Inmates in state prisons sent threatening messages to Evers last year, Capitol Police records show

Several inmates in Wisconsin prisons used their access to devices to send messages threatening Gov. Tony Evers last year, according to Capitol Police records obtained by WisPolitics.

WisPolitics filed an open records request in April for Capitol Police incident reports from 2024 detailing threats against Evers and state lawmakers. The reports shed light on multiple instances of inmates using technology to threaten the governor while incarcerated. They also show three Milwaukee Dem lawmakers were targeted last year in a swatting incident that prompted a K9 search of former Rep. Evan Goyke’s office for bombs.

The records provide a look into what Evers and lawmakers have faced as threats to public officials draw increasing national attention following the killings of two Minnesota lawmakers in June by a man who compiled a list that featured several Wisconsin officials. 

Overall, the records request turned up 20 reports about threats to Evers and 14 about threats directed at state lawmakers. Several pages of the records were redacted. 

At least five of the incidents resulted in charges being filed. In some cases, Capitol Police determined threats weren’t credible, closed cases pending more information, or noted a report was made for informational purposes only.

One of the threats Capitol Police investigated involved messages sent by 59-year-old Jeffrey Schaefer, who has an extensive criminal history, including battery or threat to a judge, prosecutor, or law enforcement officer, and was incarcerated at Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility at the time.

Schaefer sent three threatening messages to Evers’ office on May 11-12 of last year from what the incident report refers to as an “IQ database.” In the messages, Schaefer claimed to be an FBI agent who had been kidnapped and was being held at MSDF, accusing staff of trying to “kill me with meds” and “poison me everyday.”

Schaefer threatened to kill Evers, his wife, Attorney General Josh Kaul, Milwaukee County DA John Chisholm, then-President Joe Biden and Donald Trump. He claimed to have already killed former GOP Gov. Scott Walker and to have “people with missles going to hit the govenors mansion and the white house.” 

Multiple agencies were informed of the threats, according to the incident report, but their names were redacted. Capitol Police conducted an interview with Schaefer at MSDF. The report states Schaefer said he wrote the messages but that he did not intend to hurt Evers or Kaul or to bomb any building. 

Schaefer told police he sent the messages from a computer in the law library at MSDF. He made the threats “because he needed to get out of MSDF,” according to the report. The report notes Schaefer made “many delusional statements,” including claiming he was an FBI agent being held hostage at the prison.

Police also spoke to a staff psychologist at MSDF, who noted Schaefer was in segregation due to threats to staff, though much of that section of the report is redacted. Court records indicate Schaefer has been living at Wisconsin Resource Center in Winnebago, a center that treats inmates in need of mental health services.  

Capitol Police referred charges of a bomb scare, terrorist threats and three counts of unlawful use of a computer for Schaefer’s messages. 

A spokesperson for Evers declined to comment on threats to the governor and any changes to Evers’ security, saying it is the administration’s policy “not to comment on specific security detail logistics, assessments, or threats.”

Corrections Committee Chair Dean Kaufert, R-Neenah, did not return a request for comment on threats by Wisconsin inmates.

Inmates are not allowed to have cell phones, iPods, smartwatches, or other similar devices, according to DOC spokesperson Beth Hardtke. The agency began distributing free tablets to inmates last year. Hardtke said the devices have been provided at 32 out of 37 facilities so far. 

The tablets can be used to make phone calls, send messages, read books, access law library and religious resources, and for music, video and games. Previously, DOC offered electronic tablets for inmates to purchase, which did not have phone call capability. 

Hardtke said the idea behind the program is that the technology helps inmates stay in touch with family and friends. 

“Maintaining and strengthening those relationships with family and friends can lead to better outcomes when an individual is released back in the community,” she said. 

DOC did not return a request for comment on what the agency is doing to prevent state devices from being used for threats and what consequences inmates who make them face. 

