Village of Somers officials are not talking about why long-time Municipal Court Clerk Fran Dibble suddenly announced her resignation last week. The last few years, she has been involved in several scandals. Dibble, who is now divorced, started a romantic relationship with Somers Village President George Stoner (D) who is 25 years her senior. Their relationship started long before her divorce was final, according to our sources.

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Dibble was a loyal girlfriend to the Village’s top elected official – even in her official capacity. She was questioned by an investigator in the early summer of 2020 for a criminal allegation that she forged court records to help Stoner land a conviction for a citation he ordered to be issued. The citation was issued to his political opponent 3 days after he announce he would be challenging stoner and was litigated for 3 years in Municipal court . Village Prosecutor Victoria Oleniczak told the investigator that “she determined that two sets of exhibits purporting to be originals were filed with the court.” She admitted that one set of court records was forged by Dibble. Ultimately, Walworth County DA Zeke Wiedenfeld decided not to criminally charge Dibble for the forgeries. Other employees questioned the relationship between Dibble and her superior, who is a quarter-century older than her. This improper relationship may have lead to her resignation, but officials won’t tell us.

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To further muddy the waters, Municipal Court Judge, Bob Kupfer was Dibble’s divorce attorney, with a second apparent conflict. Kupfer ended up finding Stoner’s opponent guilty. Upon appeal, now-retired Judge Bastianelli reversed Kupfer’s ruling. Kupfer has had an open complaint to the Wisconsin Judicial Commission for two years. Investigations into judicial misconduct are private so we aren’t able to learn what stage the investigation is in. Kupfer was alleged to have researched the case independently, and engaged in ex-parte communications with others. Ex Parte communication is when a Judge discusses a case with one party, with the other party not being present. We have requested Dibble’s disciplinary file to determine exactly why she resigned.

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