Thursday February 1st, 2024
This is typically my short night, which I would work 6p-2a. However, I had been asked to stay until 6am due to other deputies having court the next day. At the beginning of this shift, I had been dispatched to a hit and run complaint, involving a vehicle and a 15 year old female who had minor injuries and had been transported by her parents to ThedaCare Medical Center in New London. You can reference my Spillman report, but I would like to give a brief explanation of what went into this case on this shift. (I open recorded my report.)
I had responded to the hospital and met with the 15 year old victim, and her parents. I learned that she had been skateboarding home on the side of the road when a vehicle in the oncoming lane, crossed the fog line and side swiped her, causing her to fall to the ground. She had several bruises but no serious injuries, thankfully. She stated a passerby helped her out until her parents could arrive. She had a very vague vehicle description with it being dark out. I responded to the scene and combed the sides of the highway on my hands and knees (literally) and located several small vehicle parts. I immediately responded to a local Oreilly’s Auto Parts store and had employees assist in identifying the vehicle parts. They were able to narrow it down to two different makes of a SUV.
After the scene was processed and all documentation was completed and gathered at the hospital, I began checking flock cameras, to no prevail. I then headed back to the office so I could complete my report. While en route to the office, I stopped at my house in an attempt to grab some food for dinner. A short period of time later, before eating, I responded to a domestic disturbance in Manawa.
Upon arriving in Manawa, I assisted with locating the suspect who had taken off from a residence. During this time, I heard a fellow deputy check out at a local bar to look for the subject. At this time, he made contact with a disorderly subject (unrelated) and began fighting with him out front on the sidewalk. I quickly responded and was able to assist in taking him into custody. The subject needed to be transported to the hospital via ambulance so I had to ride in the back and then come back and get my squad. After getting my squad, I had to respond to the hospital and watch the subject until he was medically cleared for jail. He was finally medically cleared in the early morning hours of 2/2/2024. Once I was cleared from that call, I responded to the Waupaca County Sheriff’s Office Annex, where I finally began doing my reports. I completed my hit and run report first, putting as much detail into it as possible. I then completed my report for the disorderly subject in Manawa. This report did not have much detail, due to being very exhausted and now running into overtime hours.
I attempted to log the vehicle parts I had gathered from the hit and run scene into evidence. I tried logging onto the evidence computer but it would not log in. It continued to load, as if it was logging me in. (It has done this before and took approximately 45 minutes before it finally logged me in.) After approximately 20 minutes of sitting there waiting, I decided to secure my evidence into a locker, take the key with me, and go into dispatch to chat for a little bit. About 10 minutes later, I checked back in the evidence room to see if it had logged me in. It was still loading. It was now at about 30 minutes. I decided to go and hand my paperwork in and then left the sheriff’s office to head home. I was actually wanting to check in the evidence room one more time to see if it had logged me in, but I had forgot to do so. I was tired and mentally exhausted, as I had just worked well over a 12 hour shift. I had taken the key for the evidence locker to maintain chain of custody, just as I was trained in field training AND as a certified evidence room manager.
At some point at around 8-9am, Lt. Thorpe called me while I was sitting in my driveway and we discussed the hit and run case with each other. We passed off ideas to each other and decided that Lt. Thorpe was going to have a deputy posted for extra patrol over the weekend in the area of the hit and run location. Lt. Thorpe also agreed with me that it was a good idea to make a facebook post for the public. I completed this facebook post, while out in my squad car in my driveway. It had to be close to 9-930am by the time I finally went into the house and finally went “off-duty”.
Now, there is a thing called a TraCS crash report that needs to be completed when there is a reportable crash. This is due to the DOT, I believe, within 7-10 days. However, it was supposed to be completed prior to “scheduled days off” – per policy. I decided to wait to complete this report until my next scheduled shifts, which was Monday 2/5/2024 6p-6a. It was my thought process that since I was exhausted, tired, and hungry and the fact that we didn’t have much information to complete the TraCS crash report, I would rather complete it on my next shift. This has been done several times before by me and by several other officers as well.
