A preliminary hearing was scheduled for Monday for a University of Wisconsin-Whitewater police officer who leaked information about an investigation to a Facebook friend a year ago.
Janelle L. Latsch, 24, of Helenville, was charged Sept. 10 in Walworth County Circuit Court with misconduct in office.
According to the criminal complaint:
A confidential informant reported receiving threatening phone calls and death threats from Morgan Purucker, 20, of Fort Atkinson, who heard from a friend working for the police department that the informant was “working with the cops.”
Purucker told a detective Aug. 20, 2013, that she was with Jared McClure when McClure received a phone call from Dana Johnson, 32, of East Troy, who told McClure that his name came up in relation to a grouping having something to do with “blow,” according to the complaint. Johnson was Facebook “friends” with Latsch, a full-time UW-Whitewater police employee. Johnson confirmed that Latsch told her Purucker was being investigated.
