Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
A former city employee is facing felony counts of theft and misconduct in office that allegedly occurred while he was working for the Shawano Department of Public Works.
James D. Schoenhofen, 57, is due in court Monday for an initial appearance.
Schoenhofen was operations director at the DPW from January 2000 until February 2015, when he retired. He had been a city employee in other capacities since June 1978.
The investigation began on Feb. 10, 2015, with a retail theft complaint at Walmart, 1244 E. Green Bay St., in which store security personnel reported someone had taken an ice augur from the sporting goods department, put it into a shopping cart and left the store without paying for it.
Authorities identified the suspect as Schoenhofen from security video, according to the complaint.
Two days later, Schoenhofen was apparently attempting to leave the store with another ice augur and a jig pole, but was spotted by Walmart employees, who called police.
Schoenhofen was approached by officers and admitted to the earlier theft, according to the complaint. He was cited for that theft and paid the fine, along with restitution to Walmart for the merchandise.
“As a result of the retail theft incident at Walmart, information began to circulate in the community that Schoenhofen had also stolen a trailer from the American Marine Store,” the complaint states. “The City of Shawano mayor’s office received information in late February (2015) that Schoenhofen had stolen a new trailer and took it to a business on Richmond Street in the City of Shawano to have it sold.”
That information was passed on to the Police Department to investigate, but was then transferred to the Shawano County Sheriff’s Department because of Schoenhofen’s status as a former city employee.
According to the complaint, the trailer was posted for sale online by a local businessman on Schoenhofen’s behalf in September 2014 and was sold for $1,250.
The complaint states the businessman believed it belonged to Schoenhofen.
American Marine, which placed the value of the trailer at $2,354, noticed it was missing from its inventory in October 2014.
According to the complaint, Schoenhofen later admitted to authorities that he had stolen the trailer to have “some extra spending money,” and also took a second trailer a few weeks after he had stolen the first. He said he took the trailer early in the morning while on his way to work.
Authorities also learned during the course of the investigation that power tools, including a leaf blower and weed wacker, were missing from the DPW inventory, according to the complaint.
The complaint alleges Schoenhofen used his position as operations director and a DPW account to purchase the items in June 2011 but kept them for private use.
According to the complaint, the power tools have been returned to the city and Schoenhofen has begun making restitution payments to American Marine for the trailers.
The Shawano Common Council briefly discussed the charges against Schoenhofen at its meeting Wednesday, with City Attorney Tim Schmid explaining that the city can submit a request for restitution and weigh in on what officials believe Schoenhofen’s sentence should be if he is convicted.
The council will hold a future meeting in closed session to discuss that further.
Schoenhofen could face a maximum six years in prison and $10,000 fine if found guilty on the charge of using the city’s identifying information or documents to obtain goods for his personal use.
He’s also charged with misconduct in office and acting in excess of his authority, and with one count of felony theft related one of the trailers, which was valued at more than $2,500.
Those counts each carry a maximum possible penalty of 3½ years in prison and a $10,000 fine.
He is also charged with misdemeanor counts of theft and altering identification numbers on one of the trailers.