Sup. Shawn Rolland Pleads Guilty, Must Pay $500 Fine

Shawn Rolland. Photo from Milwaukee County.

Milwaukee County Supervisor Shawn Rolland pled guilty Friday to one count of falsely certifying nomination signatures and was issued a $500 fine.

Rolland made his initial appearance in Milwaukee County Circuit Court Friday, appearing before Judge Jack L. Dávila, having reached a negotiated disposition with the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office.

Rolland was charged with an offense following an investigation by the DA’s office into a “dropbox” he was using to collect nomination signatures to appear on the ballot in 2022. The crime that Rolland pled guilty to Friday was for signing a certification stating that he collected nomination signatures that were in fact collected by someone else.

“Rolland admitted that there was one house that he observed a woman sign and the woman then took the nomination paper into her house for her husband and daughter to sign. Both signed outside his presence. Rolland also admitted that the signor told him that she got her neighbors to sign the papers as well,” according to the complaint filed by the DA’s office.

In a statement released Thursday after the DA filed charges against him, Rolland again admitted to signing as the nomination circulator when others collected signatures for him. “That was a mistake, and I intend to resolve this matter promptly so that I can get back to doing the work of the county,” he said.

Rolland was up for re-election in the spring of 2022, and was collecting signatures in 2021 to meet a nomination deadline in late December of that year. He was first elected to the county board in 2020, and he served on the Wauwatosa School Board from 2016 to 2022.

The investigation into Rolland began in March this year not because of discrepancies in his nomination papers, but because of the dropbox he was using to collect signatures outside of his house. A complaint was initially filed with the Wauwatosa Police Department, which forwarded the matter to the DA’s office. The dropbox investigation led to interviews with nomination paper signatories led to the discovery that some of the signatures were not obtained by Rolland, despite his signature certifying them.

“I’m sincerely sorry for this mistake, and the distraction it will cause from the good work being done across Milwaukee County,” Rolland said in a statement. “The best apology anyone can make is to not make the same mistake again – with actions not words – and that’s what I will do moving forward.”