DA says firefighter won’t be charged
By Darryl Enriquez
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (Wisconsin)
Copyright 2007 Journal Sentinel Inc.
Waukesha — A city panel Friday night tossed out the fire chief’s request that a firefighter be fired on suspicion of plotting a murder-for-hire scheme against the husband of a former lover but stressed it had nothing to do with the merits of the case.
Meanwhile, the Waukesha County district attorney said the allegation of a plot has been discredited and he would not pursue charges against the firefighter.
The Fire and Police Commission, while ruling Fire Chief Allen LaConte’s seven-page “statement of charges” against firefighter-paramedic Charles Stelter was insufficiently prepared, left the door open for the filing of a new complaint.
“The source of information is missing from the allegations,” commission President Brian Cahill said.
For instance, the complaint fails to say how LaConte learned of the alleged activities, Cahill said.
LaConte and his attorney, James Korom, were given two weeks to file a more complete document.
Stelter, an eight-year veteran of the department, remains on administrative leave with pay.
If commissioners had accepted the chief’s statement, it would have proceeded to a hearing on the merits of the allegations.
Meanwhile Friday, a question emerged as to whether the firefighter cooked up a plot to hire a member of the Latin Kings street gang to kill the husband of his former lover. The chief’s statement says the woman involved in the “illicit affair” was Elizabeth Newkirk, a former student in Stelter’s emergency medical technician class at Waukesha County Technical College.
Her husband, Michael Newkirk, is a Waukesha County Sheriff’s Department corrections officer.
LaConte’s statement to the commission says Stelter admitted to the plot, intended as a way to cause stress to the Newkirk marriage and win back the woman’s affection after she broke off the affair last June. The statement does not say to whom the admission was made.
But Waukesha County District Attorney Brad Schimel said the allegation was concocted by an informant - identified by others as Stelter’s brother-in-law - who went to police with the story.
Yet another source of information - an unsuccessful petition for a restraining order against Stelter from Michael and Elizabeth Newkirk - says both that the plot existed and that it didn’t. In any event, Schimel said neither the Sheriff’s Department nor his office will seek criminal charges against Stelter.
Stelter’s attorney, Rebecca Boyle, told the commission that the only thing her client did wrong was to have an affair, not a firing offense.
The court petition the Newkirks filed against Stelter is confusing.
It says that Stelter’s brother-in-law created the murder-for-hire tale, lying to Cudahy police that a $3,000 hit on Michael Newkirk was in the works. But the petition also says that Stelter asked his brother-in-law if “he could get some Latin Kings to kill Michael for $3,000. In return, Elizabeth would turn to Mr. Stelter for safety.”
Stelter’s brother-in-law is Duane Paladino, records show.
LaConte’s “statement of charges” to the commission indicates that Stelter admitted to hiring and paying $3,000 to a “third party” to murder or harm Michael Newkirk.