Christopher Cheek quit the Grafton Police Department after exchanging sexual messages with a victim in a pending criminal case. His chief says the interactions were consensual.

By Annie Pulley, THE BADGER PROJECT

A police officer from the Milwaukee suburbs resigned last year after he traded sexual messages with a woman who was a victim in a domestic incident he handled.

The officer, Christopher Cheek, worked for the Grafton Police Department for about eight years before he was forced to resign and leave his $97,000 annual salary behind in May 2025.

Cheek continues to work as a part-time officer for the Trenton Police Department in Washington County. That department hired him in 2016, according to a database maintained by the Wisconsin Department of Justice that tracks negative separations from law enforcement. He makes $32 an hour there.

The Trenton Police Chief, Andrew Mammen, is also the head of the Dover Water Patrol in Racine County, which hired Cheek in June 2025, according to the DOJ’s database.

Cheek’s conduct included sending “sexually explicit messages” and photos of himself wearing thongs as well as images of his genitalia, according to the Grafton Police Department’s internal investigation, which The Badger Project received in a records request. The “inappropriate communications” began soon after the domestic incident and continued while the criminal case was pending, “potentially compromising the prosecution,” according to the investigation.

The Grafton Police Department decided termination would be “appropriate,” but Cheek opted to resign, according to the investigation documents The Badger Project reviewed.

Mammen, his current boss, told The Badger Project in an email that the relationship was virtual and consensual. The woman’s “male companion” was arrested in a domestic incident, the chief said, and after this, she contacted Cheek through a mutual friend. Later, Mammen said she rekindled her former relationship and then submitted a complaint about Cheek’s behavior.

Police interviewed the woman, who told them she didn’t want to be rude to a police officer and that Cheek “persistently sent her texts day after day.” She told police that Cheek kept attempting to meet her but that she repeatedly declined.

In Cheek’s interview with investigators, he said their mutual friend told him this woman wanted to take him out. The woman initiated the conversation with him via a social media platform, Cheek said. He also said he only sent sexually explicit photos when she requested them. Cheek said he declined when she invited him to her home and that he blocked her on the social media app Snapchat, not the other way around. The woman sent him sexual photos of herself but not nude images, he told police.

The mutual friend, also interviewed by investigators, said she trusted Cheek’s testimony more and that this woman had a history of “crying wolf,” according to the investigation documents.

“While there are some discrepancies between accounts,” the investigation stated, “the evidence clearly shows Officer Cheek engaged in unethical conduct that violated department policies and professional standards. His own admissions during the interview substantiate the core allegations.”

Mammen said his officer took accountability, and he called Cheek’s behavior a “one-off lapse of judgement.” Before Cheek left Grafton, Mammen said, he received numerous commendations.

“Based on the information available through the background investigation, the department determined that he remained qualified for employment and capable of providing a high level of service to the community,” Mammen wrote. “While those mistakes may not be understood or appreciated by everyone, character is ultimately demonstrated by how we respond to our actions, accept responsibility, meet the consequences, and commit ourselves to growth and improvement, which Officer Cheek has done.”

The Badger Project is an independent news nonprofit in Wisconsin.