PLEASANT PRAIRIE, Wis. — Veteran Wisconsin talk-radio host Mark Belling blasted Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Vince Kurta during his Sept. 14 podcast over the plea agreement reached with former Prairie Lane Elementary School PTO President Jan E. Herman, 43, while crediting Kenosha County Eye for bringing the case and its unusual sentencing outcome to his attention.
Kurta agreed to reduce Herman’s original six felony charges to three misdemeanor theft counts after Herman paid restitution. The state and defense then jointly recommended six months in jail on each count, consecutive, but imposed and stayed, meaning Herman would serve no jail time if she successfully completed two years of probation.
Kurta told the court that recovering the money for the PTO was the state’s “utmost concern” and that prosecutors used the reduction from felonies to misdemeanors to incentivize Herman to pay restitution before sentencing. Belling took direct aim at that reasoning.
“Why is that the top priority?” Belling asked. “There’s no incentive to not stealing if all you have to do is give the money back.”
Belling went considerably further in his criticism of Kurta, calling him a “wussy prosecutor” and saying Kenosha County District Attorney Xavier Solis “needs to can” him. Belling also told Kurta to “resign” and “go become a defense attorney.” Those comments represented Belling’s opinion of Kurta and the agreement reached in the Herman case.
Belling Credits Kenosha County Eye
Belling introduced the case by specifically crediting Kenosha County Eye as his source.
“Next story. This is a very interesting story and I want to credit as my news source for this the Kenosha County Eye,” Belling said. “I’m not saying nobody else has reported this. I didn’t see it anywhere other than his site.”
Belling then spent a lengthy portion of his podcast walking listeners through the case and KCE’s reporting.
“The details of the story reported meticulously in the Kenosha County Eye described the lengthy period of time over which Herman had been stealing the money,” Belling said before reading from KCE’s coverage.
Herman was originally charged with six felonies after investigators accused her of repeatedly using Prairie Lane PTO funds for personal expenses while serving first as the organization’s treasurer and later as president.
Belling focused on the fact that Herman’s conduct allegedly continued even after former PTO President Melissa Konkol confronted her in December 2024. Herman allegedly blamed the transactions on having the PTO debit card connected to her Apple Pay account, promised to stop and repay the money, but unauthorized purchases continued.
“They caught her,” Belling said, expressing disbelief that the spending continued after the confrontation. “How can you risk continuing to do it because she knows they’re on to her, but she continued anyway.”
Cancer Fundraiser Draws Belling’s Attention
Belling also focused on money associated with a T-shirt fundraiser for a Prairie Lane student battling Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Konkol told the court at sentencing that proceeds intended for the child’s family were never turned over. The fundraiser was among the allegations Belling highlighted while discussing the seriousness of Herman’s conduct.
“Hodgkin’s lymphoma, that’s serious,” Belling said. “They had a fundraiser for this kid.”
The fundraiser had also drawn particularly harsh words from Kenosha County Circuit Court Judge Jodi L. Meier at Herman’s sentencing. Meier rejected the defense’s characterization of the situation as poor execution, instead calling the conduct “thievery,” “manipulative” and “disgusting.”
Judge Meier Blows Up Sentencing Recommendation
While Belling hammered Kurta for the agreement, he had a very different assessment of Meier.
The judge was not bound by the joint sentencing recommendation, and she rejected it.
Meier said the proposed sentence would “unduly depreciate the seriousness” of Herman’s offenses. Because the prosecution had already reduced the six felony charges to three misdemeanors, Meier could no longer send Herman to state prison.
Instead, Meier imposed nine months in the Kenosha County Jail on each of the three counts and ordered all three sentences served consecutively.
The result was 27 months in jail.
Belling described the difference between the recommendation and the actual sentence as extraordinary.
“So this isn’t a slight rejection of the plea deal,” Belling said. “It’s a huge rejection.”
Belling said judges frequently remind defendants that they are not bound by sentencing recommendations, but argued that judges often ultimately follow those recommendations. He described Meier’s decision as an important exception.
Meier also denied Herman Huber work-release privileges and ordered her taken into custody immediately.
Belling Praises Meier
Belling repeatedly contrasted his criticism of the prosecutor with his assessment of Meier’s handling of the sentencing.
He said Herman had been fortunate to receive the prosecutorial agreement reducing the felonies to misdemeanors, but “struck out” when the case reached a judge who viewed the underlying conduct much more seriously.
Belling closed his discussion by specifically praising Meier.
He gave “specific credit” to the Kenosha County judge “for rejecting the plea bargain” and sending Herman to the Kenosha County Jail for 27 months.
Belling Warns Nonprofits About Financial Controls
Belling also used the Prairie Lane case to make a broader point about PTOs, charities, churches, nonprofits and other organizations that entrust money to volunteers.
He argued organizations should not allow one individual to independently access funds and authorize expenditures. Instead, he advocated requiring two people to approve spending. Such controls cannot eliminate fraud, Belling acknowledged, but can make stealing significantly more difficult.
Belling said embezzlement cases have interested him for years because he believes many thefts from businesses and nonprofit organizations are either never discovered or are quietly resolved by demanding repayment rather than involving police. He also criticized criminal sentences centered primarily on restitution and probation, arguing they provide insufficient deterrence.
For Belling, the Prairie Lane case presented both sides of that argument: a prosecutor who negotiated a recommendation that would have kept Herman out of jail and a judge who ultimately ordered her to spend 27 months behind bars.
