Joel Urmanski
# Sheboygan’s City Attorney scandal: a comprehensive accounting
**Charles “Chuck” Adams resigned as Sheboygan City Attorney on March 19, 2025—two days after the Common Council reviewed a damning ethics investigation— but he was never criminally charged.** Despite a seven-month Fond du Lac Police Department investigation that produced a 127-page report and a felony referral for Misconduct in Public Office, Sheboygan County DA Joel Urmanski declined to prosecute, stating he “determined there was no criminal law violation.” The fallout has nonetheless been sweeping: Adams’s departure after 29 years, at least **$480,000 in lawsuit settlements** paid by the city, an ongoing federal child pornography case against the former HR director Adams once cleared of wrongdoing, and a police lieutenant’s reinstatement battle still working through the courts. The investigation exposed what independent counsel called a “surveillance state within City Hall” run through the DataCove email archiving system.
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## The DA declined charges, but the ethics findings were devastating
On November 22, 2024, Fond du Lac PD submitted a charge referral for Misconduct in Public Office (Wis. Stat. § 946.12(3))—a felony—to DA Joel Urmanski. **Urmanski declined without detailed public explanation**, offering only that he determined no criminal law violation occurred. No criminal case against Charles Adams appears in Wisconsin court records.
The parallel ethics investigation told a different story. Milwaukee law firm **von Briesen & Roper**, retained as independent counsel, found “substantial evidence to indicate that Attorney Adams violated the City’s Ethics Code by engaging in unauthorized searches and reviews of City documents via DataCove.” Their memorandum concluded there was “no plausible public explanation” for Adams’s searches and that “the only logical inference is that Attorney Adams searched the emails for his own private and personal benefit.” Adams had viewed **over 15,000 emails** unrelated to any open records request, litigation, or legitimate city business— surveilling communications about his cousin’s internal affairs case, his son’s workplace reputation, political critics, and the city administrator who uncovered the misconduct.
Adams maintained throughout that he had “legal access to the whole system” and that all searches fell within his statutory duties. After resigning, he stated the investigation was “improperly motivated and designed to reach a foregone conclusion despite the lack of evidence.” He described his departure as “in the mutual interest of both parties.”
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## Adams resigned under pressure; the Council is still deliberating next steps
The Committee of the Whole convened in closed session on **March 17, 2025** to receive the von Briesen & Roper conduct report. Two days later, Adams communicated his intent to resign to City Administrator Casey Bradley. His last working day was March 19; his official retirement date was **April 11, 2025**. The law firm Attolles Law S.C., retained by the Council for procedural advice, confirmed Adams “did this of his own volition and was not asked to resign by anyone at the City.”
The story did not end there. On **June 2, 2025**, the Committee of the Whole reconvened in closed session to revisit the matter. Alderman Dean Dekker moved to allow **temporary suspension of attorney-client privilege** and redaction of employee names from the investigation report— a motion that passed unanimously. Local reporting indicated “the process that could result in legal proceedings is far from over,” suggesting the city may be weighing civil action against Adams.
**Nicholas Cerwin of Von Briesen & Roper** was retained as interim City Attorney following Adams’s departure— a decision that drew public objection from Adams’s cousin, Lt. William Adams, who argued the firm’s investigative role created a conflict. No permanent replacement had been announced as of mid-2025.
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## Where the related actors stand now
**Casey Bradley (City Administrator)** remains in his role and was effectively vindicated by the investigation. Bradley first noticed unusual access to his files after becoming City Administrator in October 2023, triggering the chain of events that exposed the DataCove abuse. Adams retaliated by hiring outside counsel to investigate Bradley without Council authorization—violating City Ordinance Sec. 2-340— and that unauthorized investigation found no evidence Bradley violated any policy. Bradley continues to lead city operations and was quoted in 2025 press releases about the city’s redesigned website and its response to the October 2024 ransomware attack.
**Eric Buschman (former IT Director)** departed city employment by mid-2024. After Bradley raised concerns, Buschman was placed on a performance improvement plan and issued a letter of reprimand. He was then “walked out of work” after the city learned he was allegedly organizing other IT workers to quit simultaneously. **Matt Greenwood** replaced him as interim IT Director on May 23, 2024. Buschman faced no criminal charges. The investigation characterized IT practices under his leadership as “sloppy,” including unrestricted DataCove access by department heads.
