Warrant obtained MPS board member’s data
Carr denies investigation about her residency
The Milwaukee County District Attorney’s office obtained cellphone
GPS records of Milwaukee School Board member Aisha Carr earlier this year as part of an investigation into whether she lied about living in the district she represents, according to a recently unsealed search warrant.
The district attorney’s office didn’t answer questions from the Journal Sentinel Friday about whether its investigation into the potential misconduct was still ongoing. Circuit court records do not show any misconduct charges filed against Carr.
Carr told the Journal Sentinel Friday that there “is no investigation” about her residency.
“I have and continue to reside in my district,” Carr said in a text message.
According to records attached to the warrant, the district attorney’s office was investigating Carr for possible violations of state law governing the conduct of public officials. It cited state statute 946.12 (4), which makes it a Class I felony for public officials to intentionally falsify records. It carries a maximum penalty of 18 months in prison and two years of extended supervision.
In asking for the warrant, an investigator for the district attorney’s office said Carr had “filed numerous documents” with MPS listing an address he believed would be shown to be false.
Last year, a school board member in the Hartland-Lakeside School District who was accused of using his father’s address on his campaign forms was charged with misdemeanor counts of election fraud. He was sentenced to 30 days at Waukesha County’s Huber Facility.
Carr, who had shared publicly that she did not live in District 4 while she was campaigning for the north side board seat in 2021, said she was going to move to the district before she got sworn in.
State law requires Milwaukee school
board members to live in the districts they represent.
According to court records with the warrant, Carr updated her driver’s license to a District 4 address in April of 2021, the month she won her election. However, the district attorney’s office asserted there was evidence, including utility records, that Carr hadn’t moved into District 4 until March of 2023.
Additionally, voting records show Carr voted outside of District 4 in February 2022, November 2022 and April 2023.
If indeed Carr lived in District 4 but voted in a different district, the district attorney’s office noted Carr could be accused instead of election fraud.
When the Journal Sentinel inquired previously about Carr’s voting locations, Carr said she had issues at the polls: “My voter registration was changed twice and one year, I went to two different polling sites only to be told I wasn’t registered there,” she said in a text message.
She continued: “The attacks and pursuit of nothing is ridiculous. I honor my oath and wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize that.”
This April, records show Carr voted in District 4.
Court records show the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office sought a warrant for Carr’s AT&T phone data in January. The office sought GPS location data, as well as call records and the content of text messages from Jan. 1, 2021, to Nov. 15, 2023.
In seeking the GPS data, investigator from the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office said the information would “show evidence of where Carr spends off time.”
Court records only indicate receipt of the GPS location data, which was provided by AT&T in January. The records don’t show what investigators learned from the phone data.
The warrant records were sealed for 90 days to prevent Carr from finding out about the investigation before the investigators obtained the phone data. They were under seal until April 10, according to a circuit court judge’s order.
Separately, Carr told the Journal Sentinel on Thursday that she believed she was the subject of a misconduct complaint that was reviewed privately by the school board Thursday night. The nature of that complaint has not been made public.
School board members said they were unable to share what happened in that closed-session meeting.
They had the option to initiate their own investigation into Carr’s conduct. If an investigation proceeds, board rules state that Carr would receive a hearing before the board could vote on whether to censure or remove her from office.
Last month, a recorded conversation surfaced online in which Carr could be heard telling a former Milwaukee Public Schools administrator that she had planted a recording device in MPS Superintendent Keith Posley’s office. Carr told the Journal Sentinel that she did not plant a recording device but had made the false statement to the former administrator to determine whether she was trustworthy. It’s not clear whether the school board’s potential investigation relates to that incident.
Contact Rory Linnane at rory.linnane@jrn.com. Follow her on Twitter at @RoryLinnane .