Green-blue waves crashed against the rocks on a partly cloudy day last August. The white sails of a passing boat flapped in the wind. The wrecked Hetty Taylor schooner remained sunken beneath these Lake Michigan waters. 

And at the base of the Sheboygan Breakwater Lighthouse, Robert Devroy III cast his line. 

Fishing and hunting are two of Devroy’s favorite things about Wisconsin, where there’s “never a dull moment,” he said. He and his family highly value the outdoor recreation Wisconsin has to offer, whether dirt bike races or long days by the lake. 

Born and raised in Green Bay, Devroy, a Marine Corps veteran, works days as a maintenance technician at Salm Partners, a sausage and hot dog manufacturer in Denmark, Wis. He works occasional nights as a stagehand at Green Bay’s Epic Event Center, where he enjoys attending concerts. That explained the Eric Church T-shirt he sported while waiting for a gullible walleye or muskie to take his bait.

His other job is at home, parenting two daughters and two sons. He’s also attending a technical college. But Devroy’s life hasn’t always been so balanced.

As the Edgewater Generating Station’s smokestacks reflected in his blue sunglasses, he spoke about how “some really hard times” shaped who he is today. That included spending five years in prison for “something stupid.”

“I knew I needed to change, to not continue to go down that path and continue to hurt the people that were around me and that I loved,” Devroy said. “My wife is a big key in where I’m at today, to drive me to be the man that I want to be.” 

She was always there when he left prison, and he realized he needed to do more to take care of his young family.

“If I would’ve continued going down that path that I was living in, that would have never happened,” Devroy said. “I would have been in and out of prison and not going anywhere, not being a successful person in our society.”

But now? “The sky’s the limit,” Devroy said.

Devroy said he’s proud of his career — working on with electrical and mechanical issues, which he entered after embarking on a non-traditional journey. 

He didn’t initially graduate from high school but ultimately gained his high school equivalency degree. Devroy is now in his third year of a maintenance technician program at Northeast Wisconsin Technical College, which includes apprenticeship opportunities. After working on industrial equipment much of his life, he said the program helped him grow into his current position as maintenance supervisor at Salm, where he has worked for a decade. 

“There’s a new challenge every day,” he said. “This path I’ve chosen, it’s endless.” 

Balancing school with two jobs and family duties isn’t always easy, but he’s excited to contemplate his future. Perhaps he’ll even pursue a master’s degree as a journeyman maintenance technician, he said. But for the moment, he was focused on hooking “anything that wants to eat a worm.” 

“When I find time to myself, this is what I do right here,” Devroy said, gazing out at the lake. “Listen to music and enjoy Mother Nature.”

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

Robert Devroy III discovers fulfillment in work and family is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Wisconsin Watch is previewing legislative races in toss-up districts ahead of the Nov. 5 election by focusing on key issues for voters and what candidates say they will do to address them.  See more comprehensive information about the elections in our statewide voter guide.

Thanks to new legislative maps, a Sheboygan Democrat, Joe Sheehan, has a chance at winning a toss-up district that could help flip the Republican-controlled Assembly in November. Sheehan will face off against incumbent Rep. Amy Binsfeld in the 26th District where housing, child care and education are among key issues. 

The district now covers the entire city of Sheboygan, including the city’s UW-Green Bay branch campus. Voters in the majority blue city had no chance of electing a Democratic representative to the Assembly after Republicans redrew Wisconsin’s districts to secure a majority in 2011. Under those gerrymandered maps, Sheboygan was blatantly split in half, creating two districts that stretched into rural areas favoring Republicans. 

Under new legislative maps signed into law in February, the district is a toss-up with just under a 3-point Democratic lean, according to a Wisconsin Watch analysis of past voting patterns. 

Sheehan told Wisconsin Watch he likely wouldn’t have entered the race if it weren’t for the new maps. He spent 20 years as superintendent of the Sheboygan Area School District and later served as executive director of the Sheboygan County Economic Development Corp. before retiring. 

Mary Lynne Donohue, a Democrat who ran for the district in 2020 as a “sacrificial lamb,” told Wisconsin Watch that for years, left-leaning candidates almost never entered the race. 

“That’s one of the horrible characteristics of a gerrymander,” Donohue said. “People stop participating because they know they can’t win.” 

Donohue was one of the original plaintiffs in a federal redistricting case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court, challenging the Republican gerrymander of the state Assembly. The case was thrown out on a technical issue. In a more recent legal challenge, a liberal majority Wisconsin Supreme Court tossed out the state’s maps that were redrawn after the 2020 Census to still favor Republicans, leading to Republican lawmakers and the Democratic governor agreeing on the current maps.

Democratic energy in Sheboygan is extraordinarily high this election year, Donohue said.

Binsfeld was first elected in 2022. She currently represents the 27th District, but decided to run in this district after being drawn into the same district as longtime Rep. Paul Tittl, R-Manitowoc, in the new 25th. Binsfeld serves as chair of the Speaker’s Task Force on Truancy. She did not respond to Wisconsin Watch’s interview requests for this story. 

Sheehan has raised nearly $1 million more than Binsfeld, with the Assembly Democratic Campaign Committee contributing more than $1 million of the $1.27 million his campaign has raised. The Republican Assembly Campaign Committee has contributed more than $220,000 to Binsfeld’s $330,000 fundraising total.

Housing 

Housing in Sheboygan has tightened, and the supply of all types of housing has not kept pace with household and employment growth. One recent study found that the city could be in need of more than 5,200 housing units over the next five years. 

Sheehan said the solution is to lower the cost of a new home for buyers while still allowing developers to make the best profit, which requires subsidies from the state. The state has the ability to incentivize the development of certain types of housing, such as workforce and entry-level housing, he said. If elected, he says he will consult with housing experts. 

He is not in favor of allowing municipalities to establish rent control, adding that this creates an artificial market that is not sustainable long term. 

In an interview with WisconsinEye, Binsfeld said that she is also against rent control and that housing is best dealt with at the local, private level. When asked if the state has any role to play, she added that the Legislature can provide some grants for specific housing projects to incentivize developers.

Child care 

Affordable and accessible child care has been a persistent issue across the state of Wisconsin, and cities like Sheboygan are no exception.

A Wisconsin Department of Children and Families child care supply and demand survey recently found that almost 60% of providers in Wisconsin have unused classroom capacity due to staff shortages. Providers report that if they were able to operate at full capacity, they could accept up to 33,000 more children. The state is losing hundreds of child care providers every year, according to DCF. 

The Economic Policy Institute found that a typical family in Wisconsin would have to spend a third of its income on child care for an infant and a 4-year-old. Based on 2016 data from the U.S. Census Bureau, the Department of Health and Human Services deemed child care affordable if it costs up to 7% of a family’s income.

The median hourly wage for a child care worker in Wisconsin is $13.78, according to May 2023 estimates from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Binsfeld authored a bipartisan bill signed into law by Democratic Gov. Tony Evers this year, increasing Wisconsin’s child and dependent care tax credit. 

Along with her Republican colleagues, Binsfeld also helped author a slate of child care bills during the most recent legislative session. 

The GOP-backed package included bills that would have allowed parents to contribute $10,000 in pre-tax money to an account to pay for child care and established a new category of large family child care centers that could serve between four and 12 children.

Others would have lowered the minimum teaching age of assistant child care providers from 18 to 16 and increased the permitted ratio of children to workers in child care facilities. Providers and advocates argued these efforts would not help solve current challenges in the child care field.

 None of the proposals became law. 

Sheehan said those kinds of bills are not long-term solutions. He did not identify or express support for other types of child care policy, but said if elected, he would consult experts, parents and caregivers on the issue.

Education 

Sheboygan is one of 192 school districts that went or will go to referendum this year, which is almost half of all Wisconsin school districts. Many districts, including Sheboygan, have raised concerns that state aid has not kept up with inflation. In 2009, the state decoupled per-pupil revenue limits from inflation. Districts have had to manage tighter budgets ever since.

While Sheboygan’s public school district is set to go to a capital referendum in November, many districts are increasingly going to an operational referendum. Wisconsin’s per-pupil K-12 spending increased at a lower rate than every other state in the nation besides Indiana and Idaho between 2002 and 2020, according to the Wisconsin Policy Forum.  

Last year, Binsfeld voted in favor of legislation that increased per-pupil revenue limits in public schools and increased tax funding for private voucher schools at the same time. It was passed as part of a compromise between Republican lawmakers and Evers.

Sheehan told Wisconsin Watch he would not have supported that bill, adding that it sets public schools further behind. He expressed concerns over the amount of state funding going toward private school vouchers compared with per-pupil state aid, a figure that doesn’t account for local property taxes. 

“We’ve always supported parochial schools. They do their job, they do it well. That’s a choice people make,” Sheehan said. “But to fund them, and not only fund them, but at a higher level, that’s just wrong.”

He said the state has fallen behind in public school funding over the last decade, “and that needs to change.” He added that recurring referendums are divisive to communities and school districts. 

When asked about K-12 education in a recent WisconsinEye interview, Binsfeld expressed support for school choice and said investing more money in special education will be a top priority for her if reelected.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

Sheboygan Democrat makes case in previously gerrymandered district is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

A 21-year-old police recruit stood in the early morning winter darkness, unsure of what had just happened inside the Comfort Suites in Grand Chute, Wisconsin.

After a night of heavy drinking she awoke partially clothed in a hotel bathtub. Two male academy recruits — from Appleton and Sheboygan — were dousing her feet with cold water and slapping her awake. She dressed and fled the hotel room, but still felt too drunk to drive, so she phoned a trusted co-worker at the Grand Chute Police Department.

After the officer brought her to the police station, she described her ordeal and raised the possibility that she had been sexually assaulted. A DNA swab and blood test were taken at the hospital. She later told Wisconsin Watch she felt confused and still intoxicated during the initial interview.

“Some of the things that I told them — when I was reading the report — I didn’t even remember telling them,” she said.

