(Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
I’ve known Sheriff David W. Zoerner for more than a decade—he’s my friend. I supported him when he lost. I supported him when he won. I believed in him. But today, I’m disappointed—and I have an obligation to say so.
Before this publication even existed, I stood by Zoerner through two failed campaigns for Sheriff. I believed he was the right man for the job. I still believe that good men can lose their way—but only if people stop holding them accountable. That’s not something I’m willing to do, even for a friend.
I quit drinking in 2010, but if I were driving drunk and got pulled over, Zoerner wouldn’t order a deputy to let me go—and rightfully so. He has a job to do. I do too, however. I have to hold those in power accountable, including him and his sworn deputies.
I’ve had to sue Zoerner for making illegal redactions. He wouldn’t give me an unredacted bodycam footage of a call for service at Ted Kmiec’s house. Ted was reportedly having a mental health crisis and accused me of planting bugs and a camera in his home. It is unknown if this was caused by drug use.
Speaking of Ted Kmiec, he is an attorney that Zoerner gives criminal immunity to. In December 2024, the Sheriff’s Department executed a search warrant at Kmiec’s residence related to multiple allegations of sexual assault. No charges were ever filed against Ted. When I pressed for answers, I encountered silence. According to court records and affidavits, dope was found in almost every room of the house—including Ted’s bedroom, office, living room, and kitchen. The Sheriff’s Department reportedly ordered that he not receive any charges. Ted didn’t deny possession and ownership of the dope. Remember—Zoerner ran on “pot is evil.” Apparently not for the elite—pot is OK for them.
I wrote about this abuse of power and Zoerner wasn’t happy with me. But I did my job. He didn’t do his. No one should be above the law, a stranger to the Sheriff, or a friend.
Then, a young man was exposing himself in the girls’ locker room of Central High School. I was tipped off by an employee of the Sheriff’s Department who thought it was wrong that it wasn’t being investigated criminally. The Deputy there, School Resource Officer (SRO) Alex Hyatt, isn’t a good deputy. He didn’t conduct a criminal investigation. He didn’t write a report. And none of his bosses, including the Sheriff, told him to. To this day, according to police records, they never have.
Then, Sheriff Zoerner hired a multiple felon and ex-gang member to be a sworn deputy. This irked a lot of deputies. One told me about it and I contacted the Sheriff to see if it was true. I ended up giving him the benefit of the doubt and wrote a positive story about the new deputy.
The Sheriff was furious that this information was leaked to me. He wanted to quietly hire the multiple felon. He then took action that was more like the Gestapo. He started having deputies called into a supervisor’s office and questioned like criminals. An email from a captain went out to all deputies warning them not to talk to me. Zoerner threatened to fire deputies that did. KCE spoke with a County insider who said that one policy violation could almost never be grounds for termination and the County would likely get sued. But to threaten to take someone’s job away from them for criticizing the Sheriff? That’s something Hitler would do—not something a sheriff should.
Then I was tipped off about another terrible hire by Zoerner—Deputy Brantner. Zoerner tried to pawn it off on his predecessor, but Zoerner hired the criminal who pulled a gun on a woman in a road rage incident. Should the Sheriff be surprised that while a deputy he broke the law again and lied to cops?
Both of these cops have been called “DEI hires” as they are both African American and were not fit for the job, criminally speaking.
Now, the story that broke the camel’s back. I was tipped off about a counselor at Central High School. He was seemingly grooming a female student. He told her he loved her, she was beautiful and gave her gifts. Again, Deputy Alexander Hyatt didn’t investigate. I called and spoke to the Sheriff’s Department administration. There was no criminal investigation. Wisconsin’s new Act 200, signed into law in 2024, created new criminal penalties to prevent sexual misconduct by school staff. It wasn’t until after I wrote the story that an investigation was launched by KCSO. Why should a journalist have to embarrass a sheriff to get him to do the right thing?
I potentially wouldn’t have known about any of these things—and neither would my readers—if whistleblowers from KCSO hadn’t tipped me off. But the Sheriff has made it clear—if you don’t like what he’s doing and you tell the only media around about it, expect to be fired. However, you’ll have lawyers begging to take the case. You can’t be retaliated against for being a whistleblower. In fact, the County has an ordinance protecting them.
I gave the Sheriff a chance to tell his side of this story, but he sidestepped all my questions and spoke about “open investigations.” None of these were open investigations.