Once I got in my house and began taking my uniform off, I felt the evidence key in my pocket. This is when I realized that I had forgotten to check the evidence room computer again before I left to see if it had logged me in. I decided to quickly send our evidence room manager, Heather Nelson, an email letting her know that I had secured my evidence and taken the key with me and that I had forgotten to log it into the BEAST evidence system.
Friday February 2nd, 2024
When I woke up this morning, I had an email from Detective Sergeant Pedersen. In this email, expressed how disappointed and frustrated she was with the quality of my work from the night prior. She gave me several instructions on things that needed to be corrected with my report from the disorderly subject and then told me that I would need to complete a supplemental report, and I would need to meet with her in person to discuss these issues before my next shift on 2/5/2024. (We could open record this email if need-be.) Also, it should be noted that it is NOT normal for a detective sergeant to engage in correspondence like this, usually it is the job of my patrol supervisor.
Since I usually am always praised for doing such great reports (including from the district attorney), it really bothered me that she sent this email and talked to me like I wasn’t capable of doing my job. I decided to come in later this evening/night and completed my supplemental report. I did this on my own time, since I always own my mistakes and want to make things right. I also knew that this would bother me all weekend long. While I was at the sheriff’s office completing this report, I also was able to log my evidence into the BEAST system. I got this all done and headed home in the early morning hours of 2/3/2024.
Monday February, 5th, 2024
I needed to meet with our IT department at 5pm today before my 6p-6a shift. Det. Sgt. Pedersen had asked if I could meet with her before shift. I met with her at around 5:45 pm. She had again hounded me on how I didn’t do a very good job on my disorderly subject report and asked if there was something wrong. Visibly upset, I responded by asking why she would assume that something was wrong. I once again explained how it was simply due to be being mentally drained and wanting to go home. I also told her that I wanted to put all of my energy and mental capacity into the hit and run case involving the 15 year old. She said speaking of that case, she asked why the evidence wasn’t logged. I explained myself to her and she said I should have sent an email to her as well, since she was in charge of incoming evidence on Fridays. I apologized, even though I didn’t know that Heather wasn’t in on Fridays. She then asked why I didn’t do my TraCS crash report and told me that it was a policy violation for not having it completed before my days off. I explained myself to her and then showed her my “to-do list” on my phone (I’m anally organized) and explained that it would be done on shift tonight. She said okay and that it needed to be done tonight. I confirmed with her that it would get completed.
Det. Sgt. Pedersen again elaborated on how I should know better and how I need to be setting the example for others. She also explained how she doesn’t want to see me getting anymore time off or losing my job and that she doesn’t know what Kyle (Captain Kyle Wiskirchen) might do with this. This statement caught my attention so I asked Det. Sgt. Pedersen what she meant by that statement. I asked if Kyle was planning on disciplining me and she said that he was upset but that she told him “I’ll talk to him.” She said after our talk, this wasn’t planning on going anywhere else. I immediately felt some relief, as I had truly thought Kyle was going to be disciplining me over this.
The meeting ended and I immediately started my 6p-6a shift. I had received a tip over the weekend from one of the O’Reilly’s workers, who provided me with a license plate. I plugged this plate into the Flock cameras and found a suspect vehicle from the Bear Creek area. I made phone contact with the suspect, who agreed to meet me at the Bear Creek gas station. I kept in contact via phone with Patrol Sgt. Bill Zeamer and Det. Sgt. Pedersen, making sure that I was doing everything 100% along the way. I had a question that Det. Sgt. Pedersen didn’t have an answer for so she asked that I contact Detective Captain Nick Traeger. I then contacted Capt. Traeger while en route to Bear Creek and got the answers that I needed. Sgt. Zeamer also stayed in contact with Capt. Wiskirchen during this process.
I arrived at the Bear Creek Citgo and interviewed the suspect. He at first lied to me and then I was able to get him to confess to the hit and run. (Please see my Spillman reports). Several events followed this interview, including interviewing his wife, photographing the vehicle, towing the vehicle, processing the vehicle into evidence, arresting and transporting the suspect to jail, and completing my paperwork. Once I was finally back at the sheriff’s office in order to complete my Spillman report, I got pulled away to respond to an ambulance call that ended up taking over an hour of my time. Once I returned back to the sheriff's office, I finally was able to finish my very lengthy Spillman report. I completed this at around 6am.