The two men involved initially gave conflicting accounts of what happened. DNA results that came back almost two months later confirmed one of the men in the hotel room had sex with her. Yet within 34 hours of the reported assault, the Grand Chute Police Department decided not to refer criminal charges to the district attorney and within a week forced her to resign over an unrelated disciplinary complaint.

Wisconsin Watch obtained internal reports, reviewed the evidence and spoke to criminal justice experts. It found in a case like this, in which a police department employee is an alleged crime victim, Wisconsin has no clear standard for when an outside agency must be involved to avoid a potential conflict of interest either in the law or through professional guidelines.

Wisconsin has adopted a constitutional amendment, known as Marsy’s Law, guaranteeing a crime victim’s right to fairness in the justice system. Grand Chute police cited the law in refusing to release the report or details of the incident to Wisconsin Watch, the latest example of a Wisconsin police department using Marsy’s Law to shield individual police officers from scrutiny.

The Wisconsin Watch investigation also found efforts by top Sheboygan police officials to shepherd one of the men involved through the civilian oversight process without disclosing potential red flags from his past. Wisconsin Watch previously reported on a culture of sexual harassment within the Sheboygan Police Department that had not been disclosed to the public.

Wisconsin Watch learned about the Grand Chute sexual assault allegations as part of its initial investigation into the Sheboygan police department and then identified, located and made initial contact with the woman involved. Wisconsin Watch is not naming the parties because it does not typically name alleged sexual assault victims and because the two men involved have not been charged with a crime.

The woman involved said she felt the department used the separate disciplinary review as a pretext to force her out after she reported the assault. Official records show only that she abruptly resigned from the police department before graduating from the law enforcement academy.

“I feel so betrayed by law enforcement as a whole,” she said.

She said because her allegations involved officers from two partner agencies and she was subject to an internal review, her employer should have called in an outside agency like it does for a police shooting. 

“I don’t think Grand Chute should have investigated it,” she said. “I think they should have called in other people.”

A parallel administrative investigation by Fox Valley Technical College, where the three were enrolled, found the woman’s account — that she was too intoxicated to consent to sex — was credible. The investigation led to both men being suspended from the law enforcement academy. Shortly after the incident they were both out of a job within their respective departments.

The two men did not respond to calls, voicemails, text messages and emails for comment.

‘There’s no reason I can’t do this’

The female recruit grew up in a small suburban Appleton community. She didn’t have any family in law enforcement and never imagined she would work as a police officer.

“As a child, I always kind of admired the profession,” she said.

She wanted to help people in need and began training to be an EMT. But she found it unfulfilling and was drawn to working closer to her own community. She enrolled in criminal justice courses and said the subject fascinated her.

“There’s no reason I can’t do this,” she recalled thinking, “just because I don’t have a family legacy.”

Shortly after her 20th birthday, Grand Chute’s police department hired her as a community service officer — a part-time civilian employee who investigates minor complaints such as off-leash dogs and parking violations. The entry level program is often a precursor to the 18-week police academy.

A year and a half into her employment, she learned someone filed a complaint  alleging she disparaged the department in front of academy students and used a slur to refer to a co-worker with whom she had clashed, which she disputes.

The complaint also alleged she occasionally talked with a co-worker while leaving a phone call on hold and neglected to conduct neighborhood patrol checks, which she acknowledged.

The review was opened in early January 2022. She said at first she was assured it would take a week or two, but it dragged on without resolution. She said she threatened to quit in February but was told she would get no reference from the department if she did.

“The inquiry was going on for so long,” she said. “I was like, I just want this to be done with.”

A night out after success on the shooting range

Fox Valley Technical College’s law enforcement academy recruits were out on March 2, 2022 — a Wednesday evening — to celebrate passing their firearms qualification. The woman met a friend at a steakhouse for dinner and a cocktail after class, and she later spotted the two academy classmates.

The trio next went to the lobby bar of the Comfort Suites where one of the men was staying, before heading to The Peppermint Hippo strip club in Neenah for more drinks.

“On the car ride back to the hotel I couldn’t even hold my own head up,” she recalled.

By the time they returned to the Comfort Suites, she told investigators, she had between six and nine mixed drinks and as many as three shots over the course of the evening.

“One of the things that registered as a red flag to me — after the fact — was that the only drink I paid for myself that night was the margarita I had before I even met up with them,” she said. “Every other drink was being brought to me by them. And I just kept drinking, for free.”

She was too drunk to drive back to her mother’s house nearby so one of the men rented a second room. What happened next inside the room is in dispute.

The woman said she lay down on the couch. She vaguely remembers being carried to the bed and her jeans being pulled down but didn’t resist because her pants were tight and uncomfortable.

“I felt like I was way too drunk. I just wanted to go to bed,” she said. “Because I think at that point … I was like, ‘I’ve been drunk for too long. I just want to be sober again.’ ”

In the report one of the men said he picked her up and tossed her onto the bed as she was laughing. She told investigators she may have been carried to the bed, but her recollection was hazy.

She later recalled both men performing sexual acts on her while she slipped in and out of consciousness, unable to physically resist.

“I couldn’t get myself to come to,” she said, “to wake myself up and stop anything.”

Speaking to Grand Chute police investigators, one of the men at first denied any sexual contact, claiming that she had attempted to have sex with him and that he could be considered a victim of sexual assault. After police revealed the other man confirmed the three had sex, he changed his story.

All three told investigators that they fell asleep but woke up minutes later when the woman’s alarm went off around 2 a.m.

“They carried me into the shower and set me on the side of the tub and turned the cold water on me to try and wake me up,” she recalled. “Because I think at that point, they just kind of wanted to get rid of me.”

Investigators met a second time with her that afternoon. They suggested she answer a Snapchat social media message she received from one of the men earlier that morning. The detective coached her on how to answer, she said.

The detective’s coaching is not reflected in the report that includes a transcript of the written exchange. She responded at one point that she was “embarrassed” — a word choice she said was suggested by the detective and which she later thought hurt her credibility.

“Embarrassed isn’t the right word to describe how I feel about this,” she told Wisconsin Watch. “If I had regrets, this would not be the course of action I would take.”

Open and shut in less than 34 hours

Investigators concluded the woman wasn’t completely incapacitated by alcohol because she wasn’t visibly swaying when she checked into the hotel and she used her phone to call an officer she knew.

Grand Chute Police Chief Greg Peterson said investigators ultimately received conflicting stories about what happened inside the room.

“There was her statement and there are the statements from (the two male recruits) — their opinion that she wasn’t completely blacked out,” he said.

Experts say sexual assaults can be difficult to prosecute for a number of reasons but particularly when the parties know each other, there is no sign of physical coercion and alcohol is involved.

A lot of times it comes down to whose account investigators choose to believe, said Cassia Spohn, an Arizona State University criminal justice professor and nationally recognized expert in sexual assault investigations. “It’s a really difficult case to determine with any degree of precision what actually happened.” 

But Spohn — who advises the military and metropolitan police agencies on handling sexual assault cases — also called the quick resolution of the case “troubling.”

“In my experience of reviewing these kinds of cases, the police would not close the case so quickly,” she said. “They would spend a little more time giving the victim at least the satisfaction of knowing that they did do a thorough investigation.”

Spohn based her opinion on the incident report prepared by Grand Chute police investigators, whom she credited with apparently thorough work — gathering evidence immediately at the hotel and interviewing all three involved.

Spohn said the fact that all three confirmed that the woman was out cold with her socks on in the bathtub and they were slapping her to try to wake her up supported her claim that she was too intoxicated to consent.

Spohn also said it was odd that a detective would suggest the victim say she felt “embarrassed” after being sexually assaulted if they wanted to get information out of a potential crime suspect.

“You think that they would have coached her to say ‘I feel really violated’ rather than ‘embarrassed’ and his response might have been different,” Spohn said.

In an interview Grand Chute Capt. Colette Jaeger said investigators believed the woman was telling the truth, but the evidence they found — which included video surveillance footage from the hotel lobby — wasn’t consistent with someone being incapacitated to the point of being sexually assaulted.

“She reported sexual assault, and then the elements of the crime just weren’t able to be confirmed, validated,” Jaeger said. “I mean, what we were left with was her saying she did not give consent and then two other stories as well as video evidence that didn’t support that.”

Much of the woman’s account to investigators took place in the early morning when she said she was still reeling from more than 10 alcoholic drinks the night before.

“By her own statement, (she) could not recall if she had said yes to the encounter occurring and she did not recall what had occurred,” detective Sgt. Joe Teigen wrote in his summary explaining why criminal charges were not filed.

Ian Henderson, an attorney and policy director for the Wisconsin Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said when police officers are involved in a critical incident like a shooting it’s standard practice to give them time to cool down and collect their thoughts before taking a definitive statement.

That the female recruit was confused and expressed doubt over what had just happened immediately after a traumatic event should not be a surprise. “Doing a comprehensive, investigative interview, a day or two after the assault” is considered “best practice,” Henderson said.

But investigators notified all three within 34 hours that criminal charges weren’t being filed. Peterson said his department didn’t rush anything.

“The length of time is not a good indicator of the quality of the investigation,” Peterson said. “I think it was very thoroughly investigated. So, I do feel sorry for the experience that (she) went through. But I do think she was treated with respect.”

Grand Chute police officials confirmed they have no plans to reactivate the investigation. The toxicology report found no evidence of foul play such as a date rape drug in her system.

No professional standards for potential conflicts

Wisconsin state law requires police agencies to call in third-party investigators in  critical incidents when officers kill or seriously wound someone in the line of duty.

But the law only applies to those narrow circumstances. And professional standards don’t provide concrete guidance over investigations when there are potential conflicts of interest, said Glendale Police Chief Mark Ferguson, president of the Wisconsin Law Enforcement Accreditation Group.

“We do not have a specific standard that covers an agency requesting another agency to conduct an investigation,” he said.

Grand Chute’s police chief disputed that there were any conflicts in investigating an alleged crime against the recruit while she was separately under administrative scrutiny.

“There usually isn’t a conflict associated with investigating somebody who has been a victim of a crime,” Peterson said.

