MILWAUKEE — The fallout is growing from our special TMJ4 investigation called ‘ghosted’.
We confirmed Friday that the main deputy exposed in our reports has resigned. Top county leaders are now speaking out about our reports.
“What was your reaction to this TMJ4 investigation?” TMJ4 reporter Ben Jordan asked.
“I actually have been following the reports and it is an unfortunate thing that has happened right here within Milwaukee County,” Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley said. “Again, for me, it's really about making sure that we acknowledge what is going on, but more importantly, everything that I've learned, I've actually been learning from you.”
Our investigation uncovered a mysterious and unsolved hit-and-run. After the crash, a woman says someone then tried to grab her baby.
The case was closed with almost no investigation. But our reports revealed a lack of oversight and accountability at many levels — and that’s what brings us to this report.
The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors has some oversight of the sheriff’s office, so we reached out to every county supervisor to ask for their reaction to this botched case. One sent this email Thursday to Sheriff Denita Ball, saying he has questions and concerns.
“What do you hope to hear back?” Jordan asked.
"An open, honest response,” said Supervisor Sheldon Wasserman. "This is very worrisome, we want some answers."
Wasserman caught part three of our series, ‘Ghosted’. That was enough for him to reach out to the sheriff’s office.
When we sat down with him, we also showed him more of our investigation.
"This is a nightmare for any parent,” he said.
He couldn’t believe what he saw and shook his head at proof of Deputy Shaun Bacich’s missing work along with Bacich admitting a lack of effort to track down a possible suspect after he fled the scene and the weeks that followed.
“What are your concerns after watching this series?” Jordan asked.
"My first question is is he still on the force? This officer,” Wasserman said. “And my second concern is anyone who attempts to kidnap a baby, cause a car accident to steal a baby. I mean, who is this individual?"
Almost immediately after our interview, Wasserman got on the phone with a sheriff’s office spokesperson who told Wasserman that Bacich was no longer on the force. His last day on the job was mid-February and he submitted his resignation earlier this month.
That’s information the sheriff’s office didn’t share with us, even though we sent them multiple interview requests dating back to January. Some of those requests came after his resignation.
The sheriff’s spokesperson finally confirmed to us Friday that Bacich left the department.
Friday morning, we also showed up to an unrelated event to talk to County Executive Crowley. We asked him about the case and how the sheriff’s investigation fell apart.
“Do you think this case should be reopened?” Jordan asked.
"I don't have enough information about this case to say whether it should be reopened or not,” County Executive Crowley replied. “I think that one, everyone here at Milwaukee County can acknowledge that this is an unfortunate situation.”
County Executive Crowley says he hasn’t reached out to the sheriff’s office yet to request more information while making sure we knew that he has no authority over the sheriff’s office aside from signing off on its budget.
“This could have happened to anyone. What if it happened to your wife and newborn child? Would you be OK with how this case was handled?” Jordan asked.
"Well, you've probably seen me being a part of class action lawsuits, particularly against the Milwaukee Police Department as a young person myself,” County Executive Crowley said. “Even prior to me being an elected official at the state level and even as Milwaukee County Executive and so for me, it's really about having a certain level of accountability just in general."
We also learned that one of the things the board of supervisors can do is call Sheriff Ball into a closed-door meeting to ask her what happened in this case.
Sheriff’s office records show Ball has had direct knowledge of this case going back years. She signed off on the five-day suspension for Deputy Bacich in 2021 when she was the chief deputy.
We also have records showing that as sheriff, Ball suspended him again for messing up paperwork that wrongly kept a person in custody for 18 days too long.
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