Appleton investigator faces forgery charges tied to 'large-scale' drug case, says he lost original paperwork

APPLETON – A former Appleton Police Department narcotics investigator is accused of forging signatures on paperwork related to a drug investigation.

Jeremy Haney, 37, claims he forged the signatures because he lost the original paperwork, according to a criminal complaint.

Haney is charged with uttering a forgery as genuine, a Class H felony, and misconduct in public office for falsifying information in a report, a Class I felony. He also faces a misdemeanor charge for resisting or obstructing an officer.

Haney was part of the Lake Winnebago Area Metropolitan Enforcement Group, also known as LWAM, a multi-jurisdictional drug unit made up of investigators from police departments and sheriffs' offices in Outagamie, Winnebago and Calumet counties. He resigned in July after getting placed on administrative leave pending the investigation, according to the Appleton Police Department. He had been with the Appleton Police Department for 15 years, and was assigned to LWAM for two and a half of those, the complaint says.

The case was investigated by the Brown County Sheriff's Office, at the request of the Outagamie County Sheriff's and District Attorney's offices.

The following information is from the complaint:

As part of a "large-scale, multi-defendant drug conspiracy case," in May 2022, LWAM investigators installed a GPS tracking device on a vehicle operated by a suspect they believed was working with others to distribute large amounts fentanyl.

To install a GPS device, police officers must secure a court order that describes both the vehicle getting tracked and the duration the tracking device will be on the vehicle.

The complaint says "no actionable evidence" was collected from the GPS device. However, after investigators intercepted a postal delivery from Arizona containing fentanyl pills, the suspect, Randy Mack, 35, was arrested in December and charged in federal court with possession with intent to distribute 400 grams or more of a detectable amount of fentanyl.

This May, an Outagamie County assistant district attorney reviewed documents related the case because they were prosecuting one of Mack's alleged co-conspirators, and came across a court order application signed with their name in someone else's signature.

The assistant district attorney told investigators they did sign off on an application in this case, but noticed some inconsistencies with this paperwork from the one they signed, including a different number of days the tracking device would be on the vehicle and a different date. While the assistant district attorney signed an application requesting a 45-day GPS monitor on May 24, 2022, the paperwork listed the GPS duration as 90 days and was dated May 23, 2022.

The assistant district attorney said Haney initially requested a court order allowing GPS monitoring for 90 days, but the assistant district attorney knew "some judges find 90 days to be excessive," and instead, after consulting with a judge, the following day changed the court order to a 45-day duration, and updated the date on the paperwork. The assistant district attorney said they then explained the change to Haney and met him, where they both signed the paperwork, along with a notary public.

On the forged paperwork, the assistant district attorney noticed the judge's signature was also forged, which was later confirmed by the judge. Both the assistant district attorney's and the judge's portions of the court order lacked a notary signature.

Despite the 90-day duration listed on the forged paperwork, documents showed the GPS was removed from the vehicle 44 days after the the court order was signed.

In an interview with an investigator, Haney initially claimed he did not know what happened, but eventually stated he lost the paperwork approving the 45-day GPS installment and reprinted the initial paperwork he sent to the assistant district attorney, then forged the signatures.

Haney told the investigator, "I didn't think about it. I'm like, it doesn't matter, it was signed."

Mack was scheduled to accept a plea agreement in June, but it was delayed pending the investigation into Haney, which "has the potential to affect" Mack's case, according to court documents.

Haney is scheduled to make his initial appearance in Outagamie County Circuit Court at 1 p.m. Sept. 19. Haney could face six years in prison and a $10,000 fine, if convicted on the forgery charge.

Contact Kelli Arseneau at 920-213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter at @ArseneauKelli.

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This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Appleton investigator faces forgery charges related to 'large-scale' drug case