ANTIGO — A local man was taken into custody and charged with a slew of felonies Wednesday related to embezzling over $300,000 while serving as treasurer both for the Town of Ackley Board and Langlade County Rural Fire Control.
According to the criminal complaint, Gary A. Kieper, 69, stole $242,684.26 from the Town of Ackley from 2013 to 2023, and $80,458.02 from Rural Fire Control from 2017 to 2023. He sat on the Ackley Town Board for 27 years.
“The town board is going to be watching this situation very closely and we will do what is necessary to protect the interests of the town,” said Town of Ackley Board Chairman Rick Bina, who is being advised by the town’s attorney not to make any other comments to the media.
Thursday afternoon at the Langlade County Courthouse, Court Commissioner Fred Kowalski accepted District Attorney Kelly Hays’s recommendation that Kieper remain in custody pending a $500,000 bond. If Kieper does post bond, he would then be required to surrender his passport.
When explaining the large bond leveled against Kieper, Hays characterized him as a flight risk, as well as a risk to himself.
“The defendant has repeatedly first begged people not to go to law enforcement about this and then begged not to be prosecuted for this. He has shown significant fear of what being prosecuted for these offenses is going to mean to him,” Hays said. “The court can and should consider the defendant’s ability to pay, and that is why in part the state is requesting such a large cash bond here. During his interview with Lt. Carter, the defendant stated that he had access in his bank to $90,000. They had also just sold their vacation home in Florida for over $500,000.”
Kieper was notified of an arrest warrant against him and given the opportunity to turn himself in Wednesday, but did not. He was found heavily intoxicated and carrying a loaded firearm in his backyard by law enforcement roughly two hours later.
“He admitted to law enforcement that his plan was to commit suicide, and he made comments several times to several different officers to that effect about being suicidal and wanting law enforcement to shoot him, about his plan having been to shoot himself,” Hays said.
Kieper resigned from the Town of Ackley Board at a meeting on the night of Nov. 27, 2023, the same day a fellow board member reported to the Sheriff’s Office that Kieper had admitted to him that he had stolen funds from the town.
Kieper had full access to the town funds as the sole board member signing checks on its behalf. At the Nov. 27 meeting, Kieper again admitted his wrongdoing, but cast blame on the board as well by stating, “What do you think is going to happen when nobody is watching?”
The scale of Kieper’s embezzlement allegedly ramped up in 2017, at which time he told the Sheriff’s Office he began earning less money at his full-time job as a financial advisor for Thrivent. Between Jan. 1 of that year and Sept. 20, 2019, Kieper stole $103,679.46. From Sept. 21, 2019 to Feb. 23, 2023, he stole $101,869.95. His defrauding of Rural Fire Control — investigation into which is ongoing, according to the criminal complaint — allegedly commenced at this time as well.
Kieper transferred funds or deposited checks from both the Town of Ackley and Rural Fire Control directly into his bank account, a family member’s retirement account, Thrivent, and Mr. Cooper Mortgage Company, a mortgage lender for his Florida vacation home.
In interviews with Lt. Greg Carter and Det. Sgt. Jake DeFiore of the Sheriff’s Office during which the pair showed him documents detailing money trails leading from the Town of Ackley to Kieper, the former Ackley treasurer admitted to his crimes. However, Kieper again made statements blaming others from both the Ackley Board and Rural Fire Control, saying that if other people had been doing their jobs well, the embezzlement would have stopped years prior and would have involved considerably less money.
When discussing Rural Fire Control, Kieper said, “As far as Rural, same thing there, and I’m not blaming anyone but me, but when you earn somebody’s trust, then you get away with s--t and think you will never get caught or whatever.”
According to a press release by the Langlade County Sheriff’s Office, the investigation into Kieper remains ongoing.
Kieper’s next hearing is scheduled for April 1 at 1:30 p.m.
Most Popular
Comments / 0