DaneCountySheriff'sOffice...Randall Ave., in Madison. After our initial meeting Schwetz and I agreed to meet individually so I could get more specific information from her. Schwetz

01/06/20

Dane County Sheriff's OfficeDeputy Report for Incident 190484822

Nature: INFORMATION Address: 115 W DOTY STLocation: CMAD MADISON WI 53703

Offense Codes: Received By: How Received: Agency: DASO

Responding Officers: BOEHNEN JANETResponsible Officer: BOEHNEN

JANETDisposition: W 01/03/20

When Reported: 13:01:02 11/23/19 Occurred Between: **:**:** **/**/** and **:**:** **/**/**

Assigned To: BOEHNEN JANET Detail: GI Date Assigned: 01/03/20Status: W Status Date: 01/03/20 Due Date: **/**/**

Complainant: Last: First: Mid: DOB: **/**/** Dr Lic: Address: Race: Sex: Phone: City: ,

Offense CodesReported: Observed:

Circumstances

Responding Officers: Unit : BOEHNEN JANET

Responsible Officer: BOEHNEN JANET Agency: DASOReceived By: Last Radio Log: **:**:** **/**/**

How Received: Clearance: R Report DoneWhen Reported: 13:01:02 11/23/19 Disposition: W Date: 01/03/20Judicial Status: Occurred between: **:**:** **/**/**

Misc Entry: Boehnen and: **:**:** **/**/**

Modus Operandi: Description : Method :

Involvements

Date Type Description Relationship11/23/19 Cad Call 13:01:02 11/23/19 INFORMATION Initiating Call

Deputy Report for Incident 190484822 Page 2 of 42

01/06/20

12/19/19 Evidence 2019 ZOO SOC BANK DOCUMENTS Evidence Incident12/11/19 Evidence DOCUMENTS FROM ZOO SOCIETY Evidence Incident12/11/19 Evidence 17 & 18 DONOR TUBE REPORTS Evidence Incident12/11/19 Evidence 17 & 18 GREETER BOX REPORTS Evidence Incident


01/06/20

Narrative***ISB PARTITION - PLEASE CONTACT DETECTIVE BOEHNEN BEFORE RELEASING RECORDS***

_____________________________________________Responsible LEO:

_____________________________________________Approved by:

_____________________________________________Date


01/06/20

SupplementDetective Janet Boehnen INFORMATION

CONTACT:

Ronda SchwetzExecutive Zoo DirectorHenry Vilas Zoo702 S. Randall AvenueMadison, WI 53715Phone: (608) 266-4708Cell phone: (608) 444-8811

CONTACT:

Chuck HicklinDane County Controller Administrator

INITIAL INFORMATION:

On November 1, 2019, Lt. Kerry Porter requested I follow up on an investigationinvolving the Dane County Board and a non-profit organization, the ZoologicalSociety. He briefly explained there were some concerns over the amount ofdonations received from the county after taking the responsibilities of the zooover in April, 2019. He further advised the donations they have received is asubstantial amount higher than what has been reported for donations whenoperations were overseen by the Zoological Society. Lt. Porter was not surewhen there would be a meeting to discuss these issues, but knew it would be inthe near further.

On November 8, 2019, Chief Deputy Jeff Hook invited myself, Capt. Jan Tetzlaff,Lt. Kerry Porter, along with Zoo Director, Ronda Schwetz, and Dane CountyController Administrator, Charles Hicklin, to a meeting for Wednesday, November13, 2019, at 11:30 a.m. at the PSB.

MEETING ON NOVEMBER 13, 2019:

On November 13, 2019, at approximately 11:30 a.m., I attended a meeting at theDane County Sheriff's Office with the aforementioned individuals. I had not metRonda Schwetz or Charles (AKA Chuck) Hicklin before so I introduced myself andpresented them both with my business card. It was explained how the ZoologicalSociety, which is a non-profit organization, had maintained operations of theHenry Vilas Zoo's concessions, carousel, train, and the donation boxes, alsoknown as donor tubes. From these donations, the county received a certainpercentage amount of these donations.

At the end of March of this year, the contract between Dane County and theZoological Society ended and the Dane County Controller's Office has overseenthe operation of collecting money from the donor tubes at the zoo. Hicklinadvised how they have received approximately $190,000.00 in donations just fromthe donor tubes, which seems to be a significant difference from the donationsreceived when the Zoological Society oversaw this operation.

Ronda Schwetz provided a packet of various documents that included reports she


01/06/20

had received over the years from the Zoological Society at their board meetings.Some of the reports broke down donations specifically by concessions, donortubes, carousel and the train until 2015. Schwetz explained in 2015, theZoological Society started putting all the donations of the aforementionedentities into one lump sum. She was not sure why this was done and surmised itmight have been because the county received a certain percentage of theseentities combined, so perhaps the reason for the change.

Hicklin advised from the donations received from the Zoological Society, thecontract indicated they would get 85% of all donations from the concessions,donor tubes, carousel and train. He added that per the contract the countyshould have received either 85% of these donations or $760,000.00, whichever onewas larger.

It was estimated over the years the donor tubes typically had a reporteddonation amount between $40,000.00 and $60,000.00. Hicklin advised clearly thisis a very different number than what the county has reported since taking overthe donation operations since April of this year.

Schwetz advised an individual she identified as Brent Walter would typicallycount the money from the donation tubes and his wife, Brenda Walter, was thebookkeeper and recorded the amounts. Both Schwetz and Hicklin hadaccountability issues with the Zoological Society having two family membersbeing responsible for this. They were not claiming anyone had taken money, butwanted some answers as for the huge difference of donations since the county hadtaken over. They were unsure if some of the donation monies were allocated tosome other fundraising areas of the zoo, so a percentage of the donations owedto the county would not have been documented and received, or if someone hadbeen pocketing the money.

