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Medium reported severity Criminal Charges

Menasha, Wisconsin: a police officer who searched his ex-girlfriend's vehicles on the Flock license-plate-reader network while off duty is sentenced to six months in jail

According to a criminal complaint reported by WBAY and NBC 26, a Menasha police officer used his department credentials while off duty in October 2025 to search the Flock automated license-plate-reader network for vehicles belonging to his ex-girlfriend, giving "welfare" as the reason. She had told Appleton police she was concerned he was using the system to track her car and check whether it was where she had said. Investigators found seven searches between 7 and 14 October, five of them for her cars. The officer was arrested in January 2026, charged with felony misconduct in office, pleaded no contest and resigned. On 17 August 2026 a judge rejected the agreed sentencing recommendation and imposed six months in jail followed by three years of probation; the defense has moved for bond pending appeal.

AI system
Flock Safety license plate readers
Flock Safety
Occurred
7 Oct 2025 to 14 Oct 2025
Reported
17 August 2026
Event location
United States
What the AI did
Made a claim about the person
Reported harm
Exploitation or Abuse
Whose AI use
An institution’s AI use
Setting
Privacy · Justice · Relationships
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution supported · 2 sources, 1 underlying account
6 claims: 6 reported. 3 open questions
People reported harmed
1 person

AI system as recorded: Flock Safety automated license-plate-reader network, searched by the officer with his Menasha Police Department credentials (criminal complaint as reported by WBAY and NBC 26)

What Happened

WBAY (17 August 2026) and NBC 26 (18 August 2026), reporting the criminal complaint and the sentencing hearing, state that a Menasha police officer who lived in Appleton used his Menasha Police Department credentials while off duty to search for vehicles belonging to his ex-girlfriend through the Flock automated license plate reader network. According to the complaint as reported by WBAY, the woman told Appleton police in October 2025 that she was concerned he was using the Flock camera system to track her car and see whether it was where she had told him it was. Investigators found seven searches on Flock between 7 and 14 October, five for her cars and two for his brother's car; on 9 October he searched for her cars with the reason in the system listed as "welfare". NBC 26 reports that the searches were made from his home and accessed thousands of cameras across large geographic areas. The officer told Appleton police he had searched for her vehicles while off duty out of "desperation, and bad judgment, combined with a lack of sleep" and knew it was wrong. He was arrested in January 2026; police referred a stalking count and he was charged with felony misconduct in office. He was placed on administrative leave and later resigned. He pleaded no contest under a plea agreement. At sentencing on 17 August 2026 the judge, who called him an oath breaker who abused his authority, declined the agreed recommendation and imposed six months in jail followed by three years of probation. NBC 26 reports a defense motion for bond pending appeal. Neither source reports what the woman said about the effect on her.

Reported harm

According to the criminal complaint reported by WBAY and NBC 26, the woman's vehicles were searched on the Flock license-plate-reader network by her ex-boyfriend, a police officer acting off duty; she had reported to police that she was concerned he was tracking her car. He pleaded no contest to misconduct in office and was jailed.

Outcome

Ongoing

The officer was arrested in January 2026 after an Appleton Police Department investigation; police referred a stalking count, and he was charged with one count of misconduct in office (excess authority), a Class I felony (WBAY). He was placed on administrative leave and later resigned (WBAY). He pleaded no contest under a plea agreement; on 17 August 2026 the court declined the agreed sentencing recommendation and imposed six months in jail, served immediately, followed by three years of probation (WBAY; NBC 26). His attorney has filed a motion for bond pending appeal and a stay of the jail sentence (NBC 26). The outcome of that motion is not reported in the sources read.

What remains unknown

  • What the woman has said about the effect of the searches on her.
  • Whether any search returned a location for her vehicles.
  • The outcome of the motion for bond pending appeal and of any appeal.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. The criminal complaint, as reported by WBAY and NBC 26, says the officer searched for his ex-girlfriend's vehicles through the Flock automated license plate reader network, making seven searches between 7 and 14 October 2025. The plate-read records about her vehicles were the system's output; the searches are recorded as the officer's own acts. The sources do not describe the readers as AI.

6 claims: 6 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported According to the criminal complaint, the officer used his Menasha Police Department credentials while off duty to search for vehicles belonging to his ex-girlfriend through the Flock automated license plate reader network, making seven searches between 7 and 14 October 2025, five for her cars and two for his brother's car.

Causal attribution. The criminal complaint as relayed by two outlets; one chain. The officer pleaded no contest to misconduct in office.