There was one more thing that I needed to complete before heading home and ending my shift – the TraCS crash report. While parked out in the parking lot near the evidence garage door, I launched my TraCS crash report. I was attempting to complete it while several people came up to me and wanted to chat – with it being shift change. I parked over by the detective entrance so I could complete my crash report. It was at this time, the TraCS system froze on me and gave the “Not Responding” message at the top of the screen. Knowing not to click buttons, I remained patient. It still did not unfreeze so I hard shut down the computer. It then would not allow me to log back it. It kept loading as if it was trying to log me in.
Now going on 6:30 am (13.5 hour shift in total), I decided to go inside and talk with a patrol sergeant. I located Sgt. Autumn Curtis, who was standing next to Sgt. Chad Repinski and Deputy Ernstmeyer. I explained where I was at in my investigation and asked if I could complete the crash report tonight when I come back on shift. I explained that I had a conversation with Det. Sgt. Pedersen earlier about needing to get this done on shift and how it was already a policy violation for not having it done before the weekend. Sgt. Curtis looked at Sgt. Repinski and Sgt. Repinski asked for clarification on the policy violation issue. I re-explained how it was supposed to be done by the end of my shift last Thursday. I explained that I was tired and didn’t even eat dinner so I wanted to complete it tonight on shift. Sgt. Curtis said it was okay and stated, “Go get some sleep dude. Nice work.” I replied, “Thank god.” And “thank you”. I then went home and checked off duty.
Tuesday February 6th, 2024
I went to bed and finally fell asleep at around 9am. At approximately 12:15pm, Sgt. Curtis called and woke me up. She stated that she didn’t know about the conversation I had with Det. Sgt. Pedersen and that I needed to come in to complete my TraCS crash report. She also said that in my Spillman report, I had stated the crash report was already completed. She said I would have to complete a supplemental report stating that I had mistakenly forgot to change “completed” to “pending”. She also informed me that work flow wasn’t completed on Spillman. (Workflow means I didn’t forward my report to be approved for the DA’s office.) I asked her if I could complete these tasks in my squad in my driveway so I could do it in my pajamas and glasses. She said it was fine.
A few minutes later, I walked out to my squad and fired up my computer. I logged into Spillman and TraCS. I did notice right away that “workflow” was not completed and that my report wasn’t forwarded up to the DA’s office yet. Knowing that the defendant was possibly going to see a Judge at 1pm, my reports would need to be up to the DA’s office by 1pm. I immediately called the Sheriff’s Office and spoke with records clerk, Heather Gall. I informed Heather that I had noticed my report hadn’t made it up to the DA’s office yet. I asked her if she wanted me to forward my supplemental report to her right away so it could get up to the DA’s office in time for court at 1pm. She said it would have needed to been sent up by 10am, not 1pm, so he won’t be seeing a judge until tomorrow at 1pm. I replied by saying something to the effect of, “Okay great, thank you. Then I don’t have to rush to get everything to you right now.” I ended the call and proceeded to get my crash report, supplemental report, and work flow completed.
I was just about done with everything when Sgt. Curtis called me and asked how it was going. I informed her that I was just about done. This was at about 1:30 pm. She then asked if I could come into the office so we could “tidy some things up”. I said sure thing and got dressed, put my contacts in, and went into the office. I knew something was up at this point now.
I arrived at the office at around 2pm and met with Sgt. Curtis in her office. We tidied some things up with the TraCS crash report and supplemental report and then she said we would need to speak with Sgt. Lewinski. Once we arrived in Sgt. Lewinski’s office, they both informed me that I was being placed on administrative leave. This would have occurred at 2:47 pm. They then had me complete and sign an Administrative Leave Form, in which I received a copy of. Copy attached. They then asked me to hand in my gun, badge, squad keys, key card, and cell phone. Sgt. Lewinski then drove me home and met with Sgt. Curtis in my driveway so they could retrieve my gun, and my spare keys and key cards. They said they could not tell me why I was being placed on administrative leave. They also did not encourage me to contact my union representative. So, I immediately contacted my union representative, Kevin Sorenson. I informed him of what had happened and why I believed I was put on admin leave. He informed me that he would talk with administration and let me know when they want to interview me.