During our meeting, Schwetz had provided many different names of certainindividuals I could contact from the Zoological Society, who had currentlyworked for them, along with some that are still employed at the zoo. I informedSchwetz I would like to meet with her at a different time to obtain moredetailed information about zoo operations and further contact informationregarding the individuals she has mentioned. Schwetz told me she would email mesince he had my business card to arrange a time to meet.

I kept the copies of the various financial reports Schwetz had brought to themeeting and will scan them into the case file under this case number.

Before our contact ended, Hicklin thought it was important we knew theZoological Society had approximately $7,000,000 in their account, which has beenplaced in a trust fund. There is an agreement the Zoological Society will havesome input with decisions of how the money will be used for the zoo.

END OF REPORT

Detective Janet BoehnenDane County Sheriff's OfficeInvestigative Services Bureau

rz Wed Nov 27 11:42:58 CST 2019


01/06/20

SupplementDetective Janet Boehnen CONTACT WITH RONDA SCHWETZ

CONTACT:

Ronda Schwetz

Executive Zoo DirectorHenry Vilas Zoo702 S. Randall AvenueMadison, WI 53715Cell phone: (608) 444-8811

CONTACT WITH RONDA SCHWETZ:

On November 20, 2019, at approximately 9:30 a.m., I met with Ronda Schwetz inher office located at the Henry Vilas Zoo Administration Building at 702 S.Randall Ave., in Madison. After our initial meeting Schwetz and I agreed tomeet individually so I could get more specific information from her.

Schwetz became the Executive Zoo Director in June of 2012. In 2010, she washired as a Deputy Director at the Henry Vilas Zoo, and in 2011, she wasappointed Interim Director. I informed Ronda I was aware the Zoological Societyhad donated approximately $17,000,000.00 over the last 10 years for new exhibitsand zoo operations. We also revisited the $6 to $7 million that has been placedin a trust when the contract expired between the Zoological Society and thecounty expired. I asked if she thought it was unreasonable for the ZoologicalSociety to have this amount of money to be used for zoo operations and/orexpenses. Schwetz did not think this was unreasonable; however, if donationfunds had been misallocated into their account, then some of the monies in thetrust would be an issue.

Schwetz advised an investigator with the Isthmus Newspaper was going to bewriting an article about the donation discrepancy of funds donated to the zooonce the county had taken over some of the zoo operations. I informed her I wasnot aware of any media entities conducting an investigation, but now knowingthis I would not proceed any differently with my investigation.

I asked if there were any issues with the Zoological Society and zoo operations.She explained there were some issues with the Zoological Society; one being thestatus of the zoo's accreditation with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums(AZA). She advised the AZA tabled the Henry Vilas Zoo in 2018, which meant theygave the zoo a temporary accreditation and how they had one year to fix thingsto be considered. One of the issues AZA had was the uncertainty of fundraisingby the Zoological Society to fund zoo operations. AZA also required the ZooDirector to be in charge of zoo operation decisions and fundraising.

Schwetz has known individuals associated with AZA, as she has holds a positionon the Board of Ethics for AZA. Schwetz did not want to get into specifics, butshe had gotten advice from one of the Executive Directors of AZA, and theirattorney, about separating from the Zoological Society. Schwetz was under theunderstanding that if they did not separate from the Zoological Society, the AZAaccreditation would not happen. She also recalled when AZA tabled theiraccreditation of the zoo,was when she started having issues with Zoological


01/06/20

Society's President, Allison Prange. Prange filed a complaint against Schwetz,which was not substantiated. Schwetz advised after the separation from theZoological Society and the county, and individual she identified as Tom Hansonhas now become the President of the Zoological Society. Before ending mycontact with Schwetz, she was able to facilitate a contact number for Hanson.

I asked Schwetz about the difference between the greeter boxes and the donortubes at the zoo. She advised the donor tubes are placed throughout the zoo atdifferent exhibits and thought there were approximately six of them. Thegreeter boxes were implemented in 2015 and are clear big plastic boxes that arelocated at each entrance of the zoo. On the box is a greeter message requestinga 2-dollar donation to basically compensate the free admission to the zoo.

Schwetz advised these greeter boxes typically brought in a lot of donations andshe did not know if the money from the greeter boxes were included with thedonor tube donations when the monies were counted. She thought it was possiblethey may not have been included with the donor tube donations when theZoological Society was responsible for keeping track of the monies. She alsothought it was likely if they were treated separately, the amount of monies thecounty has received in donations from the donor tubes and the greeter boxescould account for the difference donation amount from when the ZoologicalSociety held this responsibility.

I asked Schwetz if she knew how the Zoological Society operations as it relatesto the donor tubes. Since about 2011, an individual she identified as BrentWalter, who was the Vice President of Operations of the Zoological Society,would often collect the donations in the donor tubes and his wife, BrendaWalter, was the bookkeeper. She did think this was an odd situation to have twofamily members accountable for the donated money, but felt the ZoologicalSociety always had the best interest of the zoo, so it was something she neveraddressed.

Schwetz advised there were some employees that had been hired by the ZoologicalSociety that maintained their employment after the contract had ended. She gaveme a typed list of names of various people I could contact for furtherinformation. Specifically, she identified an individual by the name of JamesScott, who was the former Zoological Society Manager and is currently theOperations Manager at the Henry Vilas Zoo. She advised Scott was currentlyworking and agreed I could meet with him in her office. She described Scott asa hard worker and a very good employee, and was happy that he was able tocontinue his employment at the zoo.

I then clarified with Schwetz the documents she had brought with her to ourinitial meeting were not official documents of all the financial reports fromthe Zoological Society. She explained the documents were ones she had retainedover a number of meetings the zoo administration had with the ZoologicalSociety. On some of the documents there were certain pages that included amonetary amount of donor tube donations collected, which is why she had providedthese to me.

