Federal judge dismisses lawsuit filed by Grand Chute Supervisor Ron Wolff after 2022 raid

GRAND CHUTE - A lawsuit filed by Town Supervisor Ron Wolff and his wife, Karri Wolff, alleging their civil rights were violated during the execution of a March 2022 search warrant was dismissed in federal court.

U.S. District Judge William Conley ruled that the Wolffs' claims against Jay Yerges, a special agent with the Wisconsin Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation, are barred by the doctrine of qualified immunity.

Qualified immunity shields government officials from liability so long as their conduct didn't violate clearly established statutory or constitutional rights.

The Post-Crescent called Ron Wolff to discuss the ruling. He previously said he would talk about the case once it was settled.

"I have nothing to say," he said before hanging up.

What led up to the lawsuit?

The lawsuit was filed after DCI agents and Outagamie County sheriff's deputies executed the search warrant on Wolff, a residence in Grand Chute, a residence in Nichols and Lakeshore Cleaners Inc., which was a landscape business Wolff owned.

The search was related to the state's investigation into Wolff's residency. It sought evidence of misconduct in public office, which is a felony. Documents, laptops and a cellphone were among the property seized during the raid.

The Wolffs alleged the search warrant was overly broad and was executed in an unreasonable manner, including the use of excessive force.

Yerges and others involved denied they violated the Wolffs' constitutional rights.

Ron Wolff was charged with a felony in July. Prosecutors alleged Wolff had a private interest in a public contract after Lakeshore Cleaners landed a $26,865 contract with Grand Chute while he was in office. The criminal complaint was signed by Yerges.

Wolff pleaded not guilty. The case is pending in Outagamie County Circuit Court.

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Judge says search warrant was 'surprisingly broad'

The March 2022 search warrant sought evidence of possible misconduct in office dating to April 6, 2021.

It authorized the seizure of computers, cellphones, digital devices, mass storage devices, user names, access codes and passwords owned, used or possessed by Wolff as well as "other items which may constitute evidence of crimes relating to misconduct in public office."

"The court agrees (with the plaintiffs) that the warrant is surprisingly broad, and it is troubled by the breadth of the categories of items, coupled with the fact that it occurred across three properties, with at least 10 officers involved in the search," Conley wrote in his decision.

Nevertheless, Conley determined Yerges is entitled to qualified immunity. He noted Yerges' search warrant was reviewed and approved by the district attorney and a state court judge.

Conley said the threshold for overcoming qualified immunity "is particularly high in cases in which a search warrant was issued by a judicial commissioner who has not been shown to have been biased."

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Qualified immunity also applies to execution of warrant

The Wolffs argued Yerges should have done more to prepare the officers conducting the search to prevent the seizure of items falling outside the scope of the warrant. Items they believed should not have been taken include a credit card, addresses of family and friends, dental records and printed emails about a family reunion and a baby shower.

Conley said Yerges likewise is entitled to qualified immunity in the execution of the search warrant.

"Certainly, Yerges may have been able to take additional steps to prepare the agents involved in the search, such as by providing specific examples of the types of documents and items that fell within or outside the scope of the warrant," Conley wrote. "However, plaintiffs have once again failed to identify any case requiring defendant Yerges to do more 'with obvious clarity' than what he did in his role as supervisor of the search."

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Contact Duke Behnke at 920-993-7176 or dbehnke@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DukeBehnke.

This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Grand Chute Supervisor Ron Wolff's lawsuit filed after raid dismissed