Attorney General will review, may reopen botched Wisconsin National Guard sex assault investigations
The Wisconsin Department of Justice will review a series of sexual assault investigations from the Wisconsin National Guard after a federal report released last month found that many were conducted improperly.
At least two Guard victims whose cases were initially investigated by the Guard were notified by the National Guard Bureau last week that Wisconsin’s DOJ would review some cases, according to an email from the NGB obtained by the Cap Times. The National Guard Bureau is the federal administrative agency that oversees Guard units nationwide and authored the report on the Wisconsin Guard.
One victim told the Cap Times she wants her case reviewed by the DOJ and the other is still considering it. The reviews could lead to some cases being fully reinvestigated and prosecuted.
Both victims were contacted by their special victim advocates, who are Guard-appointed advisers to help victims navigate the investigative process and access other resources. Victims can choose to opt out of the case review, according to the email. No case information or names will be publicly released.
One soldier who experienced a sexual assault in the Army National Guard and was retaliated against for reporting it said she is thankful for the review but doesn’t have any “outrageous hopes for justice.”
“My case was handled in a manner that was not simply haphazard — it was done in a way that ensured my perpetrator retired as a hero, while I was forced to endure six years of libel, slander and ostracism,” she said.
The Cap Times and Journal Sentinel are not reporting her name because she still serves in the Guard. The publications also do not typically identify victims of sexual assault without their consent.
“I watched the people who retaliated against me get promotions and progress in their careers while I spun my wheels simply defending myself from removal.”
The Cap Times wrote about her case last year, in which the soldier reported that a high-ranking leader in her unit sexually harassed and assaulted her and other women. After her allegations were substantiated by the Guard, the perpetrator was allowed to retire with benefits and was later rehired by the Guard as a private civilian contractor.
The Guard’s former leader, Adjutant General Donald Dunbar and other leaders working with him, “not only allowed these erroneous internal investigations to take place but welcomed them,” the soldier said.
“In my case, the cover-up was exponentially worse than the original offense … and exponentially more damaging,” she said. “It would be nice to have someone simply acknowledge the wrongs I suffered because my leadership was too busy retaliating against me to consider the consequences of their actions.”
The DOJ review comes after federal investigators from the National Guard Bureau found that the Wisconsin National Guard violated state and federal law by improperly conducting sexual assault investigations using internal investigators who were, at times, not fully trained. That practice potentially compromised dozens of investigations. The investigations are used as the basis for how or whether an alleged perpetrator is punished.
The report, released Dec. 9, found that the Wisconsin Guard ignored Department of Defense protocols for how to conduct sexual assault investigations, did not track or report data on sexual assaults to the federal government as required and did not sufficiently fund or staff training programs.
Gov. Tony Evers said Friday he asked Attorney General Josh Kaul to review cases that were mishandled as a part of ongoing reforms he is making to the Wisconsin National Guard.
“I was saddened and sickened by the federal investigators’ findings that the Wisconsin National Guard failed to appropriately handle allegations of sexual assault, sexual harassment, and retaliation for reporting sexual assault and harassment. Our service members deserve to be safe and supported while carrying out their important mission,” Evers said in a statement.
“While it is imperative that we implement these changes that will help prevent sexual assault and harassment in the future, we must also ensure that survivors of sexual assault and harassment see justice served,” Evers said.
Kaul said the review will help DOJ “determine where further investigation and potential prosecution is appropriate.”
“Survivors shouldn’t be denied a full investigation because the Wisconsin National Guard improperly handled their case or because they were deterred from reporting,” he said.
Megan Plunkett is another Army Guard soldier who was contacted about her case being reviewed. The Cap Times wrote about her case in a four-part series last year.
The Guard’s initial investigations of Plunkett’s three separate allegations of sexual assault were delayed by months and included no interviews or evidence from witnesses of the incidents, according to a copy of the investigations reviewed by the Cap Times.
Plunkett’s allegations were judged unsubstantiated even after Guard leaders learned through their own internal investigation that there was a culture of sexual misconduct in her unit. That internal investigation found that senior officers in the unit collaborated to “prey upon female personnel in the unit for sexual favors,” nicknaming themselves “the four horsemen.”
Plunkett said she is thankful for the review but has some trepidation about participating because of how the cases were first handled.
“Hopefully the victims can finally get the justice they deserve — and the perpetrators can get theirs,” she said. “The military has no room for illegal, criminal behavior and should be cleansed of these violent sexual offenses and the leadership that covered them up.”
Last week, Lt. Col. Brian Bischoff, a Georgia National Guard officer, took the helm as Wisconsin’s new ombudsman for its National Guard. The independent, federally funded position will assist sexual assault survivors in the Guard and relay concerns between Guard members and the governor’s office.
Survivors can report an assault that occurred during their time in the Wisconsin National Guard or the mishandling of a report they made to the DOJ Office of Crime Victim Services at (800) 446-6564.
Beginning Jan. 27, survivors may also contact Lt. Col. Brian Bischoff, the ombudsman, at (608) 267-7207 or wing.ombudsman@mail.mil.
Katelyn Ferral, public affairs and investigative reporter for The Capital Times, is examining sexual assaults in the National Guard system and how they are handled during a nine-month O’Brien Fellowship in Public Service Journalism at Marquette University. This story, and others, is being co-published by the Journal Sentinel, which is a partner in the effort.
Marquette University and administrators of the program played no role in the reporting, editing or presentation of this project.