I informed Schwetz we would be in touch and if she had any further informationfor me, she could contact me.

END OF REPORT

Detective Janet BoehnenDane County Sheriff's Office


01/06/20

Investigative Services Bureau

rz Wed Nov 27 11:45:29 CST 2019


01/06/20

SupplementDetective Janet Boehnen CONTACT WITH JAMES SCOTT

CONTACT:

James C. Scott

Centerplate Operations ManagerHenry Vilas Zoo702 S. Randall AvenueMadison, WI 53715Cell phone: (608) 772-6661

CONTACT WITH JAMES SCOTT:

On November 20, 2019, I met with James Scott at the Henry Vilas ZooAdministration Building in an office. Upon meeting Scott, I verbally identifiedmyself and showed him my DCSO credentials. I explained to Scott he was not inany trouble and wanted to talk with him about his job duties and any otherinformation as it relates to the zoo. Scott was perfectly fine talking with meand then verbally identified himself.

Scott advised he was hired by the Zoological Society approximately 11 years agoas a cashier and then became a supervisor, and then eventually the GeneralManager of Centerplate where he oversees concessions, the gift shop, train andcarousel. After the contract ended with the county and the Zoological Society,the Zoo Administration hired him to work as an Operation Manager at the zoo.

I asked what he know about how the operations were handled with the Zoo's donortubes. He advised when the Zoological Society was responsible with emptying thedonor tubes there were two individuals who did this, and identified theseindividuals as Brent and Brenda. Scott thought Brent and Brenda had beenresponsible for collecting the donations for the past three years, and beforethat was an older gentlemen, possible in his 80's, and his wife. They wouldcollect the money and then would give it to Brent. He thought the oldergentleman passed away approximately three to four years ago.

He further advised when the money was counted by Brent and Brenda, they wouldlock themselves in the basement of the gift shop to count the money. I askedScott if he knew why they would lock the door, and he did not specifically sayif the door was locked or not, just that the door was always shut when theywould count the money.

I asked Scott if he recalled anything else being odd as it relates to the zooand its donations. He stated approximately four to five years ago, a bankdeposit had been lost, but apparently two concession employees had taken thedeposit, which had been investigated.

Overall, Scott stated the zoo is a passion of his and all he wants is for anyonewho is associated, or works for the zoo, to always have its best interest, andto treat the animals well. He loves working at the zoo and commented how he istreated very well.

Scott also mentioned how he would sometimes attend weekly meetings conducted bythe Zoological Society when working for them, and there was really no breakdown


01/06/20

or talk of donations. There was only talk about big donations they received.Scott was aware of the greeter boxes placed at the entrances of the zoo and didacknowledge there is usually a lot of monetary donations placed in the box. Heexplained how the greeter boxes are mobile and placed at the entrances of thezoo, and the donor tubes are stationary and are placed throughout the zoo nearexhibits and the children's zoo.

Scott had no further information for me. I presented him my business card andrequested he contact me if he had any further information. I then ended mycontact with Scott, so he could return to work.

END OF REPORT


rz Wed Nov 27 12:12:30 CST 2019


01/06/20

SupplementDetective Janet Boehnen EMAILS RECEIVED FROM RONDA SCHWETZ

EMAILS RECEIVED FROM RONDA SCHWETZ:

On November 21, 2019, I received three separate attachments from Executive ZooDirector Ronda Schwetz. One of the attachments had information regardingresources for on the ground volunteers for the Henry Vilas Zoo, along withimportant specific dates of events. It contained the instructions for thegreeters at the zoo with information about frequently asked questions. In thepacket there was information that including staff contacts, and more informationabout frequently asked questions pertaining to the zoo. There was a sectionwith instructions of the various ways individuals could support the zoo, alongwith the history of the zoo and educational programming. In addition there wasa section describing the various animals at the zoo and what is in each area.

A separate attachment provided information related to the face of the zoo andgreeter basics. There was a section highlighted with information about thedonation boxes and how the volunteer is to retrieve the clear donation boxes,which are to be placed at the entrance gates of the zoo. Included in thisattachment there was another highlighted area with information for volunteers toencourage donations and to make sure all visitors know that their support makesa difference by helping the zoo cover rising costs and to acquire new animalsand updated exhibits.

The last attachment included the Henry Vilas Zoological Society's organizationalchart and individuals who are assigned to various positions of the organization.

Copies of these attachments will be scanned into the case file under this casenumber.

END OF REPORT


rz Wed Nov 27 13:32:56 CST 2019


01/06/20

Supplement11/26/19 Detective J. Boehnen FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS

CONTACT:

Charles (AKA as Chuck) HicklinDane County Controller Administrator

FINANCIAL DOCUMENTS RECEIVED FROM CHARLES HICKLIN:

On Monday, 11/25/19, I received an email from Charles Hicklin with an excelspreadsheet attachment with deposits the Dane County Controller's has recordedthis year for the donor tubes at the Henry Vilas Zoo. The total amount ofdonations documented as of 11/01/19 is $192,142.15. I clarified with Hicklinthe deposits included both the greeter boxes, which are donation boxes locatedat the entrances of the zoo, and donor tubes found throughout the zoo.

Hicklin also sent a document breaking down general revenue from 2013 to 2018, ofwhat the zoological society had paid the county per the contract. In a noteunder the column it states the amount paid represents payment under the baseportion of the agreement, which is based on the greater of either the fixedpayment amount, or a % of revenue. Payment is reduced to vacancy savings fromthree positions outlined in the agreement. For 2016 and 2017, the amounterroneously included the cost of utilities for artic passage. The society wasgiven a credit of approximately $135,000.00 on the 2018 bill.

There was another column titled miscellaneous revenue from 2013 to 2017 and in asummary underneath these columns is a title for miscellaneous revenue, whichincludes education revenue and reimbursement for utilities and refusecollection.

