Police Lt. Brian C. Pergande has been charged with official misconduct by the Waukesha County District Attorney for taking revealing photographs of a stripper while she was being detained - perhaps improperly - at the Butler police station in 2009.
The woman had very large breasts and was wearing a very low cut, tight fitting t-shirt, according to the complaint filed in Waukesha County Circuit Court late Friday afternoon.
The Butler police department does not photograph, fingerprint or book defendents at the village police station. Instead, it is department policy to take the individuals to the Waukesha County Sheriff's office or county jail, according to District Attorney Brad Schimel
It is also highly unusual for a police officer to travel into another jurisdiction to arrest someone on a warrant based on a municipal traffic citation, according to Schimel.
Pergande and two Milwaukee police officers arrested the women in a strip club. They escorted her to a back room of the club where she removed her thong and bikini top and changed into street clothes before being taken to the Butler police station, according to the complaint.
Pergande has denied allegations of any wrong doing and told investigators that the photos were cropped and blown up by someone else in order to emphasize the strippers breasts, according to the complaint.
If found guilty of official misconduct, Pergande could face a maximum of three and a half years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
Pergande was a central figure in the "Porn in the Morn" scandal that rocked the local police department last year.
He and another Butler police office have filed a federal law suit against the village and Waukesha County claiming they were harassed and discriminated against during the investigation of Butler police conducted by the Waukesha County Sheriff's office.
It was complaints from Pergande and Officer Chad Rahn that prompted the investigation that revealed former Chief Michael Cosgrove and some of his officers displayed sexist and racists attitudes and watched pornography on village computers while on duty.
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