To boot, Zoerner is allowing the IT department that handles his jail roster block access to KCE. Our automated system that takes data from the Sheriff’s website and posts in on our site, might be at the end. This is nothing short of a vindictive and spiteful act from the Sheriff. He is taking his ball and going home. Since I didn’t act as his personal PR firm, he cuts KCE’s access to his website. That’s truly shameful.
It’s important to note that in stark contrast, I’ve had many whistleblowers from Kenosha Police, the largest law enforcement agency in Kenosha County. I’ve broken many stories about bad actors over there. Here is the big difference: Chief Patton didn’t ask me who my sources were. He didn’t send department-wide emails banning whistleblowing. He didn’t threaten to fire anyone.
The Sheriff can learn from Chief Patrick Patton.
Sheriff Zoerner has done some good things for the county. He still has the chance to restore the public’s trust and redeem his tenure. But silencing critics, sweeping misconduct under the rug, and fearmongering hard-working deputies won’t help him do that. Transparency, accountability, and humility will.
59 Responses
Well said.
People have got to get over this “no one is above the law” myth. It’s never been true and it’s not true now. All of the country some people get charged for a crime and some don’t. Right here in Kenosha with the cold case for that poor baby left to die under a bridge and when it was solved – no charges. The police and the DA use their discretion as they please. Just the way it is.
You got that right. Federal, state, and local. They do what they want.
3 strikes
Who is ready to run?
Haven’t sold my soul yet so I can’t run
Kevin 4 sheriff
F that *** traitor
Well said. That had to be a difficult story for you to write. Bravo! Thanks for keeping the community informed.
He needs to go
And replaced with whom? Who is this magical elected official with no flaws or personal bias? Who will win favor of the community without money, favors or friends? That’s just not how elections work.
Apparently he could be replaced by anyone, when you look at what he has allegedly done. Right away going to an extreme silly statement that the replacement would have to be some kind of perfect being overshoots rational thought completely.
A real journalist can not be friends with the officials he has to write about. It is a tough lesson that every investigative journalist must learn.
This editorial proves you wrong. Didn’t you read it?
You should find me
Disappointing. Will not vote for again.
If the Governor grants someone a pardon, they can apply to be a Deputy Sheriff.
Of course, anyone can apply regardless if they’ve been pardoned or not. But it takes a dumb ass Sheriff to hire an ex gang banger under the lefts DEI nonsense.
Oh yeah, we are talking ever(s). Unfortunately it can be possible
This made me smile…… no one believed me when I told them the crooked acts that the sheriff was allowing to happen….. now I’m going to pull out my paper trail and sing like a Baptist church choir!!!!!!! KCE is for the people whether you like it or not!!! I just happen to love it!!!
The dislike button alone is enough to show you that.
So disappointed in the Sheriff and all the corruption happening and nobody seems to care.
Sheriff needs to go and the corruption needs to end.
Corruption is here and always has been. It’s here to stay. It’s part of being human.
Kenosha is so screwed with all the corruption and crooked LEO.
Time to recall the Sheriff,he has got to go.
Dang, Kev tore the fat top clown cop apart. Kinda like David the Drunk Beth former top clown cop.
A modern sheriff in a non-rural county needs to be, dare I say, a savvy politician. Not necessarily a stellar cop. Why? Because there are deputies to patrol the highways, investigate crimes, serve process, etc. The sheriff’s job then is to get the resources they need and that means having stellar relations with the county board and the community and leaving the administrative tasks to competent administrators and law enforcement to competent supervisors. Far too many candidates for sheriff ran because they had an axe to grind with an incumbent sheriff. I don’t like politics in law enforcement but the sheriff’s job is political. Accordingly, I want an astute politician who is smart enough to leave the day to day operations to the people who know those jobs the best and help them by working with the county board to get them what they need. I would also like to see an audit of the sheriff’s budget. This is an urban county. Almost every road is paved. They were once patrolled quite well with AMC station wagons. Now we have gas guzzling pickup trucks. Maybe having one or two around for special purpose use isn’t bad but let’s start being more frugal with taxpayer dollars. The other side of a good politician as sheriff is public relations. And transparency is a big part of that.
I have no problem with employing felons who have turned their life around… not like Kenosha has great law enforcement officers to begin with.
Pot/marijuana is less dangerous than alcohol, yet we have a drinking culture in WI where a first offense for OWI is not even a felony, in Arizona it’s 12 months in jail. WI is ass backwards on the weed topic.
There’s no big way to measure driving impacted by weed. Once that’s solved I’ll have no problem with legalization.
