Richland Co Sheriff’s Office stakeouts uncovered deputy’s on-duty liaisons

A deputy and city alderman in western Wisconsin resigned after having repeated sexual meetings while on duty. The Viola Police Department still employs him.

By Annie Pulley, THE BADGER PROJECT

A long-time deputy for the Richland County Sheriff’s Office resigned in March 2025 after he admitted to meeting up with a woman nearly every day while he was on duty. The former deputy, who also quit his elected position as city alderman in Richland Center that April, works part-time for the Viola Police Department, a small agency on the county border.

The former deputy, Kevin Melby, left after more than 20 years with the sheriff’s office, according to a state Department of Justice database that tracks negative separations from law enforcement. He is now working as a part-time police officer in Viola.

For nearly a month in early 2025, members of the sheriff’s office painstakingly monitored Melby’s whereabouts after receiving a complaint accusing Melby of having sexual meet-ups with a woman while on the clock, according to an internal investigation The Badger Project obtained in a records request.

In February 2025, a lieutenant placed a GPS tracker on Melby’s patrol truck. And a small band of sheriff’s department officers, including the sheriff himself, waited at different locations throughout Richland County in an attempt to observe the hook-ups. Efforts to catch Melby in the act included installing recording equipment in his patrol truck and using a drone and thermal imaging equipment to try to observe the encounters.

In March 2025, the devices in Melby’s truck recorded him speaking with a woman and planning places to meet. The same day, the recording picked up a woman’s voice and kissing noises. Later that month, Melby and a woman appeared to be having sex on a rural road between their standing vehicles, according to the investigation.

The chief deputy “was able to take thermal video and, in the video, it appears that Melby and (the woman) are engaging in sexual intercourse on the roadway between their vehicles. You observe her back to his front and sexual movements followed by them separating and (her) appearing to pull up her pants and sit in her car,” according to the investigation. “At this point it was determined that we had enough information/evidence to proceed to the next steps of our investigation.”

When confronted, Melby admitted that he met with this woman nearly every day he worked, often only briefly, for at least 18 months. He said the relationship had been ongoing for about seven years. They would call beforehand, he said, and decide on a location. They met all over Richland County and sometimes in neighboring Sauk County. He estimated that they engaged in sexual contact about 25% of the time, but that they had never had intercourse. He said he understood his behavior was against department policy, according to the investigation.

The woman, who is named in the investigation but The Badger Project is not identifying, was also interviewed. When asked about her relationship with Melby, her “demeanor changed and her face became very red and she put her head in her hands and sat quietly. At this point, we believed the accusations to be true based on her demeanor,” according to the investigation.

She said that when they met, Melby would take off his camera and radio and keep the window to his squad open in case a call came through.

She “also stated that Melby would sometimes unzip his vest for ‘cuddles,'” according to the testimony she gave in the investigation. She stated that “she never entered Melby’s patrol truck, but sometimes the events took place in her driver’s area of her car.”

The sheriff intended to fire the deputy, according to the investigation, but Melby resigned on March 21, 2025.

He stated he was sorry and didn’t want to let anyone down, according to the investigation.

Melby only works about five or six hours a week for the Viola Police Department, Interim Police Chief Jerry Crotsenberg said in an email.

“Viola PD does not comment on hiring or personnel matters, as we value the privacy of our employees and such statements may be detrimental to both our ongoing mission and future recruitment efforts,” Crotsenberg said.

Attempts to reach Melby for comment were unsuccessful.

In January 2025, about a month before the sheriff’s office began investigating him, Melby was recognized as law enforcement officer of the year by Richland Rejuvenates, a community nonprofit dedicated to bettering Richland County.

In April 2025, he also resigned his elected position as alderman for the Richland Center City Council.

The Badger Project is an independent, reader-supported news org in Wisconsin.