Former City Attorney Tearman Spencer Charged with Felony Misconduct

City Attorney Tearman Spencer speaks at a press conference Oct. 29. Photo by Jeramey Jannene.

Former City Attorney Tearman Spencer was charged with felony misconduct in office Wednesday.

He also faces an additional misdemeanor charge for obstructing an officer on July 21, 2024 while in the Milwaukee County Safety Building, when he appeared for a voluntary interview.

Spencer, 67, served as the elected city attorney from April 2020 through April 2024, when he lost a reelection bid to Evan Goyke. The one-term city attorney spent much of his tenure embattled in controversy, often with the Common Council and other department leaders that served as his clients. The city attorney is tasked with serving as the legal counsel for the City of Milwaukee and leads a team of approximately three-dozen attorneys.

That complaint alleges that Spencer “while employed as a public employee and who, in his capacity as a public employee, exercised a discretionary power in a manner inconsistent with the duties of his employment and with intent to obtain a dishonest advantage for another.”

Spencer, as the complaint filed by assistant district attorney Nicolas J. Heitman alleges, attempted to use his power to avoid inspection fees from the Department of Neighborhood Services (DNS) for a property he rented at 3030 N. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. to store his collection of vehicles.

The complaint alleges that Spencer both interfered with a city inspector, Crystal Jines, via phone and during a visit to the property and had assistant city attorney Theresa Montag, via deputy Odalo J. Ohiku, draft a memo in July 2022 determining that he did not need an occupancy permit to store cars at the property. The complaint alleges that Spencer was previously part of an ownership group that sold the property to its current owner, Mohammad Arif Ghaffar, in 2019.

“Complainant believes based on the timing of the DNS work regarding the property, the defendant’s promise to get [Ghaffar] a letter saying that a permit was not required, that violations that were being assessed, and that the defendant sent [Ghaffar] this memo on the same day the property failed an inspection the defendant was attempting to obtain [Ghaffar] and himself the advantage of stopping the inspections, violations and fees associated with DNS’s work,” says the complaint.

Spencer, according to the complaint, emailed the memo from his city email account to his personal account, then forwarded it to Ghaffar. In an interview with the complainant, he is said to have said he didn’t remember giving the memo to Ghaffar.

Text messages also show Spencer was aware of a February 2023 DNS inspection before it occurred.

Former DNS Commissioner Erica Roberts, in an interview cited in the complaint, says her office never received the memo nor requested it. DNS became aware of the memo, according to Roberts, when it was presented by Ghaffar.

Ohiku, who faces his own criminal charge for misconduct, told the district attorney’s office that he was not aware Spencer’s request for an occupancy determination was related to his private property.

The maximum penalty for his Class I felony charge is a $10,000 fine and imprisonment of not more than three and a half years.

Spencer did not respond to a request for comment.

The car storage property is slated to be redeveloped as affordable housing.

Mayor Cavalier Johnson, who artfully avoided openly criticizing Spencer like many of his council colleagues did, issued a statement early Wednesday afternoon.

“The allegations against former City Attorney Tearman Spencer are both disturbing and disappointing. The people of Milwaukee have expectations their elected officials scrupulously follow the law, and today’s charges assert that Mr. Spencer did not,” said Johnson. “I have consistently called for accountability for those who violate the public’s trust. The voters of this city removed City Attorney Spencer from office in April. That was one form of accountability.  He will now face accountability in a court of law.”