The third column has a title of O/T REIM, which stands for reimbursement from2013 to 2018. Under the column is a summary indicating O/T REIM isreimbursement for county staff during society after hours events.

Copies of these documents will be scanned into the case file under this case.

END OF REPORT

Detective Janet Boehnen, #0744Dane County Sheriff's OfficeField Services DivisionInvestigative Services Bureau

tls Wed Nov 27 13:50:22 CST 2019


01/06/20

SupplementDetective Janet Boehnen CONTACT WITH TOM HANSON

CONTACT:

Thomas HansonCurrent Zoological Society PresidentCell phone: (608) 575-2033

INITIAL CONTACT WITH THOMAS HANSON:

On Friday, November 22, 2019, at approximately 8:10 a.m., I had contact withThomas Hanson by calling his cell phone number of (608) 575-2033. I verballyidentified myself and informed him I was doing follow-up regarding some concernswith respect to donations received from donor tubes at the Henry Vilas Zoo. Irequested of Hanson to meet in order to talk about the zoo operations from theZoological Society's perspective, and more specifically the operations of thedonor tubes.

Hanson advised he had been a chairman of the board of the Zoological Society,but since they are not under contract with the county anymore, there is nostaff. However, he has taken on the responsibility of trying to take care ofopen ended issues as it relates to the Zoological Society.

I informed him I was hoping to acquire some financial documents that wouldexplain the amount of donations collected from the donor tubes and what has beenreferred to as greeter boxes. Hanson advised up until the end of the calendaryear of 2018, they had used Kollath Accounting firm to do their financialstatements. The Zoological Society had been responsible for getting the moneyfrom the donor tubes and then the donations went to the bank. Wagner Accountinghad done all of the Zoological Society's audits over the years. Again, headvised Kollath had been the accounting firm for the Zoological Society, butstarting in 2019, they no longer were using Kollath Accounting, and had switchedto Baker Tilly. The switch to Baker Tilly was because the Zoological Societydid not feel Kollath was sufficient in being timely with their reports, but ithad nothing to do with them not being accurate. Hanson agreed it would bebeneficial for me to acquire various financial documents the Zoological Societyused to account for the money they received as donations.

I specifically asked Hanson if he had certain financial documentations outliningspecific donations for certain areas of the zoo, such as for concessions, donortubes and/or greeter boxes. Hanson advised they used an online version ofQuickBooks and he was not proficient with QuickBooks, but was willing to providewhatever information I needed. He also advised an individual by the name ofBrent Walter, who also was a board member for the Zoological Society, couldassist him if needed.

Hanson agreed it would be best to meet to further look into my request andoffered to provide financial reports of what I needed. We agreed to meet onTuesday, November 26, 2019, at 10:00 a.m., at my office located at 2560 NoraRoad, in the town of Cottage Grove.

END OF REPORT

Detective Janet Boehnen


01/06/20

Dane County Sheriff's OfficeInvestigative Services Bureau

rz Tue Dec 03 11:18:55 ST 2019


01/06/20

SupplementDetective Janet Boehnen CONTACT WITH THOMAS HANSON

CONTACT:

Thomas Hanson

Former board memberZoological SocietyCell phone: (608) 575-2033

CONTACT WITH THOMAS HANSON:

On November 26, 2019, at approximately 10:00 a.m., I met with Thomas Hanson in aconference room, at the Town of Cottage Grove Police Department, located at 2560Nora Road. Upon meeting Hanson, I verbally identified myself and presented myDCSO credentials. He identified himself as a former board member of theZoological Society and was willing to offer me insight of how the ZoologicalSociety operated. Hanson has been tasked with tying up loose ends since thecontract with Dane County had not been renewed at the end of March of this year.

Hanson explained the Zoological Society has been in existence for over 100 yearsand their only goal has always been to support the Henry Vilas Zoo. Heexplained the Zoological Society, specifically within the last few years, hadbeen focusing more on how to increase fundraising and enhance the guestexperience at the zoo. For example, they implemented a healthier menu optionfor the Glacier Grill, and how to keep the zoo cleaner, which included therestrooms. In 2015, with the opening of Artic Passage, the zoo population hadincreased and the Society wanted to maintain the continued population growth,which typically leads to an increase in donations, so they focused more onfundraising and how to keep people coming to the zoo. The assumption is if newexhibits are added to the zoo, along with other things the public will likelyvisit the zoo because there will be an interest in seeing new additions, asopposed to not coming because everything is the same. The money collected bythe society from donations or fundraising ultimately benefited the zoo.

As far as the financial aspects, Hanson advised they had been using KollathAccounting up until January of this year when they switched to Baker Tilly. Alltheir banking is done with Associated Bank, which included having differentaccounts. One of the accounts was for visitor services, which included depositsfrom concessions, gift shop, carousel, donor tubes, train, mining sleuth andfeeding the animal machines. Another account would have deposits forfundraising events such as the zoo light and zoo run event, along with thegreeter boxes. An account had also be created for an endowment fund, whichincluded individuals donating money to a specific zoo operation. He stated theSociety used QuickBooks to record their financial transactions, and Wagner CPAdid all their auditing.

As a board member, Hanson advised there were talks about how the cash donationswere to be handled, and felt there were always appropriate controls in place.The society's finance committee would talk with auditors of how the controlswere being done and how to enhance what they were already doing. One of thecontrols talked about was how the money was being collected

Also, when would be the


01/06/20

best time to collect the money, such as before the zoo opened and what day isbest. He further shared how auditors had suggested opportunity for improvementwith the accounting part of things such as doing a bank reconciliation, anddoing more quarterly inventory checks of concessions.

Until 2014 the society's financial statements had been on a fiscal yearschedule, and in 2015, the Society went to a calendar year for their financialyearly statements. Hanson advised all of the financial statements provided byWagner CPA were provided to the County board over the years, and felt theSociety has always been transparent with all areas of money donated andcollected through fundraising.

