FRANKLIN – The mayor of the City of Franklin John Nelson plans to address misconduct allegations from his time as a lieutenant with the Waterford Police Department on Wednesday.
“I have been battling this situation, which has included attacks on my commitment to law enforcement and the people of Franklin, my integrity and professionalism, for almost a year. Some of the accusations have been mortifying and could not be further from the truth. You, the people of Franklin, are my priority, which is why I want to be an open book with you at the Town Hall and answer any questions or misunderstandings you may have heard.” Nelson posted on Facebook April 25th.
The allegations against Nelson were discussed in an interview with retired police chief Steve Riffel on October 14th, 2024. Specific allegations laid out by Riffel in the transcript of the interview include several brought forth by female officers and corroborated by male officers, according to Riffel:
- Fostering a hostile work environment
- Sexually harassing or making inappropriate comments directed towards female officers that made them feel “verbally violated”
- Sexual comments towards female civilians
- Ongoing flirting with female civilians that is detrimental to duties
- Showing inappropriate images of females Nelson had dated or had sexual relations with to other officers
- Improper use of Town resources while campaigning for mayor and while conducting mayor business for Franklin
- Derogatory, unprofessional phone conduct while on duty in the presence of other personnel
- Preferential treatment in scheduling officers
- Retaliation against certain officers
- Failure to utilize an FTO program
- Oversight of unauthorized private security service getting paid in cash
- Dissemination of sensitive information containing an employee’s personnel file to other department members
Nelson called the allegations “baseless”, according to the transcript.
In the interview, Nelson noted the Town of Waterford Police department has operated without a chief of police since January 5th, when then-chief Matt Johnson retired. Later that month, the Waterford Town Board voted to disband the department. According to town documents, the department will remain operational until the last full-time officer resigns or is terminated.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Town of Waterford votes to disband police department
In October of 2024, Nelson retired early amid an administrative investigation into his actions. Prior to the announcement, Nelson and two other staffers had been suspended from the department on May 6th.
At a special meeting of the board in November, Chairperson Teri Jendusa-Nicolai said the issues stemmed from incidents of “bad behavior”, including a call for a physical assault that went unanswered for eight minutes because an officer was sleeping, and a part-time officer leaving the command center during a critical incident near the end of July.
The meeting comes amid a separate legal issue for Nelson involving his time as a Milwaukee County sheriff’s deputy. In an interview with our news partners at TMJ4 April 24th, Nelson admitted he was placed under investigation for allegedly cheating on an exam while employed there as well as alleged sexual harrasment claims. Nelson told TMJ4’s Ben Jordan was never disciplined by the department.
“What’s going on now is an absolute hit-job, character assassination attempt. I’ve lived in this community my entire life…judge me on the job I’m doing for your city, for our city, and where it’s going,” Nelson told TMJ4.
Nelson’s town hall meeting is from 6 to 8 p.m. April 30th at the Franklin Public Library (9151 West Loomis Road).
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