“Investigation into Chippewa County deputies wraps up”

Investigation into Chippewa County deputies wraps up

Posted: 22 Sep 2010 10:08 AM PDT

Chippewa County (WQOW) - Inappropriate text messages, hours of phone calls on the job and a law enforcement officer who admits texting behind the wheel on patrol.

All of that comes out Monday as documents are released in Chippewa County.

Nick Gardow and Melissa Hagmann resigned in July. Gardow was a deputy with the Chippewa County Sheriff's Department. Hagmann was a jailer. Both were under investigation by the county when they resigned. We filed an open records request for those documents.

The department began investigating the two after being contacted by Gardow's wife. She was concerned about what Nick was doing while on duty after getting a copy of his cell phone records.

According to investigation documents, Ashley Gardow felt Nick Gardow and Melissa Hagmann were spending too much time talking about personal matters while on duty. She thought if it was a work matter, he would have just called the jail directly.

Phone records showed from April to June 5th, Nick Gardow spent more than 82 hours on the phone while on duty. Of that time, nearly half of it was with Hagmann while she was and wasn't on duty.

As a jail employee, Hagmann was prohibited from bringing her cell phone into work. Investigators say Hagmann admitted sneaking the phone into the jail in a back-pack and using the hands free device.

Nick Gardow also spent more than 11 hours on the phone with another deputy. And nearly six hours on the phone with a third employee who told investigators Nick called them looking for advice on his problems at home. Ashley Gardow also asked that person for help and to serve as a counselor to save their marriage.

Investigators say Nick Gardow and Hagmann also exchanged text messages, some suggesting a sexual relationship between the two while he was on duty something both denied.

Through the investigation, Gardow admitted that he regularly talked on his cell phone and occasionally texted while driving in a county squad car.

As a result of the investigation, two other employees were suspended for using their personal phones while on duty.

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