He described Walters as being a historian, ashad been with the Zoological Society for 30 years and that he was in charge ofconcessions and interfacing with the bank and auditors, making sure everythingwas handled properly. Hanson felt it would be more beneficial for me to talkwith Walters to obtain more knowledge of the aforementioned operation.

Hanson advised the donor tubes are located all over the zoo and during theirbusy months, which was usually summer,

Hanson gave me a copy of the contract between the Zoological Society and DaneCounty, along with financial statements from Wagner CPA, from 2013 through 2018.He explained the different accounts at Associated Bank: one under VisitorServices, which would include concessions, gift shop, carousel, donor tubes,train, money from feeding animals, and the mining sleuth. Other accounts hespoke of were payment of employees and payments of goods sold. Another accountincluded fundraising activities and separate contracts, which would includesomething like animal welfare where the Society would provide the money fortransportation of a new zoo animal such as Rhinoceros they had gotten fromFlorida.

Wagner's statements also had a category of sales, which would include somethingof value such as the train, carousel, etc. He identified the contributionsportion of the report as something the Zoological Society received such asspecific donations having specific requests for the zoo, which was put in theirendowment account.

Hanson then referred to the contract, specifically section 2.5, which states:

"By December 1st of each year of the contract agreement, the Society agrees tomake a payment toward annual operating cost of the zoo. A portion of the annualamount is expressively provided to support 3.0 FTE staff positions (the"positions"): the Deputy Director, a Facilities and Animal Life Support


01/06/20

Technician, and the Zookeeper. To the extent that County experiences vacanciesin these three positions, the Society will receive a credit to reduce the annualpayment by the amount of personnel costs saved by the County as a result of thevacancy.

During the term of this agreement, a new Arctic Passage Exhibit and concessionfacility will be constructed at the zoo. As a result, the estimated annualutility costs to the zoo increase by approximately $60,000.00. The newconcession facilities expected to increase revenue to the Society when it opensin 2015. In addition, the costs of the three positions funded by the Societywill increase by approximately $4,000.00 each year of this agreement.

The amount to be paid by Society for the calendar year 2014 will be $688,000.00.The amount paid by the Society for 2015 shall be equal to the greater of 80% ofthe net income from the concessions operations and donor tubes or $692,000.00,plus the increased costs of utilities incurred during 2015 as a result of theaddition of the Arctic Passage Exhibit and the concessions facility. The amountpaid by the Society for 2016 shall be equal to the greater of 80% of the netincome from the concessions operations and donor tubes or $756,000.00. Theamount paid by the Society for 2017 shall be equal to the greater of 85% of thenet income from the concessions operations and donor tubes or $760,000.00. Theamount paid by the Society for 2018 shall be equal to the greater of 90% of thenet income from the concessions operations and donor tubes or $765,000.00.

County will invoice Society annually for the above amounts less any credits forvacancy savings.

The above amount shall only be expended for the benefit of the zoo."

Hanson advised the reason the percentages and amounts increased of what was tobe paid to the county starting in 2015 was because the new Glacier Grill atArctic Passage was to open. The assumption was with the opening of ArcticPassage, the population of the zoo would increase and concession sales wouldincrease along with donations. When the contract started in 2013, all knewArctic Passage was scheduled to open in 2015, which is why the language in thecontract implemented more money to be paid to the County because of the expectedincrease in monies. Hanson clarified the percentage to be paid to the countyincluded concession operations, which consisted of food sales, gift shop, train,carousel, animal feeding machines and the mining sleuth . It also included thedonor tubes, which had been in place for many years before the contract startedin 2013.

I asked Hanson to explain the Society's implementation of the greeter boxes. Hestated the Society's priority has always been the zoo and in order to maintainand improve the zoo to keep people coming, they needed to implement new exhibitsand/or animals to keep the interest of the public. In order to fund theseexpenses, they talked to other non-profit organizations for other zoos in thecountry and found some of them implemented what he referred to as greeter boxes.He also mentioned the zoo having the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA)accreditation, which is a testament to acquire and not easy to get. The AZAoften shared their best practices and what various fundraising can do toincrease weekday attendance. For example the Society implemented a fundraiserby having a zoo light display during the holidays where they could chargevisitors for this because it's a night event and not part of the daily zoovisiting population. In addition the Society learned of other zoos placinggreeter boxes at the entrances of the zoo as a fundraiser.


01/06/20

He stated the point of the greeter boxes was so everyone could see them whenthey entered the zoo and it was about a visibility standpoint. The greeterboxes were locked and the collection of monies was a similar process as thedonor tubes. The greeter boxes had their own bag and the monies had beencounted separately of the donor tubes. The greeter boxes had been implementedin 2015, two years after the contract started with the County, and was notconsidered a donor tube. Hanson believed their QuickBooks differentiatedbetween donor tubes and greeter boxes and were recorded by week, month, andyear.

Hanson advised he was not too familiar with the Society's QuickBooks, andthought Brent Walters could be more assistance with this if needed for myinvestigation. Hanson also thought there had been a memo in QuickBooksassociated with greeter box donations and in 2018 there was approximately$145,000 in donations, but was not 100% sure.

He then explained the differences of donations that are restricted and notrestricted. Some donors have restrictions on what they want to donate money forsuch as requesting it go to the education or conservation fund the Society has.This meant the money was to be placed into a restricted account, specifically tobe used for what they wished. Non-restricted donations are monies given to suchthings as the carousel, train, concessions, etc. Regardless if the money wasfor restricted or not restricted, it all went to support the zoo in somefashion, and that is what the Society has always been about. He felt theSociety was not hiding anything, and all of them understood the importance ofpaying what was owed to the County, and how the Society has always beentransparent with this.

