Racine District Attorney Patricia Hanson Covering Up Serious Misconduct In her Own Office

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Racine County District Attorney Patricia Hanson (D)

KCE has confirmed that there are allegations that an employee of the Racine County District Attorney’s office has been accused of leaking confidential documents from the powerful office. Hanson is doing everything in her power to keep it under wraps.

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We asked Hanson about this on July 25, 2023 and she ignored us. We followed up on July 31, 2023 with a public records request.  She responded the same day, saying “I have not received a referral for charges for ****** *****, so I have no records “ As of this time, the former employee has not been charged with a crime and is presumed innocent.  We followed up with Hanson and asked her why she is not charging the employee, who makes a little over $44,000 per year as a “Legal Support Clerk.”

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Hanson responded:

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“There is an investigation that is open and no referral has been made to my office. I have not had an opportunity to make a charging decision because no charges have been referred to me by law enforcement at this time.”

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This statement infers that Hanson will not be recusing herself in this matter and could very-well allow her friend and subordinate to escape justice.

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The employee started with the DA’s office in August of 2022 and was terminated on June 20, 2023. Before that, she worked as a court clerk for the Racine County Court.

Racine County Clerk of Courts Amy Vanderhoef

KCE reached out to the Racine County Clerk of Courts. Her lips were sealed too. She wouldn’t tell us what was going on with the employee. She also said she had no warrants for the employee’s residence to release.

KCE reached out to the spokesman for the Wisconsin Court System, Tom Sheehan, and he indicated that the State Court System isn’t interested in the possibility that someone was selling or leaking confidential court documents. He has since resigned.

Racine County Sheriff’s Office Lieutenant Michael Luell
(Racine County Sheriff’s Office)

KCE reached out to the Racine County Sheriff’s Office to see if the investigation was theirs. Spokesman Lt. Michael Luell said that Racine Police was handling the investigation.

Kristi Wilcox, Racine Police Public Information Officer

The Racine Police public information officer, Sgt. Kristi Wilcox, was angry at KCE because we called her Kristi, and not Sgt. Wilcox. She demanded “[we] refer to her from this point forward as Sergeant Wilcox” and demanded, by way of her LinkedIn, that we use her correct pronouns, oddly listed as she/her. She looks like a woman. She wouldn’t tell us anything about the case and it has been two months since we made a public records request.

We spoke to Racine’s Chief of Police and he was kind to us. He told us his department was not involved in the investigation.

Running out of options, KCE reached out to the Wisconsin Attorney General’s office on August 9, 2023, but Attorney General Josh Kaul will not comment on the pending investigation, if any exist.

We will be getting the employee’s personnel file soon and will write a follow-up story as soon as we get the documents. We were unable to reach the employee.

***Edited on 10/3/2023 @ 8:16pm. An earlier version of this post named the employee. KCE made the choice to remove her name. She wasn’t charged with a crime, and according to a source, she denied the allegations that were made by a criminal confidential informant looking to get a deal on a case***

homegirl distributing murderes to the community #Girlboss
Drawing by ( https://twitter.com/tiniestyam )

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22 Responses

  1. i cannot get over the amount of corruption in Kenosha–it is mind-boggling. The entire D.A.’s office needs a housecleaning!

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      1. But unfortunately for kenosha, our slime trail of a district attorney gets to send cases to be liberally adjudicated in Racine when he finds an excuse not to liberally do it here. With increasing frequency we are having prosecutions or lack thereof with Kenosha events and persons being taken care of in Racine and Waukegan. And I really do mean taking care of as opposed to serving justice.

  2. Why does Wilcox have the open to work banner on her LinkedIn? Does she not have a clue what the banner is for? She has a job. She was at the incident in Racine last week ans shown in the paper

  3. Racine County District Attorney Trish Hanson, Racine County Sheriff Christopher Schmaling, Lt. Mike Luell & THE WISCONSIN D.O.J. -DCI OFFICE
    UNDER WISCONSIN ATTORNEY GENERAL JOSH KAUL HAVE BURIED NUMEROUS INVESTIGATIONS OVER THE LAST EIGHT (8)+ YEARS I’VE DELT WITH THEM ALL !!!!

    Also severe CORRUPTION IN THE RACINE COUNTY CLERK OF COURTS OFFICE AS WELL WITH THE DISTRICT COURT ADMINISTRATOR LOUIS MOORE INVOLVEMENT TOO !!!!!

    GOOGLE PATRICK FAGAN MACHINERY ROW !!!!!

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  4. Kenosha and Racine need to clean up there DA office, Isn’t there some Federal level of regulation agency? Thats what we need here.Someone to come in and audit these corrupt DA and DA office. This is just ridiculous the amount that is going on!
    Kenosha is at its worst. The Da office and are mayor is the terrible. so Much corruption.
    you never hear the outcomes because they make it go away.
    1. the employee stealing from the Maintenace of the kpd
    2. bad cops
    3. the unprofessional behavior of are DA and police
    4.paul Torres KPd officer
    5. Bell case
    6. Steinbrink case
    7. CPS (whatever happen in their office)
    I look at the jail intake and watch these guys get released for serious felony on a few hundred-dollar bonds. Then I see others with less degree of crimes for thousands of dollars in bond, this tells me one thing, if you have money and Kenosha is aware you get taken threw the ringer on fees and bonds and lawyers’ fees. Let’s not add that you can’t get an attorney in Kenosha that isn’t in the pockets of the Da office. there is no such thing as a fair trial. I have seen this firsthand with family and friends and it’s a fact. Im an everyday person and citizen of Kenosha and never been or had an issue with the law or police, and probably never will, but i fear the police are DA and everyone in that downtown. office. Because if they want you guilty, they will see to it, If they want you not guilty, they will also see to that.
    There is so much to list. this is just crazy; Kenosha has become not a nice place to live or be. Kevin You are doing a great job !!!! you are what Kenosha needs!!!!
    I think you should get in public office and do some house cleaning; I think you would be surprised on the support you would have, there is so many people in Kenosha that haven’t spoken in the fear of are corrupt leaders!!!!

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