Wednesday February 7th, 2024
Kevin Sorenson had texted me at approximately 12:10pm informing me that administration wants to meet tomorrow at 12:00 pm. Kevin asked that we meet first at 10:00am so we can discuss everything and prepare for the interview.
Thursday February 8th, 2024
At around 10:00am, Kevin and I met at the Woods Restaurant in Waupaca so we could discuss and prepare for the interview. We did this until around 11:45am. We then met out front of the Sheriff’s Office at around 11:55am. At approximately 12:00pm, Capt. Wiskirchen came out into the lobby and escorted us to the large conference room. Capt. Wiskirchen, Lt. Thorpe, Amanda Welch (from HR), and Kevin all talked for about 5 minutes in the conference room without me present. Kevin and I were then able to talk by ourselves without the others in the room. Kevin informed me that after talking with admin, they are looking at terminating my employment for insubordination and a report writing policy violation. He said they would be asking me questions about disobeying a sergeant’s order, wrong information in a report, and calling a records clerk to undermine a patrol sergeant’s order. He asked if I wanted to resign now instead of answering questions, as that was an option. I told him that I never made a phone call to undermine a patrol sergeant, therefore, I would like to be interviewed.
Capt. Wiskirchen, Lt. Thorpe, and Amanda all came into the room to begin the interview process. They recorded it using their cell phone. We did not record it. Capt. Wiskirchen asked all of the questions. He asked me about not doing my TraCS crash report. I explained myself. He asked about not obeying Det. Sgt. Pedersen’s order. I explained myself. He asked if I had made a phone call to anyone after Sgt. Curtis had called me into work on Tuesday, 2/6/2024. I had told him that I didn’t believe I had made a phone call, as I know that I didn’t make a phone call to undermine Sgt. Curtis. Honestly, at that moment in time, I did not remember making a call to anyone. I have made so many phone calls in the past couple of shifts, I did not recall making this phone call. At the point of the phone call, I had been awakened after 3 hours of sleep following a 13+ hour shift. He then asked me about sending an email to the evidence manager, Heather Nelson. He first asked if I sent an email. I said that I had. He asked if I had explained to her why I took the evidence key home. I explained that I had. He asked if I had informed her in the email about the computer not allowing me to log in. I said I believe so yes. Capt. Wiskirchen then paused his phone recording and instructed Lt. Thorpe to pause his phone recording as well. He then asked everyone to exit the room except for me so he could talk with Kevin in the hallway.
A short couple of minutes later, Kevin came back into the room and said they unfortunately have me in a situation right now. I asked him what he meant by that. He set a copy of my email down on the table in front of me. It was the email that I had sent Heather Nelson in evidence. No where in the email did I mention that I was having issues with logging in the computer. Therefore, it is a Brady violation. He also said it was a Brady violation that I lied about not calling the records department. I immediately got upset (angry) and explained (rather loudly) that I would never intentionally lie and that I honestly thought I had put that in the email. I also explained that I honestly do not remember calling records. It was at this time, I remembered calling the sheriff’s office for some reason but for the life of me, I could not remember why I called. I told Kevin that I know for sure that it was not to undermine my patrol sergeant. I got upset and said, “It didn’t fucking happen. They’re making it up!”
It was at this exact moment when Capt. Wiskirchen knocked on the door (obviously eavesdropping on our conversation) and stated, “I think this is what Justin is looking for?” As he said this, he opened the door and reached in holding a piece of paper. Kevin retrieved this paper from Capt. Wiskirchen and brought it to me. It was a phone log that he had printed out that showed the date/time in which I called the sheriff’s office. After reviewing this document, I still couldn’t for the life of me recall why I called the records department. I was so frustrated that they were accusing me of undermining my sergeant, I couldn’t think of why I had made the call.