He also understood why there was a question of the amount of certain donations,and how the money is allocated because of issues a few other non-profitorganizations have had over the years regarding the misappropriation of funds,and other issues. However, he was confident none of that has ever been anintention or concern for the Zoological Society.

I informed Hanson after the contract ended between the Society and the Countyand the County had taken over operations of the zoo since the beginning of Aprilof this year, they had received approximately $192,000.00 in donations from thedonor tubes and greeter boxes. I further explained my investigation was toclarify why there was such a significant difference in donations the County hadbeen receiving as opposed to what was recorded from the Zoological Society lastyear. I explained hypothetically if the number he provided of $145,000.00 wasan approximate donation amount from the greeter boxes, in addition to theapproximate donation amount of $41,000 from donor tubes, the sum of theseaverages would be approximately $186,000, which is comparable to what has beendonated this year.

I requested of Hanson to provide financial statements/documentation of what thegreeter box deposits and the donor tube deposits had been for 2018 and 2017.Once I obtained these items, I could better assess if the amounts are comparableto what the County has received this year. I explained once I have everythingand can decipher deposits amounts and can ascertain the donation amounts arecomparable then there would likely be nothing further for me to investigate. Ialso talked about reviewing my investigation with the District Attorney's Officeso they could give their decision if any criminal charges will be filed.

Hanson then advised how in June, of 2018, the AZA tabled their accreditation forthe zoo, meaning their accreditation was not granted for various reasons. Some


01/06/20

of the AZA issues had to do with adequate staff by not having a full timeveterinarian/technician. The AZA thought the animals were spending too muchtime inside, but the concern the zoo had was that during the winter months itwas cold, which is why they limited outside exposure to some of the animals.From the AZA's concerns, changes were made and ultimately the AZA did give thezoo an accreditation sometime this year. The AZA had produced a 40-pagedocument that Hanson felt was favorable to the Zoological Society. Some of thehighlights were how the Society was successful in raising money along withraising an endowment fund and being a good partner with the County. It was alsonoted there was a need for more zookeepers, which Hanson advised the Society hadthe financial wherewithal to accommodate the request.

Overall, Hanson felt the Zoological Society was supportive to the County toincrease any monies needed and thought they had a good relationship with them.However, out of the blue, the Zoological Society received an email indicatingthe County was going with a new operating model and along with that, a newoperation was going to involve 'Centerplate' to provide all the functions of thezoo operations. From the County's hasty decision came extreme confusion withthe Zoological Society because they felt the negotiations with the County hadbeen successful regarding fundraising and concessions, along with the AZAtalking favorably of the Society.

Hanson stated it's extremely sad how after 100+ years of the ZoologicalSociety's supporting the zoo, and accommodating any requests of the County whenasked to pay for things, it had to end so abruptly. He further stated theSociety had paid for the Zoo Administrator and Director's travel expenses whenneeded, always followed the contract as far as what monies were to be given tothe County, and any additional money needed outside of the contract for zoooperations. He was confused as to why the County did not just talk to theZoological Society if they had any issues with money discrepancy.

Since the contract has ended with the County, Hanson advised him and AlisonPrange have met with various donors who have historically supported the zoo, andare indifferent now because they do not want to see their money go to the Countyto fill "potholes." Hanson advised he encouraged these individuals along withothers to continue their donations to hopefully benefit the zoo. Overall, mostpeople that Hanson has had contact with regarding money donations for the zooare concerned that the County does not have the zoo's best interest, which is animpact on their decision to donate money.

Again, Hanson advised he felt the Society has always been transparent with theirfinancial reports and that Ronda Schwetz, the Zoo Director, was always a part oftheir discussions with the endowments and financials and never heard of anyissues from her.

Hanson informed me he was going to work on getting the financial documents Irequested, and we agreed to meet again once he had these in order. I gaveHanson my business card and told him I was interested in speaking with BrentWalters. Hanson did have contact information for Walters, but requested he givemy information to him so Walters could contact me. I then ended my contact withHanson at approximately 11:57 a.m.

END OF REPORT



01/06/20

rz Tue Dec 10 11:22:48 CST 2019


01/06/20

Supplement12/12/19 Detective Janet Boehnen EMAILS RECEIVED FROM RONDA SCHWETZ

CONTACT:

Ronda SchwetzExecutive Zoo DirectorHenry Vilas ZooEmail: [email protected]

EMAILS RECEIVED FROM ZOO DIRECTOR RONDA SCHWETZ:

On December 6, 2019, I received nine separate emails from Ronda Schwetz.

Email #1:

This email had a date of June 6, 2016, and included information about arhinoceros, George, who had passed and Schwetz was letting staff know of this.The President of the Zoological Society, Alison Prange, indicated the Societywas going to honor George by making a gift towards the rhino conservation bydonating to the International Rhino Foundation. They also planned to create asmall memorial that would tell the story of George and the challengesrhinoceroses face around the world. The zoological society felt it was a niceway to honor George and further educate the public about how zoos save animals.

Schwetz did not know if this would be important, but wanted me to know donationswere collected for this restricted item and it was never done.

Email #2:

This email received was information Schwetz provided to Dane County HumanResources Department last year summarizing the challenges she was having. Thisinformation was also provided to Marcia MacKenzie and Carols Pabellon, onSeptember 16, 2019. The draft completed by Schwetz was something she hadprepared for a meeting that had been scheduled for February 19, 2019, with AmyUtzig and Mary Kasparek. The draft included various points she documented, from2013 to February 18, 2019, which appeared to be various issues the zooadministration had with the zoological society and its members. One of thespecific concerns she addressed was Brent Walters' wife, Brenda Walters, hadbeen doing the accounting for the zoological society for several years andthought this was a conflict of interest since Brent was the vice president ofoperations. This issue had been raised with Alison Prange on more than oneoccasion.