**Micah Adams (Chuck’s son)** left the city’s IT Department for a position in Manitowoc before the investigation formally launched in June 2024. The investigation documented that Chuck Adams conducted numerous DataCove searches for “Micah Adams” to monitor what colleagues were saying about his son. No consequences or further issues involving Micah have surfaced publicly.
**Lt. William “Bill” Adams (Chuck’s cousin)** faces an unresolved reinstatement battle. The Board of Police and Fire Commissioners moved toward discipline—a December 2024 hearing on “dismissal, demotion or suspension” was scheduled then canceled—and Adams was ultimately suspended. He applied for the police chief position in November 2024 but was eliminated for not meeting job requirements. In **October 2025**, Sheboygan County Circuit Court Judge Samantha Bastil ruled in his favor, ordering reinstatement with back pay. However, the Board voted unanimously to appeal that ruling. As of early 2026, **Lt. Adams does not appear on the Sheboygan PD active roster**—the listed lieutenants are Sarah Blodgett, Alexander Jaeger, and Joel Hendrikse. The appeal is presumably still pending.
**Adam Westbrook (former HR Director)** faces a deeply troubled federal case. After resigning from Sheboygan in August 2023 and briefly serving as Outagamie County HR Director, Westbrook was arrested on **February 16, 2024** as part of an Internet Crimes Against Children investigation. Federal court documents allege he recorded pornographic videos of a pre-pubescent boy—identified as his adopted son—and distributed them via Snapchat to a Kenosha County sheriff’s deputy who faces separate charges. The case was federalized as *United States v. Adam Westbrook* in the Western District of Wisconsin, with a single count of distributing child sexual abuse material carrying **5–20 years** in federal prison. Westbrook pleaded guilty in **September 2024** under a plea agreement recommending 8–12 years, but in late October 2024 he retained new counsel and moved to withdraw his plea, claiming ineffective assistance. His December 2024 sentencing was postponed. In early 2026, he filed a motion to dismiss the indictment, arguing the federal child pornography statute is unconstitutional. The presiding judge reportedly wrote “I give up” and took sentencing off the calendar again. As of **February 2026**, prosecutors called both motions “meritless.” **Sentencing has not been rescheduled.** The Wisconsin Supreme Court revoked his law license via consensual revocation in 2024. The connection to the Adams investigation: Chuck Adams publicly cleared Westbrook of a misconduct complaint involving an inappropriate comment toward a high school intern before Westbrook’s resignation—a decision that drew intense criticism after Westbrook’s arrest.
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## The lawsuit settlements now total at least $480,000
The City of Sheboygan has paid substantial settlements in three related lawsuits, with a fourth pending:
**Todd Wolf** (former City Administrator, fired January 2023) filed *Wolf v. City of Sheboygan* (E.D. Wis., Case No. 2:23-cv-00149) alleging First and Fourteenth Amendment violations. Adams, Mayor Sorenson, and eight alders were named as defendants. The case **settled for $230,000**, unanimously approved by the Common Council on June 4, 2024, and dismissed with prejudice on June 18, 2024.
**Chad Pelishek** (former Planning Director, resigned May 2023) filed *Pelishek v. City of Sheboygan* (E.D. Wis., Case No. 2:2023cv01048) alleging Title VII discrimination and First Amendment retaliation. Adams was added as a defendant in fall 2023. At summary judgment in July 2025, the court dismissed all Title VII claims but allowed the First Amendment claim to proceed, finding the city’s “categorical ban” on employee speech about the Wolf lawsuit was “unlikely to pass muster.” Adams was dismissed in individual capacity. After mediation, the case **settled for $100,000** in January 2026.
**Vicky Schneider** (former HR Director) filed a separate lawsuit alleging the city failed to intervene in retaliatory actions against her for raising concerns about sexual harassment in the police department. That case **settled for $150,000**, approved February 3, 2025.