Kevin told me that with the Brady accusations, it was his recommendation that I sign a resignation. He said that if I resign now and end the investigation, they won’t Brady me. He further explained how there are so many departments out there hiring now and that it would be easy for me to get a new job somewhere. He said if they Brady you, it will make it very difficult to get another cop job. He also expressed his concern of the Brady violation messing with one of my big cases that I have had recently. He said he doesn’t think I should fight this and I should resign. I sat there in awe for several minutes struggling to think of why this was happening to me, feeling screwed over and helpless. Kevin said also with the Brady violation, the union may not even take on my case if I were to continue the interview and ultimately get terminated. He again said he thinks I should resign so they don’t Brady me. I have tried to get a copy of this recorded interview but the department and HR refuse to give it to me. I believe it would prove I did not lie. They promised that they wouldn’t affect my career by Bradying me, as long as I resigned. I resigned. Kevin Sorenson the Union Rep is the sole witness that could be used to testify on my behalf to this.
I told Kevin that I would like to end the interview so I could resign, because I did not want to jeopardize my career or my court cases with a Brady violation. We both walked out together and informed admin that I would be resigning. Kevin said he would be in touch with me about getting a resignation agreement typed up and signed. I thanked him and then departed from the sheriff’s office.
As soon as I started pulling out from my parking stall in the parking lot, I remembered the reason why I had called Heather in Records. I immediately called Kevin and informed him of the reasoning why I called records. He still assured me that it was the best choice to resign and move forward. I don’t believe he ever corrected the record with administration.
Photo of Text Message sent from Union Rep Kevin Sorenson
Friday February 9th 2024
I had been subpoenaed for a preliminary hearing case that was scheduled at 1:45pm. At 10:09 AM, I was advised by Capt. Wiskirchen that the hearing was cancelled for today. I still decided to go up to the DA’s office so I could talk with District Attorney Kat Turner. I told her that I was in the process of resigning from the sheriff’s office. She immediately replied by saying she was so sorry (multiple times) and how she had heard what had happened. She then explained that admin had contacted her already to advise her about the information that I had incorrect in my report. Kat said they advised her about me being placed on an internal investigation but she didn’t know that I had resigned. I asked her if she was going to Brady me for the wrong information in my report. She replied, “No, I’m not going to place you on a Brady list or anything like that.” She apologized again and offered to be a reference for me on any future applications, in which I took her up on. I did not discuss any of my internal investigation with her. Since she said she already knew I was involved in an internal investigation, I didn’t want to disclose any details to her.
I had not signed my resignation agreement yet. The agreement said I had the opportunity to consult with an attorney before signing. I had tried to get a consult with an attorney but had not accomplished that yet. At no time was I ever given an opportunity to speak to the Union Attorney.
At around 1:38 PM, I had informed Kevin Sorenson that I had just spoke with the DA. He said it was his advice that it’s best for me to sign the agreement even though I had not had the opportunity to get advice from an attorney.
Monday February 12th, 2024
At 1:00 PM, Capt. Wiskirchen and I had agreed to meet at the sheriff’s office to exchange property. After we were finished, Capt. Wiskirchen asked me if I was going to be signing the agreement. I explained to him that the agreement states several times that prior to signing, I am encouraged to speak with a private, non-union attorney. I told him that this could possibly take several days to get an appointment set up. He replied something to the effect of “well I can’t really give you deadline on when to have it signed by.” I asked him if I could get it back to him by Friday at the latest and he replied, “I can do Monday, otherwise… you know.” I assumed that he was hinting at the fact that he could terminate me if I don’t sign it and get it handed in by then and that he could still complete a Brady investigation against me.
