WEST ALLIS — An officer has been removed from the Brady list after we brought the case to the attention of Milwaukee County’s District Attorney. The Brady list is a list of officers with alleged credibility concerns due to past accusations of crimes, dishonesty, bias, or other integrity issues.
This case involves a former West Allis school resource officer. An internal police memo states he admitted to having sex in a school while on duty.
Former West Allis Police Sergeant Ryan Solie was a school resource officer at West Allis Central High School until 2023.
West Allis P.D. began investigating Solie that January after receiving a complaint about inappropriate behavior at a Central High School party off campus.
According to a West Allis internal memo TMJ4 obtained through an open records request, two lieutenants interviewed Sgt. Solie in February 2023 about the complaint.
According to the memo, a police lieutenant asked Solie why witnesses at the party claimed he said he had sex with a female employee on school property, to which he responded, “Because it happened and that he got blackout drunk that night."
Watch: SRO who admitted to having sex in a school while on duty taken off Brady list
The lieutenant reported that during the internal investigation interview, Sgt. Solie informed him that he had sexual contact on school property… “six to eight times.”
According to the internal memo, Solie told the lieutenant that one time was “in his office when he was on duty.”
In the memo, a lieutenant "advised Sergeant Solie he was violating department policy by his actions."
According to the Wisconsin Department of Justice, Solie resigned in lieu of termination and he was placed on Milwaukee County’s Brady list. It’s a list of 191 officers with alleged credibility concerns that have to be disclosed to defense attorneys if they’re called to testify in court.
State records show he was also put on Wisconsin’s ‘Flagged Officer List’ which tracks officers who have been fired or resigned during or after an investigation into alleged misconduct.
Solie and his attorney declined TMJ4’s interview request.
A few months after he resigned, Solie was hired as the Director of School Safety at Wisconsin Lutheran High School. He added a part-time job last year as a Wisconsin State Fair Park police officer.
We asked both employers if they knew Solie was on the Brady list and why.
Both declined our interview requests. The State Fair Park police chief said they reviewed his entire disciplinary record and determined no Brady list material was discovered.
In an email, Wisconsin Lutheran High School said in part, “We believe in understanding, grace, and forgiveness.”
The State Fair Park police chief said he is “proud to have him on our team.” The chief added that “certain people deserve a second chance. Officer Ryan Solie was one of those individuals."
The State Fair Park police chief noted that West Allis P.D. records indicate he was truthful about the entire event.
“Do officers ever come off the list?” TMJ4 reporter Ben Jordan asked.
"Officers have come off the list historically,” replied District Attorney Kent Lovern.
Jordan asked D.A. Lovern that question during a joint interview in January with Milwaukee County’s top criminal justice system leaders.
After the interview, we asked D.A. Lovern off-camera about Solie’s case.
A couple of days later, D.A. Lovern said this to the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors when he was called to speak about the Brady list.
"I've seen examples of departments in this county erring on the side of being over-inclusive and in fact, I was just drawn to an officer in an agency, not Milwaukee County sheriff but another one recently that as we've reexamined this and he was put on the list in the last couple of years, his issue was not an integrity related one and he should probably be removed from the list,” he said.
Two weeks after the interview, D.A. Lovern sent TMJ4 and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel an email saying “I have removed Ryan Solie from the list.”
County Supervisor Sheldon Wasserman thinks Solie’s conduct described in the internal memo is an integrity concern.
"I cannot understand how an officer can have sex on duty and not think it's an issue,” Wasserman said. “That's ridiculous. It's absolutely ridiculous.”
Civil rights attorney William Sulton believes it’s information that should be turned over to defense attorneys if Solie were called to testify.
“It's absolutely Brady material,” Sulton said. “Sexual misconduct while on duty, absolutely. That's why West Allis referred it to the district attorney's office and that's also why they put him on the Brady list."
Given that Solie’s status on the Brady list only changed after TMJ4 and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel brought the case up to D.A. Lovern, Sulton thinks it suggests the list is poorly reviewed and maintained.
"It raises a lot of concerns about whether there is in fact a process, number one, right?" Sulton said. “It raises a question about their due diligence for example, who at the district attorney's office is responsible for accepting these referrals and making these determinations."
It’s important to note that Solie is one of seven officers taken off the Brady list after we brought them to the district attorney’s attention.
If you want to see all of the current and former officers on Milwaukee County’s Brady list, our database in partnership with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin Watch can be found below.
See all Duty to Disclose stories as they are posted here.
The Brady list is a compilation of current or former law enforcement officers deemed by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office to have credibility issues. The underlying allegation can range from lying on exams to violent crimes. Just because an officer is on the list does not mean he or she was necessarily convicted or charged with a crime, or found guilty of internal misconduct. According to the office of District Attorney Kent Lovern, some cases may have resulted in an acquittal, been dismissed, or were amended to non-criminal offenses. The office says, "the database is accurate to the best of our knowledge as of February 27, 2025."
About this project
“Duty to Disclose” is a joint investigation by TMJ4, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and Wisconsin Watch. The collaboration was prompted by the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s decision in 2024 to release its “Brady List,” a closely-guarded list of law enforcement officers with alleged credibility issues, after pressure from the news organizations.
TMJ4 Lighthouse reporter Ben Jordan, Journal Sentinel investigative reporter Ashley Luthern and Wisconsin Watch investigative reporter Mario Koran spent four months verifying the hundreds of officers on the list, discovering that it is frequently incomplete and inconsistent.
Readers with tips about the Brady List are encouraged to contact reporter Ben Jordan at ben.jordan@tmj4.com.
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