The Racine County District Attorney’s Office has terminated a clerk after an investigation revealed that she was assisting suspects. The clerk, identified as Destiny Fergus, allegedly alerted the suspects’ family of arrest warrants and accessed case files without authorization. Despite this, the police were able to arrest the suspects in the shooting case. The district attorney, Patricia Hanson, expressed her anger and disappointment but stated that no charges would be filed due to the confidentiality of the source. Hanson emphasized the importance of terminating the problem employee to prevent similar incidents in the future. Jason Calvi reported
RACINE, Wis. – The Racine County District Attorney’s Office, responsible for prosecuting criminals, has been hit by allegations that one of its staff members was aiding suspects in criminal cases.
FOX6 News has obtained police documents that detail these allegations. After conducting an internal investigation, the district attorney promptly terminated the employment of Destiny Fergus, the legal support clerk involved.
Racine police had been investigating a shooting incident on June 1. Subsequently, on June 6, they executed a search warrant at a residence, expecting to find the suspects and evidence. However, upon arrival, the suspects had already fled, suggesting that they may have been tipped off about the raid.
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According to the police report, a “cooperating source” informed the authorities that a female staff member at the Racine County District Attorney’s Office was intimately involved with a family member of the suspects. The same source also revealed that this staff member would alert the family about impending arrest warrants even before they were issued, and allegedly sent them text messages containing photographs of the criminal complaints.
Internal documents from the district attorney’s office, obtained by FOX6, provide evidence that Destiny Fergus accessed and printed case files using her account and IP address. On June 2, just a day after the shooting incident, records show that Fergus accessed the file a total of 17 times. Notably, the case was not assigned to her. On June 5, the same login and IP address accessed the file an additional 21 times. Finally, on the day of the search warrant, June 6, the documents were accessed 15 times. These actions led to Fergus’ termination by the district attorney’s office.
Investigation of Racine County District Attorneys Office clerk report
The district attorney’s office documents also reveal that the same login and IP address accessed the file an additional 21 times on June 5. On June 6, the day of the first search warrant, the documents were accessed 15 times. As a result of these findings, the district attorney’s office decided to terminate Destiny Fergus’ employment.
Despite the alleged assistance provided by Fergus, the police managed to apprehend the two suspects involved in the shooting incident. Both individuals are currently held in the Racine County Jail, awaiting trial.
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FOX6 attempted to contact Fergus on Friday, but was unsuccessful. District Attorney Patricia Hanson declined to provide an on-camera statement but expressed her anger and disappointment with the situation.
Hanson further commented, “No charges have been referred to my office. In order to protect the confidentiality of the source of the information regarding my employee, no charges will be referred. The identity of the source is privileged information under Wisconsin law, which the state is not obligated to disclose during discovery. However, this also makes the case impossible to prosecute. In my opinion, the termination of the problem employee is more important than pursuing criminal consequences, as it ensures that such incidents do not recur in the future.”
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