At 12:12 PM, I had also received a text message from Kevin Sorenson stating, “Did you send the agreement signed?” I replied, “I am trying to set up an appt with that attorney to look it over.” He replied, “Ok thanks”. I then asked him if they will be patient with me so I can have a private attorney look the agreement over. He replied, “I think a couple days to review and decide is reasonable”. I replied, “Ok”. At 2:11 PM, Kevin replied, “I know you want to defend yourself, explain your actions or argue the agreement wording. You need to understand that they can pull the resignation agreement and just move to termination. With the information about the email and call our attorneys may not take on the arbitration case.” I replied, “Okay, I will sign it and get it back to you asap.” I then asked, “What is even the point of putting the wording to consult with a private attorney if I don’t even get the opportunity to do that?” He replied, “You can absolutely, you can take a couple days, just can’t be weeks, all I’m saying”. I then realized that Kevin sent me an agreement with the wrong person’s name on it. I asked him to send me one with my correct name on it, in which he did.
At 9:22 PM, I signed the agreement, scanned it in, and sent it back to Kevin. He acknowledged that he had received it.
First week in March
On or around the first couple days in March, I had received information from an acquaintance who had attended Assistant District Attorney Veronica (Roni) Isherwood’s retirement party that DA Turner (Kat) was going around talking to several people about how she was going to have to “Brady” me. This acquaintance of mine who had heard this information from Kat is not an attorney and shouldn’t have even been able to know this information. This retirement party would have occurred on Saturday, February 10th. This acquaintance encouraged me to open record my personnel file with the Waupaca County Human Resources (HR) Department and to send an email to Kat, confirming in writing that I am indeed not “Bradyed”.
Tuesday March 5th, 2024
At 11:39 AM, I sent an email to Kat asking for clarification regarding our conversation on 2/9/2024 about how she was not going to Brady me.
At 3:41 PM, Kat responded back stating that since she was made aware of my internal investigation regarding “allegations” of untruthfulness, she consulted with ethics representatives and that she had made the notice to defense counsels. She also stated that there “is no Brady List”.
AT 4:38 PM, I responded back to Kat asking for clarification on how “Brady” comes into play here then. I asked her what the difference was between a Brady list and not being on the
Brady list.
My Email Correspondence with DA Turner
Wednesday March 6th, 2024
At 8:57 AM, Kat responded to my email with what appears to possibly be a copied and pasted description of what is required from a prosecutor in a Brady/Giglio disclosure context. The response she provides was rather lengthy. In this email though, she states that “the material is contained in the generally protected employment files of individual officers.” Well, I can tell you that it is NOT in my personnel file, so how can she reference the above text from Brady? How can she Brady without proof?
At 11:51 AM, I responded back to Kat with additional questions on how to move forward. Instead of waiting for a response, I decided to go up to the DA’s office so I could talk with her in person.
Before going up to the DA’s office, I went to HR and requested a copy of my personnel file, via open records. I spoke with Amanda Welch (Mandy hereinafter), who was involved in my internal interview. She first asked if I would like to see my file first, which I agreed to. In opening up my file, she informed me that she needed to disclose to me that two attorney offices requested copies of my file. She explained that they got redacted copies of my file, but I would be receiving an unredacted copy of my file. In reviewing my file, I noticed that there was a disciplinary action missing in it from May of 2023 when I accidentally crashed my squad car. Mandy said she would have to “look and see where that one was located”. I did have two other disciplinary actions in my file from years prior. (Please see copy of my file for details). In regard to my internal investigation, the only documentation that was in my file was my resignation agreement. There was absolutely no evidence of a Brady violation in my file. Mandy asked for me to return shortly to pick up my copy. I returned within the next hour or so and retrieved my copy.
(When I got home and reviewed my file one more time, I noticed that there was something missing in it from the first time I reviewed it just an hour prior. There was a report from Sgt. Repinski, where he explains the reason for one of my other disciplines, that was missing.)
While I spoke with Mandy through-out this process, she explained to me that the reason why there was no documentation in my file regarding my internal investigation is because I had resigned. She explained that since I had resigned prior to the completion of the internal, none of that documentation would ever be subject to open records. I asked her if I, or any other persons, including attorneys, were able to obtain this information and she said no. She again said it is because I had resigned prior to completing the internal investigation. She said if I would have completed the internal investigation, then all of that information would have been subject to being placed in my personnel file. I thanked her for her time and assistance.
