On April 14th, 2022 the Kenosha County Eye initiated a public records request with the village of Pleasant Prairie in relation to the corruption investigation being conducted by the Racine County Sheriff’s Department.
The investigation is centered on John Steinbrink Jr, the Village’s Director of Public Works and son to President, John Steinbrink Sr. According to a Village document, Steinbrink Jr earns $120k annually. It is unknown who else, if anyone is also the target of this investigation.
On April 29th, 2022 we received a response to our request. Some information we have to wait for as Wisconsin statute gives John Steinbrink, Jr a chance to seek Court action to stop the release certain records.
Much of what we requested was denied and the village cited a statute that, in certain circumstances, allows the government to deny requests if it is related to an ongoing and current investigation. However, based on the exact documents and other records that we requested, the denials tell us more than you would think.
For example, we asked the village for documents pertaining to Village assets purchased by Steinbrink Jr in the last 2 years. We asked for a copy of the video showing Steinbrink, Jr driving away from Village Hall with an expensive wood chipper. We also asked for documents relating to John Steinbrink Jr’s use of Village assets for his private tree trimming business. We also asked explicitly for the invoice for Steinbrink, Jr’s purchasing of an expensive wood chipper. For all the requests in this paragraph, The Village denied our request citing “an ongoing and current investigation.” If these documents did not exist, they would simply respond with “I am a custodian and have not located any records which appear to be responsive to this request.” This is exactly how the village responded when we asked them for a video of Steinbrink Jr being walked out of the building when placed on leave. We got the same response asking for disciplinary documents within his personnel file – meaning in his more than 20-year career, he has never been disciplined by his father, The Village President, or any Village Administrator.
This is what we learned with the four-page response:
Steinbrink Jr is being investigated for allegedly improperly purchasing Village assets.
Steinbrink Jr is being investigated allegedly in relation to an expensive wood chipper.
Steinbrink Jr is being investigated for allegedly using Village assets for his private tree trimming business.
The village of Pleasant Prairie is allegedly in possession of a video that shows Steinbrink Jr driving away from the village hall with said wood chipper.
KCE sources are reliable and appreciated. We will always honor your request to remain anonymous and state law protects us from ever having to release your identity to anyone.
Here is what we will have after the statutory period has passed and Steinbrink, Jr does not seek Court intervention:
The village-wide email sent out to all employees in regards to Steinbrink Jr’s being placed on administrative leave.
The letter addressed to Steinbrink Jr that notifies him of his being placed on leave.
The criminal investigation is ongoing with the Racine County Sheriff’s department. The last instance known to KCE that the Racine County Sheriff’s Department investigated a government agency for corruption, was the Kenosha I.T. scandal which lasted about four years.
Let’s hope that this investigation does not last as long. Earning $120,000 while being investigated for serious misconduct is not something the Pleasant Prairie taxpayers are likely to be happy about. If this investigation lasts for four years, Junior will rake in almost half a million dollars while kicking his feet up. We reached out to the Racine County Sheriff and will update story when and if he responds.
12 Responses
The tax payers of P.P. should be storming village hall! How dare they raise our property taxes for “road construction” while the fat pigs in upper Pleasant Prairie our lining their pockets with our dollars. City of Kenosha needs to absorb Pleasant Prairie as these theiving idiots cannot run a government properly, instead they are running it like the mob. Believe me when I say that this goes back over 20 years with these two fat bastards (Steinbrink Sr & Jr)
You are absolutely correct. It seems that too many people in Kenosha County are OK with government corruption. They keep on voting these crime families in.
Your ideal of having the City absorb the Prairie would not make it any better. You would just be replacing one crime family with another. Until regular voters start to understand why letting these incestious power structures remain in place is bad for them, this will just continue as it has for generations.
I am sure that board members are having restless nights as there underhanded dealings could be outed and hopefully charged.
Why is the father still on the board making decisions? Nepotism at its finest! Sr. should be forced to step down, all of Jrs theft and illegal use of pleasant prairies employee labor on their farm directly benefited him. If you think SR didn’t know what that crook JR was up to you have got to be kidding yourself. I would put money on it that SR makes this go away and JR gets away scott free.
What about the employees of Pl Prairie who helped John put the cement & landscaping at his home with Village material?. What about all the refunds from Menard’s that should go to the village? John Jr. is a corrupt spoiled rotten
Guy who got his job because of daddy. His salary is far too much for when he works. There are other people who take home Village vehicles every night. The problem is the work vehicle is home very frequently home during the day more than it’s gone. What kind of job is that? Everyone should keep watch on this going. It only takes a few rotten apples to ruin it for everyone.
Just wanted to say Thank you to Kenoshacountyeye.com If it wasn’t for you exposing & telling the truth about all these criminals. I can’t believe the Pedo Fireman is still working for the City. That’s pathetic considering all the sexual child abuse & trafficking going all over. Kenoshacountyeye, keep putting the TRUTH out there.
Jim Kreusser was often seen at the Steinbrink farm, often times taking advantage of assets acquired by the Steinbrinks via the Village of Pleasant Prairie.
Odd Jim decided to retire just in time….
I’m happy Jim is no longer county executive. He became partisan and failed along with the Sheriff and the Mayor. Unfortunately, the reality is that he probably would have beat Sam if he ran again. He is of retirement age.
Jim isn’t exactly a hands on type of guy and living on a small city parcel really limits the type of assets a farm or public works department would possess that could Jim could “take advantage of”. Alluding to Jim thieving or being a thief is a far stretch from what I know of him. False accusations by the right are no better than ones by the left. If you know something report it to the Racine investigator.
Fuck the Steinbrinks. Their kids/grandkids smoked pot and bragged about it on social media. When it was submitted anonymously to the PPPD the police and Steinbrink came to my house to harass me.
Yep! He finds a way to intimidate and retaliate. Just ask anyone who worked for him.
Any update of the investigation? It seems so odd there isn’t more media coverage on this situation.
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