County Executive Abele Statement on Pension Board Decision on Dennis Dietscher

MILWAUKEE – Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele today released the following statement on the news that the Milwaukee County Pension Board reconsidered its previous decision on pension benefits for former County employee Dennis Dietscher, a previous Safety Coordinator in the Risk Management department, who in October was sentenced to 42 months incarceration after pleading guilty to felonious misconduct.

“I’d like to thank the Pension Board for their unanimous vote to terminate Mr. Dietscher’s pension benefits and recoup payments that have been made.

“Everyone can agree that good government must be free of corruption if it is going to work well for the people it is intended to serve, which is why I have been committed to improving our system for the past six years and will continue to do so.

“Betraying the public trust and manipulating taxpayer money for personal gain, like Dennis Dietscher did, is an affront to the people who pay their taxes in good faith every year with the reasonable expectation that good public servants will be responsible stewards of their money. It is also an affront to the hardworking employees of this County who come to work day in and day out and do not lie, cheat, or steal.

“With today’s decision the Pension Board sent a strong message that this kind of egregious violation of the public trust will not be tolerated in Milwaukee County.”

Background:

Dennis Dietscher, a previous Safety Coordinator in the Risk Management department, was in October sentenced to 42 months incarceration after pleading guilty to felonious misconduct.

In February of 2014, Dietscher was arrested on suspicion of fraud for actions committed while he was a County employee. He was formally charged in August of 2014 with six felony counts of criminal misconduct, including fraud and official misconduct and was sentenced on Friday, October 7th after pleading guilty to two of the felony counts.

Dietscher received cash, meals, gifts, and goods in exchange for funneling taxpayer funded contracts to friends and associates, and then falsified required ethical disclosure forms to hide the kickbacks.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.