**Katherine Kobs** (former HR employee) filed suit approximately May 12–13, 2025, alleging wrongful termination, sex discrimination, and withheld wages. She received her EEOC right-to-sue letter on March 6, 2025. The city authorized outside counsel for the case at the May 27, 2025 Finance and Personnel Committee meeting. **This case remains pending.**
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## No HIPAA enforcement, but a ransomware attack compounded IT failures
**No federal HIPAA enforcement action** against the City of Sheboygan has been documented in public records. HR Director Kelly Hendee raised HIPAA concerns about Adams’s email access—the city is self-insured, covering 600–700 employees, meaning health information flowed through the email system Adams was surveilling. Adams told Hendee that HIPAA laws “didn’t apply,” a position both Hendee and Bradley rejected. The city contracted **Heartland Business Systems** to conduct a HIPAA audit, but no HHS Office for Civil Rights investigation or fine materialized.
Compounding the IT governance crisis, the city suffered a **major ransomware attack on October 31, 2024** by the “Chort” gang, compromising personal data of **67,947 individuals** including Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and driver’s license numbers. The Common Council approved nearly **$500,000** in emergency hardware and software upgrades in December 2024. Breach notifications were sent in May 2025, with one year of complimentary identity protection offered. The breach occurred during the chaotic IT leadership transition from Buschman to Greenwood, underscoring the governance vulnerabilities the Adams investigation had already exposed.
Key policy changes implemented include: DataCove access restrictions imposed between February and June 2024, with IT staff permissions formally revoked on June 5, 2024; replacement of the IT Director; a full DataCove audit ordered by Bradley; and a redesigned city website through CivicPlus with enhanced transparency tools. However, specific new open records processing or email privacy policies were not detailed in available public sources.
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## Local media and citizen watchdogs drove the accountability
Traditional legacy outlets largely underperformed on this story. **The Sheboygan Press and Milwaukee Journal Sentinel** produced minimal coverage. Instead, the investigative energy came from local radio, regional broadcasters, and citizen journalism. **WHBL Radio** (1330 AM/101.5 FM) obtained the 127-page police report via public records request and published a multi-part series beginning April 7, 2025. **Seehafer News** provided the most detailed mainstream analysis. **TMJ4 Milwaukee** covered Adams’s resignation with video reporting. **WKTS News** published investigation findings before permanently ceasing operations due to funding shortfalls.
**Aaron Guenther**, a Sheboygan businessman and failed 2023 Common Council candidate, functioned as a key whistleblower and activist. His formal complaint to Bradley and the Council was a primary trigger for the ethics investigation. He filed numerous open records requests and posted extensively on LinkedIn, directly accusing city officials of misconduct. Adams surveilled Guenther’s email traffic through DataCove, viewing 30–40 emails and justifying it by claiming Guenther was a “stalking horse” for attorneys in the Wolf lawsuit.
**TakeBackSheboyganCounty.com** remains active and operational, running on WordPress with active social media accounts (Twitter: @TBSheboyganCo, Instagram: @TBSheboyganCo) and a private Facebook group. The conservative-leaning watchdog site published a ten-part “Corruption at Sheboygan City Hall” series and obtained the full Fond du Lac PD criminal investigation report, making it available for download. The **SheVegas Substack** (run by Mike Brunette) published the confidential von Briesen & Roper memorandum in full. Adams used DataCove to search for “Take Back” and “Take Back Sheboygan” on multiple occasions, monitoring which city employees were communicating about the group.
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## Conclusion
The Sheboygan City Attorney scandal illustrates a pattern increasingly common in small-city governance: misconduct documented exhaustively by investigators, declined by prosecutors, and ultimately resolved through resignation rather than formal accountability. DA Urmanski’s terse refusal to prosecute—absent any detailed public reasoning—leaves a significant gap between the evidentiary record (15,000+ unauthorized email searches, an independent counsel finding “substantial evidence” of ethics violations) and the legal outcome (zero charges). The financial toll is concrete and growing: at least **$480,000 in settlements** with a fourth lawsuit pending, a $500,000 ransomware recovery, and ongoing legal fees for the Lt. Adams reinstatement appeal. The June 2025 Council vote to suspend privilege and potentially pursue further proceedings against Adams suggests the final chapter has not been written. Meanwhile, the Westbrook federal case—where the man Adams publicly cleared now faces years in federal prison for child sexual abuse material—remains the scandal’s most disturbing thread, with sentencing in indefinite limbo as of early 2026.