Really? Good grief! My neighbor once said pot isn’t as bad as driving drunk! She said pot just makes you relaxed and move slower. I asked her, would you rather your child get run over slowly of fast? Either way, the child is dead! SMH
“I know nothing about it, but I asked my neighbor, so now I can post an informed opinion on the internet!”
Correct, legalizing the lady people’s drug is a terrible idea. Get jobs, losers
Wisconsin has the 5th worst property taxes in the nation. Every neighboring state has legalized it. Whether you like it or not, 20% of adults use it frequently… might as well tax it and relieve taxpayers. I don’t even like weed, but I think it’s time to get with the program.
Lazy peoples
Exactly, until we can make proper assessments for impairment under marijuana / THC usage, I can’t see legalizing it. We have laws against impairment but not a way to measure it? The financial reasons for selling it here are nonsense as we have seen in other states that the true social costs rise far beyond any excess tax money brought in, and due to piling taxes up on legal marijuana sales, a huge majority of long time smokers simply buy from the same dealers they have always bought illegally from. News flash, your current marijuana supplier is not paying or collecting sales tax 😝
That’s something I wondered about. Why so many trucks ?
Hard to arrest someone without calling another deputy in a car for transport.
Sure back up cars are always a good idea but in any scenario you now have two vehicles off the road. The car doing the transport and the deputy in the truck going in to file the report. Or am I wrong here ? Do deputies in pick up trucks put the drunk guy next to them to throw up on the radio ?
Or is it because we have all those Obregon’s to chase all over the county looking in farm fields and barns.
But back to Zoerner. Like other government leaders who we had high hopes for who didn’t live up to the job. Murdock in Salem. Was a great guy until he wasn’t. Bucur. Lots of promise there but now not so much. Still time to redeem yourself Rita.
Hiller. Rita’s hire. Sure, you are a “big picture” administrator but you lack explaining yourself.
You do things that you know and hope are correct but when challenged you don’t say anything because you’re afraid you’re digging a bigger hole for yourself.
No that wasn’t a pond reference.
Sheriff Zoerner. Come clean !! Fix these issues.
Charge Ted with whatever he’s guilty of.
Or is it because Ted has so many stories he’s held back you’re afraid of that fall out ?
Ted’s not worth it. Or is he ?
The pickups have the same partitions as the cars and SUVs so they can and do transport people.
The sheriff’s department budget is public record. Annual review and approval of the budget is held via open Judiciary & Law Enforcement Committee meetings and an open County Board meeting. Citizens attend both and provide commentary prior to each. Providing input to your county board supervisor during the process is also an option.
Many individuals are quick to support initiatives when they are presented under the banner of public safety, especially when the messaging is carefully crafted to sound beneficial and appealing. Having established relationships with board members and other key officials often accelerates this support. However, many of these decision-makers have little understanding of the behind-the-scenes operations, technical requirements, or actual equipment involved.
In reality, few people have the time or capacity to thoroughly review the detailed spending of an entire department. The shift from a ‘department’ to an ‘office’ was not just a matter of semantics—it was a strategic change that introduced loopholes and reduced oversight. Compounding this, much of the financial and operational information is typically redacted or withheld, making true accountability difficult. As a result, decisions are frequently made with limited transparency and without a full grasp of the broader implications.
Same as the old sheriff, the POWER goes to their head and judges look away.
Drew Burgoyne for judge next time! I hope he runs when the time comes!
….. Is that they act like independent entities. Like they have total control inside their walls. No crime gets reported that puts the school as a whole in bad light. Mostly in colleges but in high schools too.
Such a shame Hyatt isn’t up to the job !!
Understanding that while his NUMBER ONE JOB IS TO STOP AN ACTIVE SHOOTER !!! number two is to protect students from adult employees.
Number three is to protect students from other students. Two out of three in play here.
To not file a report about lotion boy in the girls locker room is Hyatt totally being controlled by Gendron.
Is this school board still not looking for Johns replacement ??
Is John not putting in his retirement papers yet ?
There are many, many wannabe administrators who are currently teachers who are just itching to spend their last three years in the educational system as a highly overpaid administrator to bump up their pension dollars. You know how that works right ? Some Teachers will take a few administrative classes so they can coast a few years at the end of their careers as an administrator to bump up their last three years of salary to get a bigger pension.
I’m sure Central would have a bevy of candidates.
But I digress. If the top cop said, “ Every law violation gets investigated and charged appropriately” then this story is never written.
But sadly that’s not what happened.
Kudos to Kevin !! Calling it like he sees it.