Daniel Shaw, regional program manager for the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA), of which Grand Chute is not a member, said agencies may conduct personnel investigations with regard to administrative violations of policy and procedure. But the group recommends that agencies not investigate their own employees alleged to have committed crimes.

If an officer under a personnel investigation is an alleged crime victim, Shaw said he would want an outside agency to review the case.

“I guess if that happened in my jurisdiction, I’d want to give it to some other agency,” said Shaw, who was a police chief in a mid-sized Michigan city for a decade. “That’s my personal view — not a CALEA view.”

Marsy’s Law and victim rights invoked to withhold records

When Wisconsin Watch initially requested Grand Chute’s report on the alleged sexual assault during an investigation into sexual harassment within the Sheboygan Police Department, Grand Chute police declined to release even a redacted version of the report, claiming even associations could violate the privacy of victims.

“It is critical for us to consider the potential adverse effects that may occur if such sensitive records were to be released,” Jaeger, the Grand Chute police captain, wrote in denying Wisconsin Watch’s request.

The department refused to release any narrative — even without names. 

“It is more complicated than simply redacting a name in an investigation of this nature,” Jaeger wrote.

Outagamie County District Attorney Melinda Tempelis — whose office has a role enforcing the public records law — agreed with the police department and declined to intervene.

Resignation not voluntary 

Five days after the incident the woman was told her employment was over due to the findings of the administrative inquiry. She had a choice: be terminated or immediately resign.

Writing two days after she resigned, Peterson noted in an administrative review that her alleged disparagement of the department to fellow students could damage the agency’s reputation and make it harder to recruit.

Peterson denies any correlation between her departure and her allegation of a crime.

“The episode at the hotel had already taken place — it didn’t change or alter my assessment of the administrative violations,” Peterson told Wisconsin Watch. The administrative violations warranted “substantial discipline up to and including termination. It became moot, you know, she had chosen to resign.”

Town of Grand Chute Human Resources Director Sue Brinkman was among those present when the woman was called in on the last day of her job. She confirmed her resignation was not voluntary.

Male recruits lose their jobs

The two men also lost their jobs with their respective police departments.

Appleton police declined to answer questions, but it did release a summary of its disciplinary review to Wisconsin Watch following a public records request. Grand Chute’s police chief contacted his Appleton counterpart the evening of March 3, 2022, to notify him that Appleton’s recruit was the subject of a sexual assault complaint.

Appleton Police Chief Todd Thomas wrote that the recruit was terminated for “immoral” and “unbecoming” conduct three days later. That was after receiving a copy of Grand Chute’s incident report that concluded there was no probable cause for his arrest.

The recruit, who had previously resigned after about a year and a half as a prison guard at Oshkosh Correctional, returned to his job as a corrections officer at the medium-security prison.

The Sheboygan recruit resigned from his job on March 15, 2022.

“I am grateful for the support and belief you all had in me,” he wrote. “It brings me sadness and disappointment to have to submit this letter, but I am honored to have had the time spent with this department.”

College mum on sexual misconduct complaints

Fox Valley Technical College officials wouldn’t say how many sexual misconduct investigations they have conducted at the law enforcement academy in the past five years.

College investigators reviewed Grand Chute’s reports and conducted interviews with three additional witnesses who were at the bars with all three that evening, according to a May 27, 2022, letter outlining the college’s investigation.

College administrators found the woman’s account credible and moved to sanction the two male students.

“After reviewing the evidence and credibility of the witness statements, the preponderance of the evidence outlined above leads me to the finding that the complainant was unable to give valid consent to sexual intercourse due to her incapacitation,” wrote college Associate Vice President Elizabeth Burns.

College administration and law enforcement academy officials declined to answer questions.

“We respect the rights of our students and alumni to share their own experiences,” the college said in an unsigned statement.

The female recruit returned to the academy the following week and went on to graduate in May. She said she was warned not to discuss the incident and deliberately skipped the graduation ceremony.

“Going back to the academy as a whole was probably like, one of the hardest things I’ve done,” she said. “I was very isolated from my classmates.”

The Outagamie district attorney concurred with the decision not to bring charges against the men.

“Although I don’t remember the specific facts, there was a consensus between the investigator and me that this was not a case that could be proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” Outagamie County Assistant District Attorney Randall Schneider — a former high-ranking state Department of Justice official — wrote in an email to Wisconsin Watch.

“If additional information has come to light, this decision can be reevaluated,” he added.

Neither of the men is employed by a police department. The Department of Justice lists the Appleton recruit as “terminated for cause” and the Sheboygan recruit as resigned “prior to completion of internal investigation.”

They could apply to have their suspension from the college lifted next year.

Wisconsin Watch reporter Phoebe Petrovic contributed to this report.

The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

A Grand Chute police recruit alleged she was sexually assaulted. Days later she lost her job. is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

A Sheboygan police recruit involved in an alleged sexual assault had been flagged as a suspected gang member in high school, but that information was not provided to an oversight board before he was hired.

The male recruit resigned from his job on March 15, 2022, less than two weeks after being accused of sexual assault by a female Grand Chute police recruit who also attended Fox Valley Technical College’s police academy.

The Sheboygan recruit was not charged with a crime. The female recruit lost her job within five days of alleging the assault as part of an unrelated Grand Chute disciplinary investigation. Wisconsin Watch is not naming either recruit because no charges were filed.

In February Wisconsin Watch reported on a previously undisclosed culture of sexual harassment against women within the Sheboygan Police Department that had resulted in 12 officers out of the 62-officer patrol force being disciplined or verbally admonished.

Wisconsin Watch learned about the alleged Grand Chute sexual assault case during that investigation, but Grand Chute police resisted releasing any details of the investigation for months, citing a constitutional protection for crime victims, known as Marsy’s Law.

Public records obtained by Wisconsin Watch revealed the Sheboygan recruit had been flagged as a suspected “Latin Kings” gang member when he was in high school. But a month after the commission approved his hire, the flag was removed from a department database by one of his superior officers.

Members of the Sheboygan Police and Fire Commission — the civilian oversight body that approves new hires — said they learned of his past only after approving him as a probationary officer on the recommendation of senior officers.

Gang affiliation flags have come under scrutiny over whether they are effective and potential racial biases. Court records list him as Hispanic. 

Former commission president Bob Lettre said the fact he had been flagged by police as a suspected gang member by Sheboygan police should have been disclosed.

“I certainly expected the police department to give us the total background,” Lettre said. “For some reason with him, they didn’t do that.”

Lettre said patrol-level police officers raised concerns privately about the Sheboygan recruit only after the hire was approved. Records show Capt. Steve Cobb removed the gang flag from the database a month after the recruit’s hire was approved.

Former commissioner Andy Hopp, who supported the hiring motion, said commissioners are routinely given all information available about potential hires so they can ask them about their past. But he could recall no disclosure of the suspected gang ties.

“If somebody had a speeding ticket or somebody had an arrest for drunk driving, we would typically be aware of that information,” Hopp said.

Cobb — who retired from the police department in early 2022 — declined to comment on “confidential employee information.” He has since been hired part-time by the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Office to run background checks.

Sheboygan Police Chief Christopher Domagalski declined an interview but answered questions via email. He said the gang flags were not disclosed to the commission “because it would have been improper and wrong to do so.”

“The alert flag was removed when it was brought to our attention, as it should have been removed years earlier,” he wrote, adding that gang flags are meant to be purged from the system after five years if there is no new information.

The male recruit addressed his resignation letter to Domagalski and Cobb.

“I am grateful for the support and belief you all had in me,” he wrote. “It brings me sadness and disappointment to have to submit this letter, but I am honored to have had the time spent with this department.”

The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch (www.WisconsinWatch.org) collaborates with WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

Sheboygan recruit accused of sex assault had potential red flag is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Wisconsin Watch is a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom. Subscribe to our newsletters for original stories and our Friday news roundup.

SHEBOYGAN — Key city officials say they were left in the dark at various points during and after three 2021 internal investigations into sexual harassment by the Sheboygan Police Department.

The Sheboygan Press and Wisconsin Watch first reported on the existence and results of the sexual harassment investigations, which included discipline or verbal reprimands for a dozen officers on Feb. 6. The city also settled a discrimination complaint related to sexual harassment with a female officer for $110,000.

The police oversight board, a five-citizen commission that can decide to hear and act on complaints publicly, was out of the loop, former president Robert Lettre told the news outlets. The city also discontinued an external review of the police investigations that city leaders had initially agreed upon. 

The state Department of Workforce Development (DWD) later found probable cause to believe recently fired city administrator Todd Wolf retaliated against former Human Resources Director Vicky Schneider over her concerns about how the investigations were handled. The finding advances the case to either a settlement agreement or an evidentiary hearing presided over by an administrative law judge. 

Over the past few months, city leaders have been updating policies they hope will prevent future harassment and better respond to any future complaints as the fallout from those probes continues. 

Bryan Pray, the officer who received the steepest penalty, a two-week unpaid suspension, resigned Feb. 8 — two days after the story was published and over a year after the conclusion of the internal probes. The investigations focused on misconduct including sharing semi-nude photos of co-workers without their knowledge or consent.

Addressing police culture top priority

Sheboygan’s new human resources director, Adam Westbrook, said the path forward includes improving the culture at the police department, in which “dark humor” and “inappropriate”  statements and behavior were tolerated — a situation he noted is not unique to Sheboygan.

“There was a culture at the police department that allowed for that type of behavior to happen,” Westbrook said. “There has to be a shift that says ‘This is not OK.’ ”

“The second thing is rebuilding trust, and that’s what I’m trying to do. Because I feel like employees and police officers, whether rightfully or wrongfully, feel like if they report something, nothing is going to happen… (I) have been very clear that I want to know bad things that are happening so that I can address them.”

Moving forward, any allegation of harassment, discrimination or retaliation will be investigated separately by the human resources department and the police department, Westbrook said.

On Feb. 14, a citizen complaint was filed with the police department against Chief Christopher Domagalski, Capt. Kurt Zempel, recently promoted to assistant chief, and Capt. James Veeser for their handling of the original sexual harassment investigations, citing Wisconsin Watch and the Sheboygan Press’s reporting. 

