Ex-Register of Deeds La Fave keeps pension
Ordinance to pull benefits from felons did not pass
Former Milwaukee County Register of Deeds John La Fave has now pleaded guilty to one felony count for actions he took while in public office.
But the veteran Democratic politician need not worry about his Milwaukee County pension. Officials confirmed this week that he will continue to draw his monthly retirement check of $1,975.43 even if he lands behind bars. “La Fave was elected, swore an oath to uphold the law, then broke the law,” said former Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele, who tried unsuccessfully to strip felons from receiving county pensions. “And the same public, who paid his salary and will continue to pay his pension, is out (substantial funds).
“I think the public deserves better than that.”
On Friday, La Fave pleaded guilty to a federal felony count of wire fraud for engineering a $2.3 million false invoice scheme with a county contractor.
La Fave, 71, entered the guilty plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Stephen C. Dries as part of a deal with federal prosecutors. Dries said he will recommend that U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller accept the guilty plea and sentence La Fave.
“I am pleading guilty because I’m guilty of what is described here in the plea agreement,” a somber La Fave said from his Iowa home during the 20-minute court hearing held by videoconference.
Under the 12-page plea agreement, which La Fave signed last month, prosecutors will recommend that he be sentenced from 10 to 16 months behind bars and pay restitution of $89,000. A date for his sentencing has yet to be set.
The maximum penalty for his offense is 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine and three years of supervised release.
“I understand,” La Fave — in a gray suit and Wisconsin Badgers tie — said
repeatedly as Dries laid out the implications of his felony plea.
According to the federal filings, La Fave had a county contractor, Superior Support Resources Inc. of Brookfield (identified as Business A in the court records), submit false invoices for work it didn’t do but for which the county would pay.
Superior Support then set aside those county funds and used them at La Fave’s direction to pay third-party vendors for the work that Superior Support was supposed to have done. Those third-party vendors were not authorized to be paid by the county, and some were even employees of the Milwaukee County Register of Deeds Office.
In all, the company submitted false invoices for more than $2.3 million between 2011 and 2017, according to the charging documents.
The scheme allowed La Fave to create a personal slush fund so he could pay vendors of his choosing without having to abide by county rules. It does not appear that he pocketed any of these funds.
His conviction comes nearly 1 1⁄2 years after agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office raided La Fave’s office, seizing a number of computers and documents related to various county contractors.
The raid was a surprise to nearly everyone at the Milwaukee County Courthouse given La Fave’s low-key manner and his agency’s second-tier status in county government. The agency is responsible for keeping real estate documents and certified copies of birth, death and marriage records.
La Fave, who is probably best known for his advocacy of transcendental meditation, was the county’s register of deeds for 16 years, running unopposed in his last four elections. He previously served as a Democratic legislator for 10 years.
It is not known how much of a pension La Fave receives from the state, which does not make public the amounts paid individual retirees.
Mark Lamkins, spokesman for the state Department of Employee Trust Funds, said the retirees do not have to forfeit their state pensions if they are convicted of criminal charges. But he said a new state law allows his agency to withhold money from a retiree’s pension if ordered to do so by a court’s restitution order.
County records show La Fave just recently began receiving an annual pension of $23,705.
Erika Bronikowski, director of retirement plan services for the county, said La Fave’s felony conviction would not affect his retirement benefits, even if the charges had to do with his job with the county.
“By reaching retirement eligibility in active service and completing a normal retirement, Mr. La Fave retired under Milwaukee County Ordinance Chapter 201.24 4.1, which does not provide for benefit forfeiture,” Bronikowski wrote by email.
It wasn’t always so obvious.
In 2016, the Pension Board revoked the pension of a former Milwaukee County employee convicted of two felony counts of misconduct in public office. But a state Court of Appeals later reversed that decision, calling it “arbitrary and unreasonable.”
In the meantime, Abele, who retired earlier this year, proposed an ordinance that would terminate pension benefits to Milwaukee County employees convicted of a felony. But the County Board failed to pass his retirement reform plan.
Which means La Fave — and others like him — will keep their pensions no matter how much time they spend in prison.