The wife of detective John White called 911, accusing him of drunken, threatening behavior. A charge was later dismissed, and White is back in policing. His chief says the incident was the only “hiccup” in his background.
By Annie Pulley, THE BADGER PROJECT
A detective for the Portage County Sheriff’s Office resigned in 2024, a month after his wife called 911 on him, claiming he was intoxicated, handling guns and acting aggressively toward her and their young daughter.
Responding officers from the Stevens Point Police Department arrested the detective, John White, and charged him with disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor. He pleaded guilty and successfully completed a diversionary program, after which the charge was dismissed and wiped from his record.
“This is a fairly common way in which first-time misdemeanor offenders’ cases are handled,” said Portage County District Attorney Cass Cousins, who did not prosecute the case because of his office’s closeness with the sheriff’s department. The Winnebago County District Attorney handled the case.
The dismissal came eight months after White was hired as an officer for the Tomahawk Police Department.
The Portage County Sheriff’s Office placed White on administrative leave after his December 2023 arrest and began an investigation into the incident. A 14-year veteran of the sheriff’s office, White resigned in January 2024.
Tomahawk Police Chief Al Elvins, White’s current boss, stressed in a phone interview that the court dismissed White’s disorderly conduct charge in November 2024. Elvins put White on the payroll in March 2024, months before the charge was dismissed. Elvins said they had questions for White about the incident, but that they eventually greenlit his hire after a background check and psychological evaluation.
“We’re human just like everybody else,” Elvins said. “People do stupid things from time to time, and this was the only hiccup that I saw” in his background, he said.
White’s wife, who was interviewed as part of the internal investigation, said she rushed home from work after White video-called her while he was watching their daughter. She said she could tell he was drunk.
She confronted him when she got home but said White started swearing and yelling at her and then walked to the room where he stored his guns, according to her documented interview obtained from the Portage County Sheriff’s Office. She heard him make comments like, “I’m f**king done,” “I’m f**king leaving,” and “I’m not living like this anymore. I’m going to kill myself.” She said she heard him cycle the action of a firearm in the other room, so she called 911.
“This is as bad as it has gotten,” his wife told the 911 operator, according to the calls reviewed by the Stevens Point Police Department. “I’ve never been this scared in my life. I’m in my daughter’s room and locked myself in the room. My heart is pounding a million miles a minute.”
She told the Portage County Sheriff’s Office that she saw White take his rifle to the garage. As she had done in the past, she said she hid his keys from him. While holding her daughter, she followed him out to the garage, and said she pushed him away from her after White tried to grab the child. White later walked from the residence and was approached by law enforcement.
When he spoke to police, White denied making statements indicating he wanted to kill himself and said he didn’t recall trying to pull his daughter away from his wife. He said all he wanted was to leave and get away from her.
“John agreed he may have said, ‘I’m going to end it,’ but he meant he was going to end their relationship,” according to White’s interview with the sheriff’s office.
He’d binge drink every two or three weeks, according to the statements his wife gave to law enforcement. The habit had been a problem for several years, she said. She recalled when White drove into a telephone pole and smashed their garage door, both while driving drunk.
His wife also told police that White would reference a shooting he was involved in before they met. She said White told her he had killed two people who had pointed guns at him while he worked for a drug task force in Superior, Wisconsin. White later told police that he made up the story when he was intoxicated.
Elvins said White hasn’t repeated past mistakes at his department, which consists of nine full-time officers. Because of the increasing pressure placed on police, the chief said, it is much harder to recruit officers. Hiring White, a seasoned officer, just made sense, he added.
Detectives for the Portage County Sheriff’s Office made about $36 an hour in 2024, according to the county’s human resources office. In Tomahawk, White makes about $35 an hour.
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