Two days later, Westbrook responded in writing that the complaint could not be investigated “based on the lack of information provided,” but the complainant could submit a new complaint to human resources with more detail or appeal to the Police and Fire Commission.

Investigation of a more recent complaint related to sexual harassment at the police department closed in February after investigators found it was not true and did not happen, Westbrook said.

City launched external review, which never finished 

One step the city did take was to hire a law firm in July 2021 to investigate the police department’s handling of the allegations after Schneider raised concerns. But the review was discontinued when a female officer filed a sex discrimination complaint with the DWD.

That was news to Mayor Ryan Sorenson, who said he did not know the attorneys’ investigation was halted.

“I was trusting our team that this was being handled correctly and obviously best practices weren’t followed, so I was very upset by that,” he said. “I guess I fully don’t understand why it (the outside review) stopped.” 

The mayor said he is not normally involved in personnel issues; after making the decision to hire outside attorneys, responsibility for the review passed to the human resources department, city administrator and city attorney’s office.

City administrator alleged to have downplayed concerns

Schneider, the former city human resources director, filed a complaint with the state Equal Rights Division in January 2022 against the city claiming discrimination. Schneider’s case, which is pending, alleged then-city administrator Wolf downplayed her concerns about the police department’s response to sexual harassment complaints.

Wolf instead “sought to discredit the female officers involved” and told Schneider not to get involved in the investigation or to inform the city council about the sexual harassment complaints, her attorney wrote in filings to the state DWD. James Macy, the attorney hired by the city to defend it against Schneider’s employment discrimination complaint, declined to comment further on the pending case but said no discrimination occurred.

Schneider took leave from November 2021 until March 2022, when the benefit ran out, resigning in early June. 

In early January, the council fired Wolf, citing no reasons, after hearing additional, unrelated concerns about his conduct. The city has declined to release its preliminary investigation report but Sorenson told the Sheboygan Press that Wolf’s actions as city administrator made the city vulnerable to lawsuits. 

The city chose to fire Wolf without cause, rather than for cause, to save money and “minimize the negative impact on both Wolf and other city employees,” according to the city council resolution.

On Feb. 6, Wolf sued 13 people, including the mayor, city council members and Sheboygan Press reporter Maya Hilty, in connection with his firing, which he contends was unjustified. 

Police and Fire Commission not involved

In 2021, Lettre, then-president of the Sheboygan Board of Police and Fire Commissioners, also raised concerns about the sexual harassment investigations.

The commission holds trial-like hearings on complaints filed against police officers, if concerns remain after those complaints are dealt with internally. Complaints can be filed with the commission by a member of the commission, the police chief or any aggrieved person.

The commission decides appropriate discipline for officers, including the chief of police, if the charges are sustained.

Lettre said a female officer contacted him in 2021 saying she had made a sexual harassment complaint that was inadequately addressed by the department. Lettre then met with the police chief, the mayor, city administrator and city attorney.

“It seemed like they were more interested in hiding the fact that there had been what was going on in the police department with sexual harassment … than really addressing the problem,” he said.

Lettre said he “never had a chance to pursue” the officer’s concerns because in the spring of 2022, he was removed from the commission.

According to Lettre, Sorenson told him in April that the police chief thought Lettre should not be reappointed at the end of his five-year term. 

“I kind of laughed at him. I said, ‘What’s the police chief got to do with you reappointing?’ ” Lettre later told a reporter, saying that “goes against” the intent of the state law establishing police and fire commissions to oversee police chiefs and departments.

Sorenson said the chief did not influence his decision but both the police and fire chiefs “gave some good perspective that kind of confirmed my decision.” Sorenson said he did not reappoint Lettre because he campaigned on making new appointments to city boards, and Lettre had already served 25 years on the commission.

While president of the commission, Lettre said he was not aware of the city’s external review of the police department’s investigation, although he “certainly” thinks the city should have informed him of that. He added that the commission knew “almost nothing” about the sexual harassment complaints at the department.

Andy Hopp, the current president, declined to discuss the department’s harassment investigations or the city’s external review, adding he cannot comment on matters discussed in closed session.

Hopp also declined to comment on whether the female officer’s allegations about supervisors and the chief of police failing to take her complaints seriously warrant further investigation.

Police misconduct remained out of public view

The police department redacted more than 70 pages of the reports obtained by the Sheboygan Press and Wisconsin Watch, along with the names of all but two of the 12 officers who were disciplined or verbally admonished.

Domagalski wrote that full disclosure would discourage officers from cooperating in future investigations and undermine the privacy of those who participated. He also wrote it would hinder the city’s ability to recruit and retain officers by causing a loss of morale and limiting their opportunities for “satisfying careers and fair treatment.” 

Chuck Adams, the city attorney, initially said the city would not release the settlement agreement with the female officer but later provided it.

Employment attorney Nola Cross, who was not involved in the investigations or complaints, said efforts by a city to hide what happens with public money is a violation of public trust.

Additionally, anyone contemplating applying to the Sheboygan Police Department should “easily” be able to know the department’s record on sexual harassment, such how many settlements there have been and how many complaints have been filed, Cross said.

“That’s one of the reasons there’s so much pervasive sexual harassment … in non-traditional female positions,” she said. “It doesn’t see the light of day. There’s no sunlight on these cases.”

This is a collaboration by the Sheboygan Press and the nonprofit Wisconsin Watch, (www.WisconsinWatch.org), which collaborates with WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

Top Sheboygan officials lacked key details on police department sexual harassment probes is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

A community organization is calling for the Sheboygan Police Department to act after Wisconsin Watch and the Sheboygan Press reported earlier this month on the department’s handling of three internal investigations into sexual harassment in 2021.

“As an organization focused on supporting victims and holding individuals accountable, what is published alleges that the exact opposite happened,” Safe Harbor of Sheboygan County said in a news release. Safe Harbor provides prevention, intervention, education and outreach services to end domestic abuse and sexual assault.

Meanwhile, the police department is investigating still another complaint related to sexual harassment made by an employee in the past few months. The Sheboygan Press and Wisconsin Watch do not know the identity of the target or targets of that fourth probe.

In all, 10 officers were disciplined and two others admonished as a result of the 2021 sexual harassment investigations, which focused on inappropriate behavior including viewing or sharing nude and semi-nude photos of co-workers without their knowledge or consent. 

Police Chief Christopher Domagalski said his department took the 2021 harassment complaints very seriously and held offending officers accountable.

Sheboygan’s then-human resources director, Vicky Schneider, thought the discipline “sent a message that female employees had no legitimate protection against this kind of behavior from their male co-workers,” her attorney wrote in documents from her own discrimination case that she filed with the state Department of Workforce Development before resigning.

Safe Harbor wants accountability, transparency

“The existing culture of the Sheboygan Police Department and the City of Sheboygan allowed this (sexual harassment) to happen and go as far as it did,” Safe Harbor’s news release stated. “The eyes of the Sheboygan community are on the police department and city administration in how they handle these allegations, discipline the offending employees, and support the victims, including those who have come forward and any who have remained silent.”

The organization called for a “complete review of the policies, training, reporting avenues, and support mechanisms in place for victimized employees and potential whistleblowers.”

Deanna Grundl, vice president of Safe Harbor’s board of directors, said the organization is “really just saddened and surprised” by the scandal.

“Some people may look at it as just a picture, but behind that picture is someone who had something done to them that they didn’t want done,” Grundl said. “When that happens, whether people want to be identified as victims or not, nonetheless, that person unfortunately became a victim of gender-based violence.”

Safe Harbor works closely with the department and will continue to do so. “Their officers and administration have traditionally demonstrated professionalism and compassion in working with our advocates and victims,” the news release stated.

Mayor says city will ensure ‘situations like these don’t happen again’

At a Sheboygan City Council meeting after the Wisconsin Watch and Sheboygan Press articles were published, Mayor Ryan Sorenson said the city’s “top priority moving forward is to rebuild the trust” of employees and the community.

“We have already begun the process of … ensuring our internal policies and procedures reflect the values and expectations of the community,” he said, later saying the city was already updating its code of conduct, violence in the workplace, whistleblower and other policies.

“I am committed to ensuring that leadership at every level of municipal government takes allegations of sexual misconduct and abuse of power seriously,” Sorenson said.

Sheboygan’s newly-hired human resources director is working with the police department to correct problems, the mayor added.

Accountability also “has to start with” Sheboygan’s Board of Police and Fire Commissioners, Sorenson said.

In addition to approving all officers’ hiring and promotions, the five-citizen commission hears complaints against members of the police department in a public, trial-like setting if concerns remain after those complaints are dealt with internally. 

The police chief, a member of the commission or any aggrieved person can file a complaint with the commission. After a hearing, the commission decides appropriate discipline for officers up to and including the chief of police, if warranted.

Sorenson added: “I share everyone’s frustration that this happened, but I’m not focused on retribution. I’m focusing on making sure that we can fix these mistakes so that situations like these don’t happen again.”

Reach Maya Hilty at 920-400-7485 or MHilty@sheboygan.gannett.com. Originally published by the Sheboygan Press

Sheboygan anti-abuse group calls for accountability from police department is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Clarification: Male officers found to have sexually harassed colleagues in 2021 did attend anti-harassment training; the entire police department was required to attend sexual harassment training, according to Director of Human Resources Adam Westbrook. Wisconsin Watch and the Sheboygan Press previously reported what officers attended anti-harassment training based on discipline forms, on which the officers found to have sexually harassed their colleagues were not ordered to attend anti-harassment training but other officers were.

In the spring and summer of 2021, the results of three, months-long internal investigations came to Sheboygan Police Chief Christopher Domagalski’s desk.

Supervisors found that, amidst a raft of sexual misconduct by both men and women in the department, four male officers had sexually harassed female colleagues. Three of those male officers also committed other serious policy violations, including not following supervisors’ orders and neglecting their duties. 