“WI is ass backwards on the weed topic.”
It is another coping mechanism that is now genetically altered and abused. Driving stoned by booze or weed is wrong! You can argue all you want while slamming another cupcake!
The sheriff needs to come clean and fix it or resign. Nice job Kevin!
I am increasingly concerned about what appears to be a pattern of mismanagement and possible misuse of public funds within Kenosha County. From reports of overspending by more than a million dollars, to questionable purchases of new vehicles and equipment, to the creation of administrative positions that seem to serve personal or political interests rather than public safety—these actions deserve serious scrutiny.
Equally troubling are the apparent promotions and job placements made not on merit, but on personal relationships or internal favoritism. Taxpayer dollars should be used to serve the community—not to benefit a small circle of insiders. When administrative positions are created for individuals who are no longer trusted on the streets, it raises serious concerns about both efficiency and ethics.
This is not just about budget numbers; it’s about trust, transparency, and public service. Elected officials and public employees work for the people. Their decisions must be guided by community need and fiscal responsibility—not personal gain or political loyalty.
It’s time for real oversight. We must stop balancing budgets on the backs of working men and women, and instead take a hard look at the top levels of leadership where the most costly—and questionable—decisions are being made. The community deserves honesty, accountability, and leadership that puts public interest first
Well said!
Technically, DA Solis could charge Kmiec if he believes probable cause exists for the drug charge. Police do not decide charges, normally they recommend them. Obviously Solis’ office has copies of all the reports and video for that case, why aren’t there charges? Solis could take that information and charge if his office chooses.
Law enforcement can recommend charges, and the DA can deny.
He can also charge the sheriff with any of the things mentioned in this article
It is an abuse of prosecutorial discretion (and ethics) to charge a person with committing a crime if probable cause does not exist. It is inappropriate for a prosecutor to bring a charge if there is not a reasonable belief that sufficient evidence exists for a conviction. In plain English, charging without probable cause is an ethical violation for which a prosecutor’s law license could be in jeopardy. Charging when there isn’t enough evidence to get a conviction won’t result in sanctions but the jury is likely to laugh at the prosecutor and the public become upset at wasting resources pursuing a marginal case.
It is time to investigate the Kenosha County Court System. The judges, commissioners and guardian ad litems all need to be held accountable. Kenosha is falling apart. Many qualified attorneys would not consider these positions due to the dramatic pay loss, which is why we have who we have. The way that they believe that they are above the law is irrefutable and deeply concerning.
Outstanding article Kevin. It is very disappointing that the current Sheriff is turning out to be another “Kenosha politician” instead of being a LEO.
ONE issue with the article though. We have enough lunatic liberal “journalists” that compare anything and everything a conservative does the past decade to “Hitler”, you are above that. There was/is no need to use the “That’s something Hitler would do” statement. Don’t stoop down to liberal lunatic idiots.
This is what happens when someone with little to no management experience gets elected to a position that requires years of experience in leadership and management. There seems to be a pattern of arrogance with the people that get elected to that office.
This is a great point and often overlooked. A great mechanic doesn’t always make a great service manager. A great chef doesn’t always make a great restaurant manager. Could go on and on, but people get in over their heads chasing promotions.
“Meet the new boss…same as the old boss.”
We won’t get fooled again.
Never trust a cop. They’ll do anything for that power especially to keep it.
This needs to stop I Would like to know why MR TED was not charged, this is bad and needs to be handled asap
If the deputy he hired is a convicted felon they can not possess a firearm. Felon on possession of a firearm.
He still hasn’t made a 287g agreement with ICE? Please Sheriff!
Zoerner kept running until he got the position of Sheriff, and now he showed his true colors. What sets Zoerner apart from Beth? Why didn’t other candidates get taken seriously? We put all of our eggs into one basket/candidate? Zoerner won’t vote for him again!
None of this is really surprising to me considering the same sheriff’s department blacklisted me when I resigned. I only found out months later after trying to apply to other departments that they put I was terminated instead. I pulled my personal file and there it was “terminated”. This department does nothing but lie, and when someone wants to move on and continue their law enforcement career elsewhere, they will do everything to screw you over and ruin your career! Deputies in this department are protected by their own even when they break the law. Several deputies were caught in a bar in silver lake past bar close. They pushed the bartender to keep the bar open for them and only were caught after one of their wives was too intoxicated and they had to call for an ambulance. When a Deputy on shift showed up, one of the deputies their drinking asked them to turn his body camera off. Can you say corrupt!