Email #3:

This email with a date of February 28, 2019, is regarding a check for $50 whichwas a stipend to support the Henry Vilas Zoo, and Schwetz was concerned thecheck had not been processed. The thread of emails indicated the check had beenreceived, and that it was to be processed December 12th with batch #46, andBrent Walters was going to be sent copies of the emails, since he would be theone to process the financial donation.

Email #4:

This email thread had a date of February 18, 2019, which was about missing


01/06/20

credit card receipts. Jess Thompson, the conversation education curator forHenry Vilas Zoo, indicated the society had lost the credit card statement andall receipts from a time period listed by the Zoological Society office manager.In parenthesis Thompson noted "(I had made copies but turning them in)."

Elsa Duranceau, who was the officer manager for the Zoological Society, directedany inquiries about missing credit card receipts from November 8, 2017 toDecember 7, 2018, and December 8, 2017 through January 8, 2018, should bedirected to Kollath, CPA, and provided a lost receipt form if needed.

Email #5:

This email thread included correspondence about a "one day" fundraiser, and thebreakdown of funds raised since 2014. Schwetz explains the email contains theConservation Education Curator's tracking of all the funds raised forconservation organizations over the past several years. The funds were supposedto go into the zoo society conservation fund, and she thought this might be ofsome use.

Email #6:

Another email received from Schwetz was a breakdown of the education departmentrevenue as tracked by the conversation educator curator. These emails were fromJanuary of 2019 from Alison Prange and Jess Thompson. According to Schwetz,these funds were supposed to go to the education line item the Zoo Society heldfor the zoo. Included in the email was information from Alison Prange about thefinal grant report to the Cargill Foundation, and it also included a spreadsheet of a specific program/event, from 2015 through 2018, and had columns withthe number of guests and revenue.

Email #7:

This email received from Schwetz referenced grant money, which she indicated wasa fairly large amount, and was supposed to be for a research project under Dr.Banes. She believed the zoological society had created an item line to trackthese funds.

Included in the email was a copy of a grant application, a grant approvalletter, and a W-9 tax form. There was also a letter from the Association ofZoos and Aquariums (AZA) dated September 5, 2017, to Dr. Banes, notifying him ofmonies from Conservation Grants Fund. Dr. Banes was the head of molecularecology and evolution laboratory at Henry Vilas Zoo.

Schwetz also sent this information to Carlos Peballon, Joshua Wescott andCharles Hicklin on January 25, 2019.

Email #8:

This email was an agreement to fund Dr. Banes' salary increased rate. Includedin this email was a memorandum of understanding which included the original MOUand the revision.

Schwetz also sent this information to Carlos Pabellon, on January 25, 2019.

Email #9:

This email from Schwetz included Dr. Banes' research expense agreement emailbetween him and the zoological society. The email thread included Brent Walterscorresponding with Dr. Banes about a project. Walters indicated he needed to


01/06/20

have the zoological society's best interest and wanted to further discuss thingswith Banes. Walter's provided a list of questions because of checks beingwritten to the society, which made them liable, so he needed clarification.

Some of the questions were: what was the scope of what they get for their fee?What is the fee? How long will this run for? Estimated turnaround from thetime they send the sample to when they get results? What is the projectedincome and expense? What are the expectations for the zoological society?

Banes email answers these questions in his reply to Walter's.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Some of the information received in the emails from Schwetz appeared to bedirected to restricted donations the zoological society received. During ourfirst meeting with Ronda Schwetz, and Dane County Controller AdministratorCharles Hicklin, their concern was with the donation amounts received from thedonor tubes, at the zoo, and the difference in number they had recorded comparedto what the zoological society had reported the previous year. Due to thesignificant difference in monetary amounts initially reported at this meeting,there was a concern as to why the difference would be so great, and warranted aninvestigation to be conducted by the Dane County Sheriff's Office.

However, during the investigation information had been provided that the amountof donations collected by the county including both the zoo's donor tubedonations and the greeter box donations. The zoological society was keeping theaforementioned collections separate and monies deposited went into separate bankaccounts.

The emails and information received from Schwetz have been noted, and a copywill be scanned in to the case file under this case number.

This investigation is still ongoing.

END OF REPORT

Detective Janet BoehnenDane County Sheriff's OfficeField Services DivisionInvestigative Services Bureau

sjr Fri Dec 13 13:58:22 CST 2019


01/06/20

SupplementDetective Janet Boehnen CONTACT WITH BRENT WALTER

CONTACT:

Brent Walter

Former Zoological Society Operations ManagerCell phone: (608) 843-1144

MENTIONED/WIFE OF BRENT WALTER:

Brenda WalterBookkeeperAssociation with Zoological Society

CONTACT:

Thomas Hanson

of Directors for Zoological SocietyCell phone: (608) 575-2033

CONTACT WITH THOMAS HANSON AND BRENT WALTER:

Hanson and I made arrangements to meet at the town of Cottage Grove PoliceDepartment located at 2560 Nora Road, on December 4, 2019, to discuss financialrecords he had obtained that I had requested. He also advised former OperationsManager of the Zoological Society, Brent Walter, would be coming with him toanswer any questions I had regarding the operations of the zoo.

On December 4, 2019, at approximately 2:00 p.m., both Tom Hanson and BrentWalter met with me at the town of Cottage Grove Police Department. We met in aconference room where I verbally identified myself to Walter and he confirmed hehad been the Vice President of Operations at the Zoological Society. He hadworked for the Zoological Society for 31 years and was in charge of concessions,donor tubes, greeter boxes, and the flow of money.

He thought the greeter boxes were implemented in late 2015, or early 2016. Themoney from the greeter boxes were counted separately of any visitor servicesoperation. He described the visitor services to include donor tubes, giftshops, concessions, the carousel, the train, the small animal feeding machines,and the mining sleuth. The greeter boxes were considered to be a fundraisingevent of the Society's operations account, which also included estate gifts, thezoo light and zoo run fundraisers, and anything else not included within the


01/06/20

contract with Dane County. Walter advised the Zoological Society also hadsub-checking accounts, which included such things as animal welfare,conservation, and education accounts.

