Forensic investigators will search Frederick Prehn's phone for text messages in Natural Resources Board records case
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Frederick Prehn's digital devices will be turned over to forensic investigators in order to search for potentially deleted text messages about his controversial decision to remain on the Natural Resources Board past the end of his term last year.
During a Wednesday afternoon hearing before Dane County Circuit Court Judge Everett Mitchell, lawyers shared that a company had been contracted to look through Prehn's personal devices to find any text messages about his 2021 decision to remain on the Natural Resources Board past the end of his term.
Prehn has already sent copies of the data on his devices to Digital Intelligence, the company selected to perform the search. Attorney Adam Voskuil said the extraction of data should be complete by the end of September.
Digital Intelligence will search Prehn's devices, including his personal cell phone and his iPad, for text messages related to his decision not to step down, blocking Gov Tony Evers' appointee, Sandra Dee Naas, from taking her seat on the board.
The search will include messages sent between June 29, 2020, and June 29, 2021, and will include any previously deleted messages, though some messages, once deleted are not able to be retrieved from modern devices.
Mark Maciolek, Prehn's attorney, said that anything obtained from the devices will be checked over to ensure that there is no breach in privacy or release of privileged exchanges between Prehn and his attorney, members of the clergy or communications between Prehn and his dental patients.
"This includes his personal cell phone," Maciolek said. "There are few of us that would be comfortable giving the entirety of our phone over to the world."
A judge will rule in November whether texts exist that must be disclosed.
The case against Prehn was filed late last year by Midwest Environmental Advocates, in a bid to obtain communications between Prehn and other members of the Natural Resources Board, which sets policy for the Department of Natural Resources. MEA had previously obtained email records as a part of its request but was told no text messages existed.
The organization disputed the DNR's claim, saying that it had obtained messages sent by Prehn as a part of records released by another public official.
According to the complaint, DNR staff said they did search for text messages but did not locate any responsive to the original records request, but in another request seeking text messages from board member Bill Smith, messages from Prehn to Smith were turned over, including one that read:
"I’ve got to decide if I’m going to stay on until the next appointee is confirmed. Evers notified me he’s not going to reappoint me I guess he thinks there’s some pretty big agenda items that I might not agree with LOL."
The group argues that the text message obtained from Smith shows that Prehn "freely communicated about his decision to stay on the NRB and thus indicates the existence of additional text messages."
Prehn, a Wausau dentist and gun store owner, has remained a controversial figure in natural resources over the last year because of his refusal to leave the board, even as a successor was appointed by Gov. Tony Evers. Prehn's decision was upheld last month by the Wisconsin Supreme Court, which ruled that he could remain in his seat unless the governor could find cause to remove him.
Even though Prehn has said that his decision to remain on the board wasn't a political one, that point has been proven false by other released records, including both emails and text messages.
In May, text messages released as a part of discovery in the Dane County case showed an exchange between Prehn and former Gov. Scott Walker, in which Walker advised the board member to hold on to his seat in order to counter the voices of the appointees of Democratic Gov. Tony Evers.
Prehn also solicited advice from and shared information with several people since May 2021, including Madison lobbyist Scott Meyer, U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany and Wisconsin Senate Majority Leader Devin LeMahieu, who has refused to schedule a confirmation hearing for Naas.
Prehn and his sources often communicated about whether to vacate his seat on the board, both before the appointment of Naas and after. He also shared news coverage resulting from interviews he had done, criticizing how he was portrayed.
Another records request showed that lobbyists got involved in the conversation surrounding whether Prehn would relinquish his seat much earlier than previously thought, meeting with LeMahieu at the state Capitol in mid-April, weeks before the governor would even announce his new appointees to the board.
Laura Schulte can be reached at leschulte@jrn.com and on Twitter at @SchulteLaura.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Frederick Prehn's phone will undergo forensic search for text messages
