Invoices show more than $129K has been spent on Chippewa County's investigation into Sheriff Travis Hakes [The Chippewa Herald, Chippewa Falls, Wisc.]

Chippewa Herald, The (WI)

Mar. 1—A law firm has billed more than $129,000 for its investigation into Chippewa County Sheriff Travis Hakes for allegations of sexual misconduct and malfeasance.

Records obtained by The Chippewa Herald show through December, von Briesen & Roper billed $129,000 for its investigation, which continued into February. Invoices from January and February were not yet available.

Payment receipts provided by the county show between June 9 and Dec. 31, the county's self-insured liability insurer, Wisconsin Municipal Mutual Insurance Co., made 17 payments to the law office of von Briesen & Roper.

Four payments were described as miscellaneous attorney expenses such as travel, and the other 13 are listed as attorney legal fees.

The payments were "for attorneys fees and costs on each invoice received by WMMIC and Chippewa County from von Briesen and Roper," Chippewa County Corp. Counsel Todd Pauls wrote in an email in response to a record request from The Chippewa Herald.

The funds came from the county's self-insured retention account, not directly from the county, Pauls wrote.

The largest payment was $20,322 for fees during the month of August. The second largest payment was $19,497 for the month of July. Between June 9 and July 11 there were an additional three payments totaling $18,686.

Attorney Jill Pedigo Hall released two reports as part of her investigation since von Briesen & Roper was hired by the county. The first report was released Sept. 7. The 87-page document showed the investigation into Hakes began with allegations of sexual harassment but expanded to include a host of other concerns about alleged misconduct and policy violations.

On Thursday, Hall's second supplemental report into Hakes was released. The report concluded that Hakes was repeatedly dishonest and misleading both on the job and in the course of being investigated.

Hakes said Thursday the amount spent on the investigation troubled him.

"It makes me feel discouraged and disheartened. Because with the amount of money that they've spent on this investigation, we could have hired a second drug cop, which we desperately need," he said. "We could increase our courthouse security staffing, which we need, and the $18,000 a month they're spending on average into my investigation would pay for our internet hotspots that I been trying to get back so we have better connectivity while we're in the field taking calls for service."

On Feb. 20, after the final report was provided to the Chippewa County Board, supervisors approved a pair of motions stating they had "no confidence" in Hakes, would cut communications with him and then forwarded the investigation reports to the district attorney for review. The board also agreed to only get information and reports regarding sheriff's department administrative and law enforcement matters from the department's chief deputy or chief deputy's designee.

Hakes said the county board was misguided.

"Tonight the county board spent over four hours in closed session reviewing yet another report from Madison-based attorney Jill Pedigo Hall in an investigation that has now topped over $100,000 in taxpayer funds," Hakes stated after the Feb. 20 meeting. "Hall was given a blank check and unlimited scope to further tarnish my reputation."

Hakes said in January he believed the investigation could have been handled in a more efficient manner.

"I never once supported any use of any taxpayer funds on this investigation at all," he told The Chippewa Herald. "I tried to cooperate without the investigator being involved to keep the cost of the situation as minimal as possible to the taxpayers."

Hakes also took issue with the county's use of a Madison-based law firm.

"There is a lot of things and a lot of good that money could have been spent on, and I was willing to cooperate with them," he said. "And if they would have had an outside law enforcement agency investigate, it would have been done legally, professionally and free."

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