Evers’ office also received a threat on Dec. 9, 2024, allegedly sent by a 32-year-old inmate at Waupun Correctional Institution. In the email, the inmate allegedly said he would “do a mass shooting when I am released due to the lack of and inadequate mental health treatment.” 

The report says the inmate claimed he was being refused medication “even though I been on medication my entire life.” While the email doesn’t name Evers directly, it does say: “…. I will kill people who are corrupt because they are the ones who caused my mental health to deteriorate and I want blood as justice for justice.”

The report states Capitol Police contacted a captain at Waupun about the threat, who took over the investigation internally. No details about the internal investigation are included, and the report doesn’t say what device the inmate used to send the message. 

The records also turned up a third threat to the guv’s office tied to the state’s prison system, this time from Feb. 5, 2024. The investigation related to an email the guv’s office said was sent from an inmate at Waupun Correctional Institution. The guv’s office said the message came directly from an inmate’s “iPod using the Doc complaint / request for assistance digital form,” according to the report. 

A 30-year-old inmate who had recently been transferred from Waupun to Columbia Correctional Institution was initially suspected as the source of the email, which included the statements “i want to MURDER Gov Evers” and “f— evers.” However, officers determined he wasn’t responsible for the message. 

The inmate had previously sent a letter to the guv’s office in 2021, which the report says was “not threatening in nature but spoke on the physical abuse he was receiving at Racine County Correctional by an abusive female Correctional Officer with whom he was having a sexual relationship.”

A captain at Columbia Correctional Institution told Capitol Police the inmate had “numerous in-house violations for threats” and other rule violations. In an interview with the captain, the inmate admitted to sending a letter to the guv’s office the previous year, but denied it was threatening and denied he had any intentions to harm Evers, according to the report. 

Meanwhile, the report notes the captain said a librarian at the prison told him inmates didn’t have access to the complaint form included in the email yet, and there was no evidence on the computer or iPad system that proved he’d sent emails or messages during the reported time. On top of that, video surveillance of the cell block showed the inmate locked in his cell when the message was sent. 

“At this time, it has been determined that inmate … did not send the message in question. It is believed the message was sent by an unknown person in the community, or an inmate familiar with [the inmate’s] crimes within the facility,” the end of the report states. 

Multiple Milwaukee Dems targeted in fake bomb threat 

The documents also include reports about a swatting incident involving several Milwaukee Dem reps: Goyke, who is now Milwaukee city attorney, then-Rep. Dora Drake, who is now a state senator, and Rep. Kalan Haywood. Goyke reached out to Capitol Police to report a bomb threat to his office at 10:04 p.m. on Aug. 4, 2024, according to the report, while Drake’s office reported the threat the next day. A K9 sweep at the Capitol found no explosive devices, the report says. 

Goyke, Drake and Haywood’s offices did not return requests for comment.

The emails lawmakers received claimed the sender had “planted bombs all throughout the interior of your offices,” threatening to detonate them by the end of the week if the recipient didn’t resign. The sender also claimed they had firearms and would commit a mass shooting “on your location” if the explosives they claimed to have planted did not go off. 

Swatting is a form of harassment that involves reporting false threats to attract a large law enforcement presence to an address, such as the target’s home. The incident reports point to a Milwaukee man whose name has been used in dozens of fake threats. 

Police spoke with a man, whose name was redacted, who said similar threats had been sent out in his name, leading to his residence being swatted at least 47 times over two years. He told police he did not place any explosives at the Capitol and did not intend to conduct a mass shooting at the Capitol.

While his name is mostly redacted in both reports, one instance identifies a “Tomlinson.” The last name matches that of comedian Patrick Tomlinson, whose case garnered media coverage after he was swatted more than 40 times by those making fake threats in his name after he said he didn’t find a fellow comedian funny.

The reports note Haywood’s office also received the email. Capitol Police found the emails “constitute no genuine threat” and were an attempt to cause a swatting incident at a residence.