One victim of harassment had resigned as a result. Another said the harassment — which included male colleagues passing around a partially nude photo of her without her knowledge or consent — was straining her relationships with other officers, and she worried about remaining at the department.

Domagalski reduced the discipline recommended by his captain, giving the worst offenders one- and two-week suspensions.

In total, 12 officers out of the 62-officer patrol force — or about one in five — were disciplined or verbally admonished in 2021 as a result of the internal investigations. At least three female officers resigned as a result of or mentioning frustrations about the department.

In late 2022, Wisconsin Watch and the Sheboygan Press obtained the three internal investigations, comprising over 200 pages of heavily redacted reports. 

The records name just two of the officers, Bryan Pray and Nicholas Helland, who were disciplined for sexual harassment. Police sought to shield the name of the officer central to the third sexual harassment investigation, but a redaction error identifies him as Stephen Schnabel. We chose to name him because he was also disciplined for sexual harassment. 

The news outlets could not definitively confirm the identities of some of the officers disciplined for lesser policy violations. We are also not naming the victims of sexual harassment, some of whom were also disciplined for policy violations, including misuse of their cellphones and inappropriate or unbecoming conduct. 

Wisconsin Watch and the Sheboygan Press’s review of the reports found the Sheboygan Police Department bungled its investigations into sexual harassment within the agency. 

The department failed to protect the women who came forward, instead exposing one to retaliation. Management downplayed harassment, repeatedly coming to contradictory conclusions that protected the harassers, issuing wrist-slap discipline and at times blaming the women for their own victimization. Supervisors did not criminally investigate whether officers may have committed pornography-related crimes. 

“Anytime there’s potential for unlawful conduct,” said Jim Palmer, executive director of the Wisconsin Professional Police Association, “it’s very common for agencies to call in another outside agency.” That did not happen.

As a result, the public, and some local officials, remained in the dark. The then-city human resources director, who should have been well-informed of female officers’ complaints per city policy, alleged a “cover up” when she later learned their full extent. 

Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski learned from an outside whistleblower that officers had potentially lied to investigators — information he’s constitutionally required to disclose in cases where they testify in court. The chief claimed no such problem existed and said he did not believe Pray gave false statements during the investigation; Urmanski found the opposite. On Jan. 11, he added Pray to a list of law enforcement agents with documented credibility issues and began informing defense attorneys, allowing them to challenge Pray’s reliability. Urmanski is still weighing whether to list additional officers.

And Sheboygan city leaders did not hold the police accountable: They initially decided to hire outside attorneys to ensure the department properly addressed harassment complaints but discontinued the review after a female police officer filed a discrimination complaint against the city with the state Department of Workforce Development’s Equal Rights Division. In August, Sheboygan quietly settled the case for $110,000. The city denied any wrongdoing or liability in connection with the settlement.

Police leaders evidently worried about the officers’ conduct becoming public, noting in several discipline forms: “The impact your decisions have on the reputation of the department and community trust if the public became aware of your conduct can not be overstated as our reputation is key to the trust that the public places in us.”

People were held accountable, chief says

Domagalski, who became chief in 2010 after 18 years with the Milwaukee Police Department, said his department took the harassment complaints very seriously and held offending officers accountable. 

He said the department has made a lot of progress in building a culture that will make women comfortable at work, adding: “It’s something that we need to continue to improve upon.”

Women make up around one-sixth of the department’s officers, according to his estimates.

“This was a small group of people within the organization, and not the entire organization, that is engaged in this behavior (of sexual misconduct),” Domgalski said. 

“I think it’s some of the same behavior that you find going on in our society right now, quite frequently, unfortunately,” Domagalski said. “Unfortunately, as much as we would like to be at times, we’re not immune to that. … We’re hiring from the community and we’re hiring from the human race.”

Nationally, an estimated 71% of women and 41% of men working as police officers reported experiencing sexual harassment or assault on the job. Research shows sexual harassment disrupts victims’ career trajectories and increases financial strain.

Partially nude photos led to sexual harassment

Two female officers filed complaints in January 2021 that partially nude photographs of themselves were circulating through the department without their consent. The investigations substantiated this and other sexual harassment, along with other forms of misconduct. 

While off duty, a woman identified as Officer 1 sent a partially nude photo of herself to another officer no longer employed in Sheboygan, after he asked for photos of her several times, she said. But, without her consent, he showed the photo to Officer Helland while on duty. Helland then took a photo of it with his own phone and proceeded to show other male officers while on duty.

Officer 1 did not respond to a request for comment. Helland declined, citing departmental policy.

The investigation found Helland, then an officer in Sheboygan for three and a half years with no relevant discipline history, guilty of sexual harassment and other misconduct. Domagalski gave him a five-day unpaid suspension. 

A woman identified as Officer 8 — who eventually left the police force and received the $110,000 settlement from the city — alleged that Pray took a partially nude photo of her without consent, which the investigation found he had shared with other officers. 

Officer 8 told investigators of an incident after a 2019 training in which officers were instructed to drink heavily to practice using an instrument that measures breath alcohol levels, then continued drinking afterward. Standing in a hotel hallway, Officer 8 lifted her shirt and “flashed” Pray, at his request. Pray took a photo. When he showed her the next morning, she immediately told him to delete it. He said he would. 

But instead, Pray kept the photo. The next year, he showed the image to other Sheboygan police officers while on duty, despite knowing that Officer 8 would “most definitely” feel embarrassed and demeaned as a result, the records show.

The investigation also uncovered that while off duty, Officer 8 solicited a nude photo from Pray and showed it to a friend without Pray’s consent.

In Officer 8’s internal complaint to police, she also described enduring inappropriate comments from Pray for three years since being hired, such as, “When you going to let me smash,” a euphemism for having sex. She alleged he once kissed her on the neck and held a knife to her side without consent. She described them as close friends and said she was dismissive of his sexual advances.

During the investigation, Pray immediately admitted to flirting with and making sexual comments toward Officer 8. He alleged that she never asked him to stop, although she had “more of a nonreaction” to his comments over time. Pray denied kissing her on the neck and holding a knife to her side.

Investigators determined Pray’s sexual harassment of Officer 8 and others took “many forms”, and that Pray retaliated against Officer 8 during the probe by “making negative comments” about her to others. 

Investigators also determined Pray sexually harassed at least one other female officer, and he repeatedly asked for nude photos from a third. A fourth described him as flirty and very “forward and sexually explicit” toward her. 

According to records of the investigation, Pray worried he might be fired. He admitted that “what he did shows a pattern” and that he “felt he could use counseling” to “work on himself.” It’s unclear whether he sought therapy. Pray declined to comment for this story.

Domagalski gave him a 10-day unpaid suspension.

Nude images sent to ‘cheer up’ Pray after killing civilian

In 2020, Pray, who had been with the department for about two and a half years, shot and killed Kevan Ruffin, a 32-year-old man with documented mental illness. Urmanski, the district attorney, deemed the deadly force justified and declined to bring charges.

The sexual harassment investigations found that following the shooting, a female Sheboygan officer on duty, identified as Officer 11, sent Pray nude photos and videos of herself. An unnamed officer claimed to investigators Pray said she did this “to assist in cheering him up.” 

“It’s hard to imagine a scenario in which anyone either in law enforcement or in the community would find that appropriate,” said Palmer, the police association head. “Officers can have a dark sense of humor — and it, frankly, is one that’s often required, because of the things they have to see on a daily basis. (But) I think that would clearly strike anyone as out of bounds.”

A captain recommended a one-day suspension for Officer 11. Instead, the chief gave her a written reprimand, revoked her phone privileges while on duty for one year and required her to attend anti-harassment training. 

Pray was not found at fault for receiving the nude photographs but for showing them to other officers while on duty without her consent — a factor contributing to his overall discipline for sexual harassment.

More sexual harassment uncovered

The nude photographs led to additional harassment findings, records show. 

A third male officer found guilty of sexual harassment, identified as Officer 6, viewed partially nude photos of the female officers on Pray’s and Helland’s phones while on duty. A man identified as Officer 7 engaged in similar behavior, yet was not found guilty of sexual harassment. Officer 6 received a one-day suspension; Officer 7 received a written reprimand and had to attend anti-harassment training. 

The investigations found another male officer, Schnabel, solicited inappropriate relationships with female trainees. He received a written reprimand and lost his post as a training officer. Schnabel did not respond to a request for comment.

Although police have not yet provided Schnabel’s full discipline history from a public records request, the Sheboygan Press reported in 2014 he was suspended from the department for 30 days for driving with a blood alcohol content nearly three times the legal limit. 

Then-city Human Resources Director Vicky Schneider thought the discipline for officers was inadequate. But Domagalski said he disciplined officers according to what he thought was best for the department, for the community and, at some point, for those individuals.

The “purpose of discipline,” Domagalski said, is to “correct or change behavior.”

The officers have since been informed how their actions negatively affected the department, community and victims. “That kind of learning experience can sometimes really make a huge difference,” Domagalski said.

No criminal investigation

Pray’s and Helland’s conduct could have triggered a criminal investigation. 

State law prohibits creating and/or sharing nude images taken without consent where the person depicted had a reasonable expectation of privacy. Depending on the facts of the case, it can be a Class I felony, punishable by up to 1.5 years in prison, 2 years on extended supervision and a $10,000 fine. Officers convicted of felonies face possible decertification, which would bar them from working in law enforcement in Wisconsin.

If a member of the Sheboygan Police Department is “accused of potential criminal conduct,” the department’s policy manual states, a separate, parallel criminal investigation should occur — which the chief may request an outside law enforcement agency to handle. This did not happen, Domagalski said.

Whether a prosecutor would charge either with a crime depends on a full accounting of the facts, said University of Wisconsin clinical law professor Adam Stevenson, but he believes the circumstances warranted an investigation. 

Urmanski said he reviewed the investigative reports for potential criminal conduct, but at this time, does not plan to file charges. He noted no one has asked him to do so.

In an interview, Domagalski said he does not believe the officers accused of taking or distributing nude photos had violated the law. The chief added that he believed — contrary to the findings of his investigating lieutenant — that Officer 8 did consent to be photographed. 