  • wbay.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'made seven searches on Flock between October 7 and October 14, with five for the victim’s cars and two for his brother’s car.'
  • nbc26.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'used his Menasha Police Department credentials while off duty to search for vehicles belonging to his ex-girlfriend through the Flock automated license plate reader network.'; 'conducted multiple searches from his home in Appleton in October 2025'
Reported According to the complaint, the woman told Appleton police in October 2025 that she was concerned he was using the Flock camera system to track her car and see whether it was where she had told him it was.

Causal attribution. WBAY's account of the complaint.

  • wbay.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'the victim spoke to Appleton police last October about concerns that he was using the Flock camera system to track her car and see if it was where she had told him it was.'
Reported The searches gave "welfare" as the reason; NBC 26 reports that they accessed thousands of cameras across large geographic areas.

Causal attribution. Investigators' findings as reported.

Reported The officer told Appleton police that he searched for her vehicles while not on duty, out of desperation, bad judgment and lack of sleep, and that he knew it was wrong.

Causal attribution. The officer's own statement as recorded in the complaint.

  • wbay.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'he searched for the victim’s vehicles while not on-duty as a police officer'; 'He also said he knew his decision to use it was wrong.'
Reported He was arrested in January 2026, charged with one count of misconduct in office (excess authority), a Class I felony, after police referred a stalking count, and was placed on administrative leave and later resigned.

Causal attribution. Court records and the department's statement as reported by WBAY; no court record was inspected.

  • wbay.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'one count of Stalking was referred by police.'; 'he has been charged with one count of Misconduct/Office-Act/Excess Authority, a Class I Felony'; 'later resigned and is no longer with the department.'
Reported He pleaded no contest under a plea agreement; on 17 August 2026 the court declined the agreed sentencing recommendation and imposed six months in jail, served immediately, followed by three years of probation, and the defense has since moved for bond pending appeal.

Causal attribution. The sentencing hearing and a defense filing as reported; no court record was inspected.

  • wbay.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'a sentence of six months in jail, which he will serve immediately. The jail time will be followed by the three years probation.'
  • nbc26.com(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'pleaded no contest under a plea agreement, but the court declined to follow the sentencing recommendation agreed to by prosecutors and defense attorneys.'; 'filed a motion seeking bond pending appeal and a stay of his jail sentence.'

Sources

2 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read live in English on 2026-10-04 (WBAY staff, 17 August 2026). Rests on the criminal complaint, court records and the sentencing hearing. Applies to s1.

Read live in English on 2026-10-04 (NBC 26, 18 August 2026). Rests on the criminal complaint, the sentencing and a defense filing; treated as the same chain as WBAY because both report the same complaint and hearing. Applies to s2.

Event countries: United States. Affected-person countries: United States. Court countries: United States.

The officer served with the Menasha Police Department, made the searches from his home in Appleton, Wisconsin, was investigated by Appleton police and was sentenced in Wisconsin (WBAY; NBC 26). The woman reported her concern to Appleton police; her residence is not stated.

Reviewed for publication 2026-10-04: Published under the 2026-09-15 charter as an institutional privacy and safety case, consistent with the held Flock officer-misuse rows: the criminal complaint and sentencing, reported by WBAY and NBC 26, establish that a Menasha police officer searched his ex-girlfriend's vehicles on the Flock license-plate-reader network off duty after she reported concern that he was tracking her car, and that he was convicted on a no-contest plea and jailed. The automated readers generated the plate-read records; the misuse is recorded as a human act. Neither the officer nor the woman is named here.

People described

A woman, the officer's ex-girlfriend (not named here)

People reported harmed in this case

1 person

0 AI participants · 1 other person harmed

One person, the officer's ex-girlfriend, whose vehicles were searched and who reported her concern to police (WBAY; NBC 26). The officer's brother, whose car was searched twice, is not counted: no harm to him is reported.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#flock#alpr#license-plate-reader#police-misuse#ex-partner#wisconsin#menasha#appleton

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Menasha, Wisconsin: a police officer who searched his ex-girlfriend's vehicles on the Flock license-plate-reader network while off duty is sentenced to six months in jail. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2025-menasha-wisconsin-police-officer-flock-alpr-searches-ex-girlfriend-vehicles-jail-sentence

BibTeX

@misc{2025_menasha_wisconsin_police_officer_flock_alpr_searches_ex_girlfriend_vehicles_jail_sentence,
  title = {Menasha, Wisconsin: a police officer who searched his ex-girlfriend's vehicles on the Flock license-plate-reader network while off duty is sentenced to six months in jail},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2025-menasha-wisconsin-police-officer-flock-alpr-searches-ex-girlfriend-vehicles-jail-sentence}
}

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