Sometime after retrieving my personnel file from Mandy, I arrived at Kat’s office. She explained how we would move forward with future court cases. She stated that defense attorneys could only bring up my Brady issues in a court case, only after motioning the court at a separate hearing to find relevance of said Brady violations. She said the Brady violations would have to be obtained by the defense by open recording my personnel file. I told her that I just obtained my personnel file. She said if there is nothing in my personnel file, then we wouldn’t have anything to worry about. She said the defense most likely won’t even bring it up due to the fact that there is no documentation regarding Brady in my personnel file. I asked her if there was any way that attorneys could subpoena my internal investigation documentation and she said no, not unless it is in my personnel file. I repeated this all back to Kat after we were done, just to make sure I understood it correctly.
Saturday April 6th, 2024
Based on everything that has been happening, I decided to reach out to Roni (Retired DA Veronica Isherwood) about what has happened to me. Roni explained about how she was on my side and how she believed this was so wrong. She did not believe a Brady violation had taken place and she wanted to reach out to Kat herself to ask some questions about this situation.
Sunday April 21st, 2024
At 6:26 PM, Roni sends an email to Kat confirming the details she had gathered from her [Kat] through verbal discussions. In these discussions, Kat has several facts that were inaccurate or just completely false. For example, Kat acknowledges that she told Roni that I had called dispatch and then spoke with Communication Captain Kevin Studzinski about wanting to disobey an order that I had gotten from a sergeant. Roni told me later that she had actually contacted Capt. Studzinski and asked him about this. He told Roni that it was completely false and that it did not happen – that he did not speak to me and that I did not call and talk with him or dispatch. He also indicated that DA Kat Turner had never called and talked to him about this. Another example, Roni said Kat mentioned about a time when I got caught having sex with my girlfriend in my squad car. Kat denied saying this. Another example, Kat talks about how I had lied about being asked about my whereabouts by a supervisor. Kat also mentioned that I was at a private home when I was supposed to be on patrol and later lied about it (first discipline in file). If you reference my disciplinary record, it will show that I did not lie and that I accepted full responsibility. Another example, Kat says acknowledges that one of her Assistant District Attorney’s, Nicholas Bolz, agreed that I needed to be Bradyed. Roni said she contacted Nic, who she is very close with, and Nic denied having that conversation with Kat. Nic stated that he doesn’t think a Brady violation occurred. [Nic later clarified with Roni that Kat told him that I was confronted about the call to Cpt. Studzinski and I flat out denied making the call – a provable lie because they had the record. Based upon that record he agreed it was a Brady violation. Kat also told Nic that she personally talked to Cpt. Studzinski and the dispatcher who transferred my supposed call to him and both verified that I had called and talked to them and later denied the call, which is a complete provable lie.
There is also mention about a potential motivation for this false Brady violation. Roni told Kat that she thinks it has to do with the fact that I stated I was planning on running for sheriff. Kat acknowledged by replying, “My recollection is that I agreed this might have been a factor” (Please see attached email thread.)
Also on April 21st, at 7:21 PM, Roni sent me an email with all of the facts that she had gathered from me regarding this case. She asked that I correct or change anything that wasn’t 100% accurate. I made the proper changes and then replied back to her email. (Please see attached email thread.)
Email Thread Between Retired DA Isherwood & DA Turner
Monday April 29th, 2024
With the help of Roni, I wrote a very detailed and professional email to Kat, asking that she withdraw the Brady letter that she had unjustly sent to the defense counsels. I signed this letter, scanned it into an email, and sent it to Kat. (Please see attached letter.)