Female complainants not protected

The investigative process that Domagalski described as “very strict” appears to have flouted best practices, documents show.

Throughout the four-month investigation, none of the accused officers was placed on administrative leave. The department’s manual indicates supervisors should place someone on leave when “a complaint of misconduct is of a serious nature,” or when “allowing the accused to continue to work would adversely affect” the department’s mission.

Most people “in any employment law setting” would consider placing the subject of such a complaint on administrative leave best practice, Palmer said. 

Leave helps to “maintain the integrity of the investigation,” he explained, and to ensure that the “alleged victim’s rights aren’t further abridged in any way.” 

At the very least, Palmer added, the department could have insulated Officer 8 by placing her and Pray on separate shifts, but that didn’t happen, either. 

Instead, supervisors instructed Pray to limit his contact with Officer 8 to work-related matters. Officer 8 alleged in her state complaint that Pray “flaunted” that order. 

Police leaders also determined Pray violated directives not to speak about the proceedings and had retaliated against Officer 8 by discussing the complaint. This, too, Palmer said, would have been a moment to place Pray on administrative leave. 

Domagalski did not explain why he never placed Pray on administrative leave during the investigation, saying: “It just didn’t happen, and I’m not going to get into back and forth on individual allegations.”

Investigators also did not look at either Helland or Pray’s personal phones to ensure they deleted nude photos of female co-workers that the women did not want them to have, according to the reports.

When Helland volunteered his phone for that reason — hours after a female officer asked investigating Sgt. Alexander Jaeger to prevent a nude photo of her from circulating further — Jaeger declined to look at it, writing he “trusted (Helland) to delete any and all media on this topic.”

Pray told supervisors he would volunteer his personal phone to aid the investigation but it “wiped itself” of all data when his son unplugged the phone during an update within a month after Officer 8 filed her complaint against him.

Strong findings, weakened conclusions

The captain who made the final discipline recommendations, James Veeser, weakened the investigation’s findings, a review of the internal records shows. 

Lt. Doug Teunissen substantiated Officer 8’s allegation that Pray took a photograph of her exposed chest without her knowledge or consent. 

“This investigation proves this actually occurred,” he wrote. “The photograph that was taken was taken without her consent, and she did not know about it until the day after this event occurred.” 

Yet in Veeser’s summary, he concluded that Officer 8 “allowed” Pray “to take the photo on his phone while she lifted her shirt.”

Domagalski stood by the captain’s conclusions, saying the facts “very clearly” show Officer 8 consented to the photo.

The investigative reports contain further contradictions. 

Teunissen wrote that “if at any time” Officer 8 had “made it very clear” to Pray “that his conduct was unwanted and that he needed to stop” firing would “probably be the only remedy appropriate.” He goes on to state that “this did not occur.” 

Yet the record is contradictory. The reports note twice that Officer 8 “told him to stop several times.” It also says: “She did not specifically tell him to stop though later provided an example of how she told him to stop.” Elsewhere, the report concludes: “It is not disputed that (Officer 8) may have told (Pray) to stop.”

Veeser decided Officer 8’s ostensible failure to tell Pray to stop “does impact how the overall situation may be viewed.” In an interview, Domagalski agreed: “Absolutely.”

But the department’s own policy says employees, while encouraged, are not required to inform their harasser that their actions are unwelcome.

Sandra Radtke, an employment lawyer who represents sexual harassment victims, said that while it’s ideal for a person to straightforwardly tell their harasser to stop, “that’s not the reality of sex harassment victims who are often intimidated and have a variety of other reasons.”  

Even if Officer 8 only tried to redirect, ignore or respond to Pray’s comments with humor, as investigators claim, it remains the case the behavior was unwelcome, Radtke said.

The legal standard for sexual harassment is “unwelcome conduct,” she explained. Unwelcomeness “can take all forms,” Radtke said, including not responding in kind or even looking at the table in embarrassment.

Officer 8: Department did not take harassment seriously 

In her Equal Rights Division complaint, Officer 8 said supervisors “took no genuine interest” in her allegations, asking very few questions, ignoring information she provided and refusing to take basic steps to protect her from continued harassment.

She said “every level” of management, up to Domagalski, failed to adequately address her harassment complaint but instead “disparaged” and retaliated against her. Researchers have found this is not uncommon in discrimination complaints.

The week after first informing supervisors, Officer 8 texted Teunissen — the lieutenant leading the investigation of her allegations — that Pray was sitting beside her at roll call despite orders to limit contact with her, and it was “very uncomfortable.” 

Teunissen responded, writing, “Stay positive and have a good shift.”

Officer 8 further alleged that Domagalski “literally laughed in my face” as she tried to explain continued harassment she experienced at work. She recalled Domagalski saying something to the effect of, “ ‘That’s just who (Pray) is. His confidence got him to where he is today.’ ” A witness to that conversation corroborated that the chief laughed briefly.

Domagalski said he disagrees with Officer 8’s characterization that he was dismissive of her complaint. Asked for comment, he said: “Just that I disagree with that.”  

Schneider, the former city human resources director, filed her own complaint with the state Equal Rights Division in January 2022 alleging the then-city administrator Todd Wolf retaliated against her for “opposing (the) discrimination and sexual harassment” at the police department. She resigned from her position in June. 

Schneider worried female officers’ sexual harassment complaints “were not being taken seriously” by the police because supervisors did not tell her the extent of the complaints, her attorney wrote in her filing. That is contrary to city policy, which states that the investigation of any complaint of harassment should be directed by the human resources director.

Schneider’s case is still pending.

The department also had “a profound lack of curiosity” about what happened to an incapacitated female officer at a hotel during a department-sponsored training, Schneider’s attorney wrote.

Redacted police reports show that after the department training, on the night Pray took a partially nude photo of Officer 8, he removed the pants of a highly intoxicated female officer lying on her hotel bed, according to another male officer who was present.

The other male officer “became uncomfortable” and left, telling Pray it was “time to go.” Pray did not leave with him, returning to the men’s bedroom five to 10 minutes later, the other officer said. The other male officer had also been drinking and the investigator indicated he could not recall all the evening’s events. The female officer — whom Schneider alleged awoke to find herself naked — told investigators she did not remember much of what happened that evening either. 

If investigators asked her whether she woke up clothed or not, that was redacted from the report. Officer 8, who was also present, may have been asleep and did not remember the end of the evening, although she recalled helping the other officer take off her shirt and bra for bed after vomiting on herself. 

The other male officer stated he did not feel Pray’s conduct was sexual but rather aimed at helping an inebriated colleague. The unredacted parts of supervisors’ conclusions from the investigation do not mention the incident nor does anyone appear to have been disciplined as a result. 

Captain ‘addressed’ training officer’s sexual harassment with a brief conversation. Then it continued.

The investigation into Schnabel also downplayed repeat, unwelcome misconduct. Kurt Zempel, the patrol captain, found Schnabel engaged in a “pattern of behavior” that “makes female employees uncomfortable,” including calling new recruits and trainees “hotties,” messaging them flirtatiously and soliciting relationships. 

Zempel found that Schnabel, a training officer, sent a winking kissy emoji to one female trainee, creating a hostile work environment. But he determined it did not constitute sexual harassment because it was not “overtly sexual.” He concluded that Schnabel’s flirty messages to another trainee who clearly “did not want to continue the conversations” with him did not constitute harassment because Schnabel eventually stopped texting her. 

Zempel said flirty messages with another new female employee were not harassment because she invited him on a hike, which, Zempel wrote, indicated the messages “were not unwelcome.” These determinations came after supervisors concluded that Schnabel did, in fact, harass a fourth female trainee through similar, more overtly sexual behavior.

Schnabel’s harassment of the fourth female trainee “was already addressed” by “counseling” he received months earlier, Zempel wrote. The investigation documents only a brief conversation between Zempel and Schnabel in which Schnabel “assured (Zempel) that he could be trusted to train female officers.” But Zempel noted that Schnabel’s “pattern” of soliciting inappropriate relationships and flirting with female trainees continued after that discussion.

Although Zempel admitted that Schnabel’s behavior “exposes the department to considerable liability when facing a formal sexual harassment complaint,” he determined that Schnabel’s other behavior did not constitute sexual harassment. 

At the end of the investigation, Domagalski demoted Schnabel from training officer and agreed to a written reprimand, as Zempel recommended. Zempel wrote that he believed this would mitigate the department’s liability and “correct” Schnabel’s behavior. 

Female officers blamed for victimization

Although the investigations showed both male and female Sheboygan police officers misused their personal phones while on duty, supervisors only stripped the women of their phone privileges.

Records show that Veeser and Teunissen required three female officers — Officers 1, 9 and 11 — to keep their personal cell phones in their department lockers while on duty for periods of time ranging from six weeks to one year, even though Officer 1 did not violate the department’s cell phone policy. None of the male officers, four of whom violated the cell phone policy, had his phone privileges restricted.

When asked to explain the discrepancy, Domagalski wrote by email: “Phone suspensions were modified and all officers were issued department phones.” He did not respond to requests for clarification.

The disparate punishment crystalizes dynamics at play throughout the investigative reports: Police supervisors in some cases blamed the women who experienced sexual harassment for their own victimization.

Writing in her state discrimination complaint, Officer 8 alleged that her first interview “was more focused on discounting or disregarding my claims, and trying to disparage me, than on investigating the facts and circumstances.”

She was also repeatedly questioned about a rumor she and Pray had sexual contact, which she denied. 

During the investigation, supervisors also equated off-duty conduct by Officer 8 with Pray’s harassment. While off duty, Officer 8 solicited a nude photo from Pray and showed it to a friend without Pray’s consent.

“This in effect was the same action that Pray did with Officer 8 but that he showed the photo to co-workers while on duty (it is understood he lied to Officer 8),” Veeser wrote. “There is no excuse for his actions but Officer 8 did something similar.”

Women experiencing harassment are routinely shamed or blamed for their victimization, research shows. They often experience discrimination and retaliation.

