After making several statements during his run for Walworth County Sheriff about the state of the department and an investigation into those comments, Detective Craig Konopski resigned Friday, Dec. 2.
Konopski was defeated in both the Republican primary and the General Election by Undersheriff Dave Gerber, who will take over for Kurt Picknell as sheriff in the new year.
Following his defeat in the primary, Konopski made a decision in September to run as a write-in candidate.
After doing that, statements were made on Konopski’s Facebook candidate page that:
• Accused the sheriff’s department of dirty politics
• Accused the captain of detectives of trying to “railroad” him out of the department
• Accused Gerber of refusing to communicate with him after the primary
Konopski also made an allegation to at least one news outlet that he had “red-flagged” Gerardo Baca – now accused of 20 felony counts in a sexual assault investigation – prior to his hiring in 2016.
Picknell announced in late October that a third-party investigator was being hired to look into the complaints raised by Konopski.
On Monday of this week, Sheriff Picknell issued a three-page email addressing both the allegations and the independent investigation.
“Now that Mr. Konopski resigned, the independent investigation has reached its final disposition,” Picknell wrote, “allowing the sheriff’s office to finally provide a factual accounting of the investigation and Mr. Konopski’s decision to abruptly resign.”
Picknell then summarized events of the last several months, stating that his comment were a “factual summary” of events:
• Konopski received his third annual evaluation in April 2022, showing an ongoing decline in his performance as a detective. As a result, he was placed on a six-month performance improvement plan.
• The improvement plan identified specific areas for improvement, examples of poor performance and support for use in improving.
• Following being placed on the improvement plan, Konopski filed a complaint against Captain Shannan Illingworth, his direct supervisor, alleging the improvement plan was “improperly motivated.”
• An independent investigator was hired at Konopski’s request, and found his complaint lacked merit.
• Throughout the performance improvement plan, the area identified as needing to improve – time management and stewardship, job skills and knowledge, communication and conduct, quantity and quality of work and customer service – did not improve. The performance improvement plan was set to expire Nov. 8, 2022.
• In early October, the sheriff’s office became aware of Konopski’s statements regarding Baca. Attorney Joe Russell of von Briesen and Roper, s.c., was hired as an independent investigator of the claims and whether or not Konopski was making untruthful statements. Konopski was placed on administrative restrictions that removed him from all active law enforcement work.
• In an Oct. 25 letter to Konopski, he was told he should not mention the internal investigation to anyone other than his spouse, his clergy or his representatives. Four days later, Konopski made public statements addressing the investigation.
• In late November, Russell finalized his investigation into Konopski claim on Baca, as well as whether not statements made were untruthful. The attorney-client privileged report found untruthful statements were made – in particular in related to Baca and his hiring – and that Konopski had “publicly and insubordinately criticized” the sheriff’s office.
• Konopski was placed on full administrator leave, pending a hearing Dec. 6, which would have given Konopski a chance to address the independent investigation as well as the performance improvement plan. It was cancelled when Konopski resigned.
• Picknell stated that Konopski’s file would read “resigned prior to completion of internal investigation,” as required by law.
Picknell went on to say that Baca’s background indicated that he should have been hired for the position, with current and previous employers providing “high marks” on Baca in regard to character and work ethic.
Picknell then said that he had no further information to release.
Konopski did not respond to a request for comment on his resigntion.