Letter I sent to DA Turner asking to rescind Brady letter
Tuesday April 30th, 2024
I was hired by the Poynette Police Department after they completed a background check. That background check included a glowing recommendation by DA Kat Turner. She did not mention the Brady letter to the investigating Lieutenant. I began my new job as a part-time police officer. My Chief, Adam Rogge, discussed some things with me today that was found in my background that they completed on me. He said he had sent our Lieutenant up to Waupaca County to perform a background check. He said Lieutenant had spoken with Capt. Wiskirchen first, who seemed like he didn’t have much time to talk about anything and acted as if Lieutenant was an inconvenience. He asked Capt. Wiskirchen about the Brady violation they had referred on me and he told Lieutenant to contact Human Resources (HR hereinafter). Capt. Wiskirchen would not divulge any information in regard to the Brady violation. Lieutenant went to look at my personnel file, in which they were unable to obtain any information regarding a Brady violation. He then went and spoke with Kat at the DA’s office. He said Kat gave me an “outstanding” review and didn’t mention anything about the Brady violation.
Since they did not find any evidence of any dishonesty (or the Brady violation), they passed me through the background and ultimately hired me as a part-time office.
Thursday May 2nd, 2024
In response to my email at 8:50 AM, I received a phone call from the Waupaca County DA’s Office. I let the phone call go to voicemail. In the voicemail, Kat states, “…I just wanted to talk to you before I responded to your email since my response to your email would be part of the public record and I wasn’t sure if you actually wanted me to do that…”.
This doesn’t make sense to me. She has made multiple claims by this point that my Brady violation was in my personnel file. If this were true (which it’s not), then it would be an open record, therefore, being “part of the public record”. So if this were the case, why couldn’t she just respond back in an email?? Is this not her admitting that it actually is not in my personnel file??
At 11:36 AM, I called Kat back and recorded the entire phone call. This was later turned into an official transcript. In this phone call, Kat states several things that are false. She even talks about past disciplinary actions that were in my file and talks about how I wasn’t honest during those investigations. However, I was completely honest. I even had a Lieutenant thank me for being honest and “not shaving” information. It became obvious to me that she has never seen my personnel file though she has repeatedly stated and inferred that she had a copy. She finally indicated that she was working from “notes” and not from the actual file.
Phone Call with DA Turner Official Transcript
Notes Taken - Reference Phone Call
Friday May 3rd, 2024
I had contacted Mandy from HR via email and confirmed with her the process in which employee personnel files are kept. I wanted to confirm with her that since my internal investigation had been concluded due to my resignation, none of that material would be in my personnel file. She confirmed this.
Thursday May 9th, 2024
Chief Rogge did say that while he was at the Waupaca County Courthouse, he stopped and spoke with one of the three Circuit Court Judges. He explained the situation to the Judge and the Judge agreed that it was not a Brady violation issue, maybe insubordination, but not Brady.
Chief said he presented all of the information he gathered to his DA in Columbia County. The DA said that she will be opening recording my personnel file and if there is no supporting documentation of Brady in there, then she will NOT be Bradying me in Columbia County. She did say that if there is supporting documentation, then she will weight it all out before making her determination.
As of September 2024, my Chief advised me that our DA in Columbia County did not believe there to be enough evidence to support a Brady violation. Therefore, she would not be Bradying me in Columbia County where I currently am employed full-time by Poynette PD.
Friday June 7th, 2024
On May 23rd, I had emailed Mandy at Waupaca County HR and requested a second copy of my personnel file. I also requested that she provide me copies of reports written in regards to my internal investigation by Det. Nelson, Det. Petersen, Capt. Wiskirchen, etc. that were provided to DA Turner.
I wanted to see if anything changed from the first time I had requested it and from when my Poynette PD Lieutenant requested it. I had not received a response from her so on June 4th, I sent another email. She finally responded and said I could pick it up after today. I stopped in on June 7th and retrieved the copy of it from Lori Schmidt in HR, since Mandy had just left for the day. This whole interaction was recorded using an audio recorder.
In reviewing this copy of my personnel file, I was provided with the same unredacted copies of everything that I received with the first copy, with the exception of a few items. In this copy, I was provided with a report written by Sgt. Repinski, which was mysteriously missing last time. I had seen it upon being allowed to review my file, but they never provided me with a copy of his report before. I also was provided reports written by Det. Nelson, Det. Pedersen, Sgt. Curtis, and Sgt. Lewinski. There were several reports that were missing regarding my internal investigation. I still have not received them to this day.
