A report from a special prosecutor outlines three areas that were the subject of an outside criminal investigation involving a Fond du Lac police detective who has been on paid administrative leave for nearly a year. The report, involving an investigation of detective Bill Ledger, was made public following an open records request. The first complaint was that Ledger repeated gossip regarding the Sheriff’s Department handling of evidence in a homicide case to a defense attorney who was a friend of Ledger, who repeated that information to the defendant’s attorney. The report says this shows very poor judgement on the part of detective Ledger, but is not criminal. The second complaint is that Ledger improperly disposed of a computer in a search related to a drug case, removing the hard drive and gave the computer to a computer repair shop. According to the report this action could be considered theft, but the problem with the evidence is that detective Ledger removed the hard drive making it impossible to determine when or where the computer was seized from, why the computer was seized or who owns the computer. The report says this action reflects dishonesty on the part of Ledger in covering up his actions resulting in making it impossible to prosecute the case as a theft. The third complaint revealed that Ledger misused confidential police information by running a license plate for his brother in law for a reason unrelated to law enforcement. The report says a download of Ledger’s work-issued phone also contained several very disturbing texts and social media posts which demonstrate racial bias and should be reviewed by the administration. Even though no criminal charges were forwarded, the city of Fond du Lac is considering bringing charges against Ledger before the Fond du Lac Police and Fire Commission for potential disciplinary action or reaching a settlement in the case.
