly after.
Nicole was responsible and grounded. Amacher’s close friends quickly understood the attraction.
Charlie Dettloff: There was something special about her. She’s smart, she’s pretty, she’s outgoing. She’s got it all.
Nicole Lenway: At first I actually wasn’t really interested. But he was very persistent. … And uh, he just kind of wore me down and I kind of — I started enjoying our time together.
Erin Moriarty: And he was older.
Nicole Lenway: Right. … He had experienced more life than me and it was exciting.
They moved in together in early 2014. But friends say Amacher still wasn’t faithful.
Erin Moriarty: Did you try to warn her about Tim and his women?
Claire Zellmer: About his womanizing? Yes, absolutely.
Nicole Lenway: There were a lot of red flags.
Erin Moriarty: A lot of jealousy?
Nicole Lenway: Yes.
Pat Zellmer: They fought constantly. It was almost like a perpetual argument, verging on a fight.
Erin Moriarty: Did you ever see him violent or hurtful towards her?
Pat Zellmer: I did not, no.
But Nicole would tell investigators Amacher was violent.
Nicole Lenway: One night he threw me against the wall holding my neck.
Erin Moriarty: Why did you stay even as long as you did?
Nicki Lenway: I ask myself that all the time. I don’t know. I think I felt trapped. And you know he just got into my brain so badly.
She says that on a trip to Las Vegas an angry, alcohol fueled Amacher threw a lamp across the room.
Nicole Lenway: It was terrifying. I locked myself in the bathroom.
In September 2015, Nicole, then 26 years old, had more than enough. But she says now that breaking away from Amacher was anything but easy.
Nicole Lenway: I packed my bags, and I started walking out. … And he pulled me back into the house by my ponytail and dragged me into the bedroom. And after that I was like I am done.
Nicole moved out. And an 18-year-old student of Amacher’s moved in, renting out one of his rooms. Her name: Colleen Larson.
Charlie Dettloff: Seemed absolutely lovely, nice girl … I think she’s very smart. Probably book smart, not street smart.
Larson had begun studying with Amacher when she was barely a teenager. Tim’s friends say she seemed infatuated with him.
Pat Zellmer: He’s her instructor. He’s her Master, you know, for 10-plus years at this point.
Claire Zellmer: It just seemed she was like this little puppy dog wanting to impress him.
Pat Zellmer: Like a child and an adult, in that respect.
Claire Zellmer: Yes.
They say Larson seemed delighted to be living with the man she had idolized since she was young. As for Nicole, she hoped to have no further contact with Amacher.
But very soon. they all got some unexpected news.
Nicki Lenway: I found out then I was pregnant. … And he wanted me to get rid of the baby. And I told him I just couldn’t. … And I was in a state of panic.