“This ‘she was asking for it’ is always going to be out there to some degree,” said Radtke, the employment attorney. “That’s why a lot of sexual harassment victims won’t come forward.”

This is a collaboration by the Sheboygan Press and the nonprofit Wisconsin Watch, (www.WisconsinWatch.org), which collaborates with WPR, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

Widespread sexual harassment draws discipline, resignations in Wisconsin police department is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Clarification: Male officers found to have sexually harassed colleagues in 2021 did attend anti-harassment training; the entire police department was required to attend sexual harassment training, according to Director of Human Resources Adam Westbrook. Wisconsin Watch and the Sheboygan Press previously reported what officers attended anti-harassment training based on discipline forms, on which the officers found to have sexually harassed their colleagues were not ordered to attend anti-harassment training but other officers were.

Here’s some of the misconduct surfaced in the Sheboygan Police Department’s three 2021 sexual harassment investigations, and the resulting discipline:

• In all, the police department found four male officers — Bryan Pray, Nicholas Helland, Stephen Schnabel and Officer 6 — sexually harassed colleagues.
• A fifth man, Officer 7, engaged in similar behavior to Officer 6, including viewing nude photos of co-workers while on duty, but was not found guilty of sexual harassment.
• Three female officers who sent nude photos of themselves or viewed nude photos of their colleagues while on or off duty were disciplined, although none was found to have violated sexual harassment policies.
• No male officers, four of whom violated the cell phone policy, had their phone privileges restricted. Only female officers lost phone privileges. This included Officer 1, a victim of sexual harassment, who did not violate the department’s phone policy. 

Officer Bryan Pray

• Pray sexually harassed at least two female police officers.
  • Pray took a partially nude photo of Officer 8 and shared the photo with other officers while on duty — which she alleges was without her consent. 
  • Pray also made degrading comments toward and requests for sex from Officer 8, on and off duty, in person and electronically, over multiple years. He made sexually explicit comments to other female officers, too.
  • Officer 8 alleged Pray kissed her neck and held a knife to her ribs, both without consent. Pray denied this. 
  • Pray showed other officers nude photos of Officer 11 without her consent.
  • Pray repeatedly solicited nude photos from Officer 9 while on duty.
• Pray several times gave false information or was not completely forthcoming to investigators in interviews where he was required to tell the truth. Despite that, Capt. James Veeser wrote he believed Pray ultimately “provided a truthful rendition of events.”
• In direct violation of supervisors’ orders, Pray retaliated against Officer 8 by talking about her complaint with others during the investigation, including suggesting Officer 8 should be punished.
• Pray accessed restricted databases without authorization to obtain information about Officer 14’s ex-wife.

Officer Nicholas Helland

• While on duty, Helland viewed a topless photograph of Officer 1 on the phone of an officer who has since resigned, to whom Officer 1 sent the photo. Helland used his own phone to take a picture of the topless photograph, which he then showed to multiple male officers without Officer 1’s knowledge or consent.
• Helland spread a rumor that Pray and Officer 8 had a sexual encounter, which Officer 8 denies.
• Helland was not completely forthcoming in investigative interviews. He said he didn’t leave information out on purpose but “didn’t think of it at the time.”
• While on duty, Helland surveilled co-workers’ homes without authorization. He also misused departmental databases to conduct further unauthorized surveillance of co-workers, obtaining an address and running a license plate.
• Helland neglected his duties, including frequently meeting up with a former officer while on duty to talk about their personal lives, sometimes for an hour or more at a time. The other officer sometimes watched movies while they sat parked together, Helland said.

Other Sheboygan officers

• Schnabel sexually harassed one of his trainees, who needed his approval to become a full-fledged officer.  
• Schnabel also sent unwanted, flirtatious messages to three other young female recruits. Capt. Kurt Zempel decided this didn’t rise to the level of sexual harassment, but instead violated a policy banning the “unwelcome solicitation of a personal or sexual relationship while on duty or through the use of one’s official capacity.”
• Officer 11 sent nude photos of herself while on duty to Pray after he shot and killed a civilian. Another officer told investigators she did this to “assist in cheering him up.”
• Officer 9 was not forthcoming in investigative interviews. She also viewed nude photos of two female officers that Pray showed her on and off duty. 
• In addition to Pray and Helland, Officer 6 and Officer 14 abused police powers for non-work-related reasons. Officer 6 surveilled another officer’s spouse, finding a home address and running a license plate without authorization. Officer 14, a “veteran officer” of the department, improperly surveilled his ex-wife by checking a vehicle registration for non-law enforcement purposes. 

Discipline for officers

• Pray: 10-day unpaid suspension
• Helland: Five-day unpaid suspension
• Officer 6: One-day unpaid suspension
• Schnabel: Verbal admonishment, later written reprimand, removed from his post as a police training officer
• Officer 7: Written reprimand.
• Officer 11: Written reprimand, lost personal phone on duty for one year
• Officer 9: Written reprimand, lost personal phone on duty for six weeks
• Officer 14: Written reprimand
• Domagalski said by email that three additional officers were verbally admonished or disciplined. Their misconduct was not shown in redacted reports.

Sheboygan Police Department sexual harassment probes: What to know is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Wisconsin’s Great Lakes communities expect to spend $245 million in five years to protect shorelines as a climate ‘tug of war’ drives extreme shifts in water levels. Wisconsin Watch reporter Mario Koran explains the impact this has on lakeshore communities in this multimedia slideshow.

• Reporter – Mario Koran / Wisconsin Watch
• Story editor – Jim Malewitz / Wisconsin Watch
• Multimedia editor – Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch
• Photos contributed by Brett Kosmider / Door County Pulse, Tad Dukehart & Eric Thelen

This piece was produced for the NEW News Lab, a local news collaboration in Northeast Wisconsin.

Microsoft is providing financial support to the Greater Green Bay Community Foundation and Community Foundation for the Fox Valley Region to fund the initiative.

Imperiled Shores: A multimedia presentation is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.

Mike Kahr, an engineer and owner of Death’s Door Marine, has watched Lake Michigan’s water levels fluctuate during his 40-plus year career. But even the veteran engineer hasn’t seen the lake’s water levels swing from low to high quite this rapidly. 

Eight years ago, Kahr and his crew stayed busy dredging sand from the lake bottom so boats carrying passengers or heavy cargo could reach port. But as water levels surged to a record high last year, Kahr fielded call after call from property owners rushing to protect their shorelines by installing rocks and barriers to keep the waves from eroding their beaches — a flood of requests beyond what his crew could handle.

Some desperate property owners settled for less-experienced contractors who cut corners, he said. Kahr estimated that projects to fix that faulty work now make up about 20% of his workload.

Either way, the lake’s decade-long dance — from low to high water and now easing — has delivered plenty of business for Death’s Door Marine. But it’s not something Kahr celebrates. 

“Yes, I make money at it. But I don’t like to take people’s money when the waves are lapping at their shoreline, and they’re taking money out of the retirement account,” he said.

Unlike the oceans, whose waters are rising as Earth’s steady warming melts glaciers, Great Lakes water levels largely depend on weather and are harder to predict. Lake Michigan’s levels have tended to fluctuate in cycles throughout its recorded history, swinging up or down roughly every three to 10 years. 

Contractors, ferry boat captains, climate scientists and home owners call those ebbs and flows part of life along the Great Lake’s shoreline. But they are now living through the most dramatic shifts in their lifetimes. 

Between record low waters in January 2013 and a record high in July 2020, Lakes Michigan and Huron collectively swung more than 6 feet, according to data from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The lakes have since dipped about a foot and a half, but remain above their long-term average. Climate scientists attribute the volatility to the interplay of the region’s rising temperatures and precipitation from more frequent and intense storms.  

“It is affecting us in one way, shape, or form,” Kahr said of climate change. “It’s very scary to go from one extreme to the other in six and a half years.”

Low-water years require crews like Kahr’s to dredge waterways so boats can reach their destinations. But high water brings destructive storm surges that swallow beaches, swamp docks, erode lakeside bluffs and shutter businesses. Even winter’s storms can break loose frozen slabs, shoving ice into buildings or through the living rooms of lakeside homes. 

The Great Lakes region will spend nearly $2 billion over the next five years combatting coastal damage exacerbated by climate change, according to a recent survey of 241 local governments by the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative, a coalition of 128 U.S. and Canadian mayors focused on protecting the Great Lakes. Wisconsin will bear an estimated burden of at least $245 million, said Sheboygan Mayor Ryan Sorenson, a board member of the coalition.

“When you live on the Great Lakes, you see high water and how this is impacting our community, and how it’s changed over generations,” Sorenson said. “Whether you think it’s cyclical, whether you think it’s climate change, folks in Sheboygan and Wisconsin understand that something needs to be done, regardless of your political affiliation.” 

Climate scientists expect that extreme weather will only accelerate along the Great Lakes — driving even wilder fluctuations. Although lake levels have dipped from last year’s record, Sorenson and Kahr are among those calling for cities and property owners to urgently protect their shorelines, before the next lake surge brings more destruction.

Powerful Lake Michigan waters

On a windy late-September morning, the Washington Island Ferry rocked like an ocean liner in a squall. As the boat headed north through Death’s Door, an often turbulent passage between the mainland and Washington Island, waves crashed into its bow and mist spritzed passengers on its upper deck. In the distance to the east, past the abandoned lighthouse resembling the skeleton of a forgotten church, Lake Michigan’s waters stretched endlessly into the horizon. 

The Great Lakes hold about 20% of theEarth’s surface freshwater. And Lake Michigan, the third-biggest Great Lake by surface area, stretches 118 miles across at its widest point — too far to see across. At its deepest point, more than 900 feet, the lake’s powerful waters would drown San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge with room to spare. The inland ocean holds 1.3 quadrillion gallons of water; its waves can sink ships, pulverize shoreline structures and carry fishermen out to its depths.

