(Photos by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
KENOSHA, Wis. — Former Kenosha County Sheriff’s Deputy Frank D. McGrath, 45, of Salem, made his first court appearance Thursday afternoon on two felony counts of misconduct in public office for allegedly using powerful law-enforcement surveillance systems, including FLOCK and Polaris, to surveil a fellow deputy who broke up with him. Court Commissioner Daniel E. Kellum released McGrath on no-cash bail during the four-minute hearing. McGrath faces a combined maximum of seven years in prison and $20,000 in fines if convicted of both Class I felonies.
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
McGrath appeared personally with defense attorney Austin Felber for the 1 p.m. initial appearance. Kenosha County District Attorney Xavier Solis personally appeared for the State. The hearing concluded at 1:04 p.m. Kellum imposed conditions prohibiting McGrath from having contact with the fellow deputy, her children, their residences or their schools. The court record says the State also placed the alleged victim’s request for no contact with herself or her children on the record.
The criminal case followed a John Doe petition filed March 6 by Kenosha County Eye Editor Kevin Mathewson. The petition sought judicial review of evidence KCE had obtained showing McGrath allegedly used restricted law-enforcement technology for personal surveillance. District 2 Chief Judge Wynne Laufenberg subsequently ordered Solis to either charge McGrath or provide the court with a written explanation for declining to do so.
Solis ultimately filed the two felony charges on August 19.
According to the criminal complaint, a routine audit conducted by Kenosha County Sheriff’s Capt. Eric Klinkhammer uncovered 16 to 17 FLOCK searches performed by McGrath in about four hours while he was off duty on September 30, 2025. McGrath allegedly entered “Suspicious” as the reason for every search but supplied no case number. Prosecutors say the searches ultimately targeted the Illinois license plate belonging to the fellow deputy. Investigators found no active law-enforcement investigation or legitimate law-enforcement purpose involving the woman or her vehicle.
Prosecutors allege McGrath also used Polaris, a system capable of displaying live GPS locations of on-duty squad cars and body-worn cameras, to monitor the deputy. The complaint alleges McGrath accessed Polaris while off duty 40 separate times between July 18 and October 23, 2025, without a legitimate law-enforcement purpose. On one occasion, McGrath allegedly contacted the woman while she was parked squad-to-squad with another deputy, told her her exact location, identified the coworker beside her and said, “I know everything.”
Prosecutors also cite text messages in which McGrath allegedly acknowledged lying about his FLOCK use and admitted his conduct had “got out of hand” and that he had “lost control.” Referring to the 17 plate searches, McGrath allegedly wrote that it made him “look really really bad.”
KCE has learned that the fellow deputy did not wish to pursue a stalking charge, which was beneficial to McGrath. The criminal complaint describes additional conduct, including allegations that McGrath drove past her Waukegan home and attempted to obtain information about her through other Sheriff’s Office employees after he was placed on administrative leave. She ultimately sought a restraining order in Lake County, Illinois.
John Doe Petition Led To Court Review
The prosecution came more than five months after Mathewson filed the John Doe petition. Much of the evidence underlying the eventual charges had already been discovered and extensively reviewed by the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office before the petition was filed.
(File Photo by Kevin Mathewson, Kenosha County Eye)
Sheriff David Zoerner (D) did not initially refer the matter to the Kenosha County District Attorney’s Office for criminal review. Zoerner is now asserting that he called for an independent investigation. KCE has submitted a public-records request seeking records establishing precisely when such an investigation was requested, who requested it and which outside agency was contacted.
KCE is also seeking records concerning whether another law-enforcement agency previously offered to independently investigate McGrath and whether that offer was declined.
Kenosha County later asked the Racine County Sheriff’s Office to conduct an outside investigation. The criminal complaint says Racine County Sheriff’s Investigator Luke Johnson was assigned to conduct an independent criminal investigation on February 26. The central FLOCK and Polaris evidence, however, had already been uncovered by Kenosha County and was among the evidence KCE relied upon when pursuing the John Doe proceeding.
“I wish these charges would have been filed three or four months ago, because the evidence was overwhelming and had already been extensively reviewed by Kenosha County,” Mathewson said. “But they have finally been filed, and that is what matters. Hopefully this sends a message to other law-enforcement officers that these incredibly powerful surveillance systems are not their personal toys. At a time when FLOCK cameras are already extremely controversial, the public needs to know that abusing them for personal purposes can have serious consequences.”
The complaint also contains evidence developed later in the investigation. A March 17 search warrant for McGrath’s Google account produced records that prosecutors say showed searches for “signs of obsession,” “codependent relationship,” “kenosha county loudermill hearing,” “kenosha county brady list,” “wisconsin jury instructions for stalking” and information concerning the fellow deputy.
Another FLOCK John Doe Ended Differently
Mathewson previously filed a separate John Doe petition concerning Racine County Deputy Emil Ortiz, whose department concluded he had repeatedly used FLOCK and other restricted law-enforcement databases for personal purposes involving his girlfriend’s former boyfriend.
Ortiz was demoted from detective to deputy, suspended for 10 days without pay and reassigned to patrol. Records showed Ortiz acknowledged the misconduct and waived his right to a hearing. Racine County District Attorney Patricia Hanson ultimately declined to criminally charge Ortiz.
McGrath waived the statutory time limit for his preliminary hearing Thursday. His preliminary hearing is scheduled for October 9 at 8:45 a.m. before Kellum.
One Response
I feel bad for saying insults about his man when I first heard this story. Now I understand more that is was more so a workplace romance gone off the rails. I thought some cop was spying on people. My bad.