Coty Hazelett was rehired by the Vilas County Jail after his 2020 resignation, then got a similar job in Fond du Lac County in 2023.

By Peter Cameron, THE BADGER PROJECT

A deputy at the Fond du Lac County Sheriff’s Office resigned from his supervisory position as a correctional sergeant in the Vilas County Jail after admitting in 2020 to taking five rolls of toilet paper from the jail.

That deputy, Coty Hazelett, was later rehired by the Vilas County Sheriff’s Office in 2022 at the lower position of correctional officer, Chief Deputy Patrick Schmidt said.

“He continued to work, in good standing, with Vilas County until November of 2023 when he transferred here,” Fond du Lac County Sheriff Ryan Waldschmidt wrote in an email to The Badger Project.

The Vilas County Sheriff’s Office flagged Hazelett’s first resignation as a negative separation in the statewide database with the Wisconsin Department of Justice, but his second resignation with that office was logged as “resigned in good standing,” Waldschmidt noted.

Hazelett declined to comment for this story, Waldschmidt said.

In his apology letter at Vilas County, which The Badger Project obtained in a records request, Hazelett said he returned four of the rolls and offered to reimburse the county for the fifth.

“As a supervisor, I should have known better than to do this, and should be making the example to my shift that this is not acceptable,” he wrote. “This is the first time I have intentionally taken property from the jail, and it will not happen again.”

County sheriffs say hiring jail officers, an entry-level position in law enforcement and generally its lowest paid, has become more difficult in recent years, as people have become less interested in the profession and the total number of law enforcement officers in Wisconsin sits at near record lows.

The Fond du Lac County Jail is budgeted for 65 jail officer positions this year, and currently has 63 filled, Waldschmidt said.

Sammie Garrity contributed to this report.

The Badger Project is a nonpartisan, citizen-supported journalism nonprofit in Wisconsin.