Hoyt Purinton, president of the Washington Island Ferry line and a seasoned captain, leads a fleet of five ships that navigate the waters off of Wisconsin’s Door County peninsula year-round — each big enough to carry about 150 passengers and 20 vehicles between the county’s mainland and its inhabited island to the north. 

A thumb that juts into Lake Michigan, Door County boasts 300 miles of shoreline and is sometimes called the Cape Cod of the Midwest. Tourists flock to its beaches in the summer; come autumn, its sugar maples explode with orange and yellow. In 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic’s challenges, tourism generated nearly $400 million for the local economy.

Purinton, whose family has been in business for 80 years and lived in the area since before Wisconsin’s statehood, has faced a host of challenges from shifting lake levels in recent years. Low waters in 2013 forced the ferry to move operations to the island’s historic “Potato Dock,” which is surrounded by deeper waters. That move required dredging and cost his company up to $750,000.

High water in 2020 swamped parts of the Washington Island’s Ferry’s landing and the island, leaving captains to contend with floating debris. Water also flooded the dock at Rock Island, just east of Washington Island and a popular destination for campers. A submerged dock and pandemic-related health concerns forced the closure of Rock Island State Park much of last year, cutting into crucial state park system revenues, said ​​Michael Bergum, who oversees nine state parks for the Wisconsin Department of Natural resources. 

Purinton said he had never seen such a dramatic — and awe-striking — shift in Lake Michigan’s waters.

“It’s been a wild ride. It opens up your world view. It reminds you you’re not in charge,” he said. “The water always wins.”

Kahr says property owners and clients like Purinton should take action now — even with water dipping from its 2020 record. Docks need raising to accommodate coming water levels.

“Prepare for it so you can react in the future,” Kahr advises. “It’s much easier to do the work now than waiting until the water is lapping at the dock’s edge.

A climate ‘tug of war’ 

Lake Michigan had experienced nearly 15 years of low water in 2013, when the Washington Island Ferry line moved its operations to deeper water. 

Many assumed the trend would continue, and nobody predicted the lake’s dramatic rise in the following years, said Drew Gronewold, a University of Michigan associate professor of ecosystem science and management and expert on weather’s impact on the Great Lakes.

“In 2013, everyone was concerned about rising temperatures, loss of ice cover, and there was a narrative at that time that water levels are just going to continue to decline forever in light of climate change,” Gronewold said. “And then, at the beginning of 2014, something happened to the globe, literally a global scale phenomenon, which is the polar vortex. The cold Arctic air surrounding the top hemisphere — it wobbled, and it wobbled dramatically.” 

That “wobbling” destabilized a band of Arctic air, sending south a blast of frigid air that parked over the Great Lakes region for weeks. Wind chills in Chicago dropped to minus 42 degrees, prompting one meteorologist to nickname the city, “Chiberia.” 

The freeze thickened ice cover on the lakes, limiting evaporation. That unforeseen event set the stage for high water in the following years — along with intense rain and snow likely linked to Earth’s warming, Gronewold said. 

More than a century of data from the Corps of Engineers show the cyclical fluctuation of waters in Lakes Michigan and Huron — measured together because the two bodies are connected at the Straits of Mackinac. 

Weather primarily drives the ebbs and flows, four scientists who track water levels told Wisconsin Watch. Precipitation boosts water levels, while evaporation — which increases with warmer temperatures — drops them.

The Great Lakes region is warming faster than elsewhere in the contiguous United States over the past century, according to a 2019 report by the Environmental Law and Policy Center. That’s tending to cause ice cover to form later in the year and lengthening the season for evaporation. Meanwhile, the region saw much more rain and snow, with more precipitation coming from “unusually large events,” like severe storms. 

These two factors create an increasingly powerful “tug of war” effect that will likely bring more extreme shifts in lake levels, even on a year-to-year basis, Gronewold said.

“These two forces are opposite each other, and they are gaining strength as the climate changes,” Gronewold said. 

Intense evaporation from 1998 to 2013 dramatically lowered the lakes, for instance. Waters then rose during the region’s subsequent “wettest five- to 10-year period in recorded history.”

Most models predict that temperatures and precipitation will continue to rise and bring extreme weather, Gronewald said.

Dramatic shifts in water levels on Lakes Michigan and Huron, as a result, will likely become increasingly common — even if average levels stay roughly the same, said Michael Notaro, associate director of University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Nelson Institute Center for Climatic Research.

Beyond speeding up coastal erosion, more frequent, intense storms bring heavier rains that increase the runoff of fertilizer into lakes, feeding algal blooms on nutrient-rich lakes that harm fish and other wildlife. 

“It’s not really (a question of) when it’s going to happen. It’s already happening,” said Notaro. 

Communities respond to rising water

Sorenson, who at 27 serves as Sheboygan’s youngest-ever mayor, grew up in the lakeside city of 48,000. Sometimes called the Malibu of the Midwest, Sheboygan is home to fleets of charter fishing boats, sandy beaches and surfers who brave its winter waters to catch frigid waves. 

Sorenson remembers summer days he spent at the beach as a child, swimming, catching fish and building sand castles. And he remembers when rising waters began to wash those beaches away. Wanting to help home and business owners respond to lakeshore erosion is part of what inspired him to run for mayor, he said in a 2020 video announcing his candidacy. 

The issue remains a priority, he told Wisconsin Watch.

“In the last few years, we’ve seen tremendously high water impact the business community on the boardwalk, where we’ve had to throw sandbags out there just to try to keep it at bay. And that’s not a long term solution for our community and how we address this issue,” he said. 

“We’re seeing cliffs just getting washed away, falling into the lake. And I think something that we have to be truly concerned about is the long term impact that climate change has on our community.” 

Great Lakes communities have spent $878 million in the past two years responding to coastal damage, according to the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Cities Initiative — a price tag that’s only expected to grow. Wisconsin’s expected $245 million in costs over the next five years is conservative, Sorenson said, because it doesn’t include every township or jurisdiction. 

Shoreline erosion — and how to afford infrastructure improvements needed to protect against damage from high water — challenges urban centers and small towns along the Great Lakes. 

Chicago, which rose atop a swamp along Lake Michigan’s southern shore, has endured destructive storms that have caused the lake to overflow its banks, flooded city streets, knocked out power and swamped basements — pointing out the need for infrastructure improvements or offshore breakwaters to protect neighborhoods. 

In Door County, about an hour and a half north of Sheboygan, marina owners and village crews scrambled to rescue property, limit damage to piers and stack sandbags to protect the town’s buildings after November gales battered the village of Ephraim in 2019. After stones and debris washed onto the road at the south end of the village, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation added several hundred feet of protective rock alongside the highway to protect it from a future storm surge. 

“That water definitely came up, and it came up quickly, to the point where we knew we had to do something,” said village administrator and harbormaster Brent Bristol, who helped lead a $358,000 project to rebuild a limestone wall and add more shoreline protection near Ephraim’s historic downtown.

Bristol and other village leaders sought to protect property while preserving the views and character of the village’s downtown, where visitors come to grab a cone from Wilson’s ice cream parlor and watch the sunset.

DNR analyzing Door County shores

The Wisconsin DNR has begun a strategic analysis of the Door Peninsula to inform leaders and other residents how to grapple with the extreme water level shifts along the peninsula. 

“Changing water levels and storm events pose a significant challenge to the management of this coast,” reads the project’s page on the DNR’s website.

Prompting DNR’s analysis: a soaring tally of permitting requests from residents — not just to build barriers during high water years, but also to dredge during low-water years, said James Pardee, DNR environmental analysis and review specialist. 

DNR aims to complete the analysis sometime next year. It will cover the “gamut of shoreline management,” including alternatives to permitting, funding and harbor management, Pardee said. 

“We realized we needed to get a handle on how this is impacting people, how we respond to it, and what that could mean for the environment,” Pardee said. 

The report may also inform public budgets, Pardee said.

Ephraim constructed its $358,000 shoreline project with cash on hand, instead of asking villagers to approve a bond. Bristol said Ephraim funded needed infrastructure projects with proceeds from Door County’s hotel room tax program. The Door County Tourism Zone Commission gets 70% of what’s collected to spend on marketing efforts that put “heads in beds,” said Bristol, but the rest comes back to municipalities, no strings attached. 

Elsewhere, coastal erosion presents an unsustainable liability for local governments. 

For Sheboygan, preparing for the future means reinforcing the city’s breakwater areas and adding protection for the shoreline, whether an additional seawall or protective layers of rock known as riprap, said Sorenson. It also means planting native vegetation, which stabilizes bluff slopes to help prevent future erosion. 

But budgeting for those investments — while maintaining public services — is no small feat for a mid-sized city like Sheboygan, said the mayor. That’s why he hopes to secure federal and state aid.

In the Milwaukee County village of Fox Point, a $1.6 million Federal Emergency Management Agency grant, approved in August, will cover most of the $2.2 million the village needs to protect its eroding shoreline. 

For the past two years, Fox Point has relied on stacked concrete blocks to absorb the impact of waves and protect against further erosion to a shoreline that has already receded as much as 12 feet in some areas — uprooting trees and clogging sewer pipes, reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. 

Sorenson says such grants could help Sheboygan and other Great Lakes cities collectively bolster their defenses against the volatile waters. 

“Being the young mayor from Sheboygan, I can’t do this alone,” Sorenson said. “Whether it’s Sheboygan, Racine, Sturgeon Bay, Green Bay, Marinette, Milwaukee, and everywhere in between, we need to have a clear focus in terms of how we address this.”

Jack Kelly contributed to this report. This story was produced as part of the NEW (Northeast Wisconsin) News Lab. The nonprofit Wisconsin Watch (wisconsinwatch.org) collaborates with Wisconsin Public Radio, PBS Wisconsin, other news media and the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Journalism and Mass Communication. All works created, published, posted or disseminated by Wisconsin Watch do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of UW-Madison or any of its affiliates.

‘The water always wins’: Calls to protect shorelines as volatile Lake Michigan inflicts heavy toll is a post from Wisconsin Watch, a non-profit investigative news site covering Wisconsin since 2009. Please consider making a contribution to support our journalism.