Former Black Creek Rescue Service treasurer could still face forgery trial but theft charges have been dropped
APPLETON – Though theft charges against a former treasurer of Black Creek Rescue Service accused of forgery and stealing more than $100,000 from the service three years ago have been dropped, a court battle about how to address the forgery charges continues.
Kathleen Pasch, 64, was charged in 2019 with one count of theft of more than $100,000 for allegedly stealing money from the service during the previous four years, including with forged checks.
But on June 27, Outagamie County Circuit Court Judge Emily Lonergan dropped the theft charge after determining that, because important documents were either negligently lost or purposely destroyed, there was no way to prove Pasch's guilt or innocence.
Pasch still faces 11 counts of forgery. Each is a felony and, if convicted, Pasch may face up to six years in prison, a $10,000 fine or both for each charge.
Here's a rundown of what's happened in the case:
What happened to the evidence?
On Aug. 14, 2018, Black Creek Rescue Service officers confronted Pasch about missing funds, and Pasch admitted to taking funds from the service to support a gambling addiction, said Jenni Court, who was at that time secretary of the rescue service, according to a criminal complaint filed in 2019.
Black Creek Police Chief Lowell James and Court confirmed that 11 checks written to Pasch had been forged, and Wisconsin Department of Justice special agent Bradley Kust discovered they were written and cashed out of order, according to the complaint. The checks were all written in 2018. Eight of the checks were for $700, and three were for $1,050.
Kust, who investigated the case, identified a number of ATM withdrawals, checks, debit card purchases and credit card payments corresponding with the rescue service's accounts between 2015 and 2018 that were believed to be not related to the rescue service, the complaint said.
During her June 27 oral ruling, Lonergan summarized previous testimony from members of Black Creek Rescue Service to explain her decision to dismiss the theft charge.
According to a testimony from Court, Pasch had piles of paper documents "six to 12 inches tall sitting on almost every surface" in her office, in addition to cabinets containing more paperwork. Among the documents were receipts from business purchases, receipts for ATM withdrawals attached to requests for reimbursement from Black Creek Rescue Service members, reports detailing runs made by the rescue service, contracts with municipalities, spreadsheets with handwritten notes, bank statements, checks and payroll data.
A meeting among rescue service officers and Police Chief James was held Aug. 14, 2018, and Pasch was placed on leave because of the theft allegations.
After the meeting, Pasch returned a box of documents that included six receipts to the rescue service. Two of the receipts were legitimate business transactions, although Black Creek Rescue Service incorrectly identified them in its restitution summary as thefts by Pasch, according to court documents.
The following day, on Aug. 15, a second meeting was held with all members of Black Creek Rescue Service, during which everyone was informed of Pasch's departure and the reasons for it.
Immediately after the meeting, paperwork from Pasch's desk was moved into a paper shredder and into the garbage, according to testimony from Justin Stingle, the current Black Creek Village Board president but then a member of Black Creek Fire Rescue. Stingle said this took place over 10 to 15 minutes.
Stingle testified that he was in the office speaking with emergency management co-coordinator Ryan Schomisch while Court shredded and threw out paperwork.
Another witness, Brian Huber, a member of Black Creek Fire Rescue, testified that on the night he saw Pasch's desk get cleaned out, the paperwork was gone, the shredder in the copy room was running and the door to the copy room was locked. The first time he walked by the copy room, he noticed the door was locked and the shredder was running, but he didn't see who was inside. The second time he walked by, the copy room door was open and he saw Court in Pasch's former office.
Court testified that she did not dispose of anything on Pasch's desk other than "moldy napkins or pens that have run out of ink," according to court documents. Court also testified that Pasch's office "was still in the same state of disarray" and none of the paperwork had been disposed of when Kust came to the office to investigate.
The missing paperwork, Lonergan ruled, may have been exculpatory evidence that could have exonerated Pasch.
"Exculpatory evidence is evidence that is material towards negating a defendant's guilt, reducing a potential sentence, or impacting credibility of the witness," Lonergan said at the June 27 oral ruling. "If evidence that was apparently exculpatory is not preserved, a defendant's due process rights are violated."
Lonergan said all the paperwork that disappeared is relevant to the allegations against Pasch. That paperwork would not only show whether any theft occurred, but how much money was stolen. That would have a major impact on what penalty Pasch would receive if found guilty.
Lonergan said one of two situations must have occurred:
Either Court and Schomisch destroyed documents relevant to the case after the Aug. 15 meeting, and Police Chief James neglected to preserve the documents until the investigation was handed off to Agent Kust and Department of Justice Division of Criminal Investigation;
Or Court showed Kust the office and all its documents within days of Aug. 14, and Kust failed to collect or preserve any documents as evidence, "negligently allowing it to be destroyed over time." In either case, Lonergan ruled, "the state has allowed apparently exculpatory evidence to be destroyed."
Pasch still faces forgery counts
At a hearing Aug. 30, Assistant District Attorney Richard Dufour and Defense Attorney Jeffrey Kippa presented arguments about how to address the 11 counts of forgery. Part of what the lawyers debated was whether it can be proved that Pasch forged the signatures with intent to defraud.
One piece of evidence that wasn't addressed until earlier in August, when the state gave it to the court to review, was a flash drive from Black Creek Rescue Service.
Lonergan said the flash drive was handed over to her for an in-camera inspection — a process by which the judge privately reviews evidence rather than it going directly to the defense — due to concerns that it contained HIPAA-protected information. After Lonergan reviewed it, the prosecution and the defense each received a copy of the flash drive, too.
At the Aug. 30 hearing, Dufour said he didn't think any information on the flash drive or any of the missing information would affect the forgery charges. He argued that the amounts of money written on the forged checks were much higher than any monetary values Pasch should have been paid, according to her own testimony.
But Kippa asked the court to order the Department of Justice to analyze the flash drive to determine if any additions or deletions were made during the approximately four-year span it was out of law enforcement's possession.
"I just want to circle back that there was evidence of this, but for the shredding and destroying — or (at) a minimum, failure to preserve documentation — I think we ought to all look through that prism when we kind of assess this issue," Kippa said at the hearing. "I think the state's losing sight of that. I mean, this is appalling behavior that's got us to where we are today."
At the hearing, Lonergan ordered the analysis.
Pasch will appear in court again for an oral ruling and pre-trial conference at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 15.
Contact Kelli Arseneau at (920) 213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ArseneauKelli.
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Former Black Creek Rescue Service treasurer may face trial for forgery
