Sheriff Milbrandt Pledges to Take Sexual Assault Seriously

As part of his reëlection campaign, Brown County Sheriff Mark Milbrandt is pledging to take accusations of sexual assault seriously:

That pledge shouldn’t be surprising; it should be the default position for every responsible law enforcement officer.

But I have to wonder if Sheriff Milbrandt’s pledge extends to accusations of sexual harassment. Former DCI agent Laura Zylstra Kaiser worked on a drug task force in the Brown County Sheriff’s Office in 2011 when she was sexually harassed by Brown County Deputy Ross Erickson. What action did Sheriff Milbrandt take then?

Milbrandt said his role in the overall situation was minimal. Brown County wasn’t a party to the lawsuit, he said, and he never received a formal complaint that harassment occurred. Milbrandt said his deputy did come to him and admit he made a mistake and he was reprimanded for his actions.

As the state’s investigation continued, Milbrandt said, it became, “a hostile work environment” and his request to move Zylstra-Kaiser, to another office in Aberdeen or elsewhere, was an effort to fix that environment [Elisa Sand, “Competitive GOP Primary Races Make County Sheriff’s Contest Unpredictable,” Aberdeen American News, 2018.02.03].

Sheriff Milbrandt’s desire to remove the accuser from his building was discussed during Zylstra Kaiser’s lawsuit last year:

Former Brown County State’s Attorney Kimberly Dorsett also testified Thursday, calling Kaiser a “cancer.” She said the environment in the sheriff’s office grew toxic after Kaiser started working.

The drug task force is based in the sheriff’s office.

Dorsett testified that she was aware that Brown County Sheriff Mark Milbrandt wanted Kaiser “out of the basement” — or off the drug task force.

Bryan Gortmaker, DCI director, testified that he never questioned Milbrandt on why he wanted Kaiser out, but assumed it was because she was distrusted by her coworkers after the “trust test” incident.

When questioned whether he thought Milbrandt wanted Kaiser out because he was tired of her filing complaints against his deputies, Gortmaker said he did not believe that was the reason [Shannon Marvel, “Deputy Admits to Making Comments About DCI Agent’s Butt, Underwear,” Aberdeen American News, 2017.12.15].

Zylstra Kaiser won that lawsuit against Gortmaker and former DCI agent Mark Black to the tune of $1.2 million. Zylstra Kaiser’s husband, Aberdeen policeman Dan Kaiser, is running to unseat Milbrandt, but he says his wife’s lawsuit didn’t motivate his run.

Sheriff Milbrandt pledges to take sexual assault seriously, but an incident of sexual harassment in his own office resulted in harsher punishment for the accuser than the accused.