I asked Walter who would record the deposits in their QuickBooks account, and hestated their accounting services, Kollath, did this. He also advised WagnerCPAs did all of the auditing for the Zoological Society. I asked Walter if himand his wife, Brenda Walter, often counted the donor tube donations, and hestated at times they did, but there were many times other individuals assisted.He confirmed Brenda did the bookkeeping, which included the data entry fordeposit slips for visitor services. Walter advised he did not oversee Brendaand that she reported to the president of the Zoological Society, AllisonPrange. He also advised Wegner CPA conducted all of the auditing, and theCounty had also been provided all the reports as far as money collected.

I specifically asked Walter if at any time he ever put any of the money from thedonor tubes or any other visitor service entity in to another account, or tookany of the money and placed it into his own account or kept the money elsewhere,and he stated, "No." I asked if he observed anyone else doing this,specifically Brenda Walter and he again stated, "Absolutely not."

CONTACT WITH TOM HANSON:

After speaking with Walter, Hanson then provided copies of bank statements anddeposits from Associated Bank for 2018. He also had a copy of a Wagner CPAreport and referred to page 4, which referenced QuickBooks and how it was thebasis for the report generated on this page. The visitor services entities wereseparated with specific amounts because of the contract between Dane County andthe Zoological Society, which included a percentage of these sales and donationsto be paid to the County.

He explained the greeter box was a fundraising aspect implemented by theZoological Society some time at the end of 2015 or the beginning of 2016.Hanson again explained how the Society was trying to come up with fundraisingideas, which is how the zoo lights and greeter boxes started, and were ideasfrom what other zoos do. He again referred to 2.5 of the contract between DaneCounty and the Zoological Society that started in 2013 and expired at the end of2018, which specifically included donor tubes and other concessions. Because ofthis, the Society kept all the donations from the greeter boxes separate. Heexplained in QuickBooks the money deposited form greeter boxes would be includedas a restricted fundraiser. The greeter boxes would not have a specificallydesignated memo in QuickBooks. However, the Society had specific deposit booksfor the greeter boxes and Hanson offered to make copies for me from the carboncopy in the deposit book, along with making copies of the deposit slips receivedby the bank. It was his understanding the deposit slips initially given to thebank had notations written on them for greeter boxes, but the bank requested


01/06/20

this not be done anymore, so the deposit slip receipt would then be stapled tothe carbon copy in the deposit book, or an amount was handwritten on the carboncopy indicating a greeter box deposit.

I requested of Hanson to provide all copies of 2017 and 2018 deposit slips toinclude the carbon copies as well. He advised he was willing to provide me withwhatever I needed, but it might take some time to cross reference bankstatements and their deposit book carbon copies. He was also willing to providea spreadsheet to document greeter box deposits.

I informed both Hanson and Walter if they had any questions or concerns, theycould contact me. Hanson advised he would contact me when he was able toacquire and organize the information I was requesting. I then ended my contactwith both of them at approximately 4:00 p.m.

END OF REPORT


rz Fri Dec 13 14:27:13 CST 2019


01/06/20

Supplement12/12/19 Detective Janet Boehnen EVIDENCE

EVIDENCE:

On December 11, 2019, I placed in to evidence various documents regarding thisinvestigation in to Public Safety Building evidence locker B-22.

The following is a summary of documents placed in to evidence under specificproperty tag numbers:

Property tag #35547:

-A contract between Dane County and the Zoological Society-Dane County Controller's financial report of donations from 2019-Wegner CPA financial reports completed for the Zoological Society from2013-2018


-2017 and 2018 donor tube reports from the Zoological Society


-2017 and 2018 greeter box reports from the Zoological Society

END OF REPORT


sjr Fri Dec 13 14:38:35 CST 2019


01/06/20

Supplement12/15/19 Detective J. Boehnen CONTACT WITH TOM HANSON - FINANCIAL DOCUMENTREVIEW

CONTACT WITH TOM HANSEN:

On December 9, 2019, Tom Hanson contacted me, advising he had all the financialdocuments I had requested, which included four binders. He wanted to schedule atime to meet so he could review these binders and to make sure everything I hadrequested was covered. We agreed to meet on this date at 11:00 a.m. at the Townof Cottage Grove Police Department.

On this same date, at 11:00 a.m., I did meet with Tom Hanson where he providedfour binders of documents. Two binders were white in color, one for the 2017Donor Tube documents, and another one for the 2018 Donor Tube documents. Eachbinder contained the Donor Tube Donations that had been recorded within theZoological Society's QuickBooks account . The Donor Tube donations weredeposited into Associated Bank account , along with other concessionrelated revenues.

These binders had tabs for each month of the year, for both 2017 and 2018binders, which included deposit slips and monthly bank statements. In the frontof each binder was a QuickBooks spreadsheet with the amount of deposits for thedonor tubes. From the documents provided, it was reported the amount of the2017 donations from the Donor Tubes totaled $42,885.00. The total of the 2018donations from the Donor Tubes was $41,125.42.

The other two binders were black in color and contained financial documents forthe 2017 and 2018 Greeter Box Donations. These donations were deposited into aseparate bank account, at Associated Bank. Hansen advised thespreadsheet to document the deposits for the Greeter boxes was a little morechallenging to produce and wanted to spend some time explaining each columnrecorded for deposits. The binders were set up the same with way with tabs foreach month of the year for both 2017 and 2018, which included deposit slips andmonthly bank statements. In addition there were appendices included as wellwith the 2017 binder having appendices A-F included, and in the 2018 binderappendices A-E were included.

The spreadsheet for 2017 and 2018 were similar with headings. For example thefirst column is labelled customer deposits (a), which has deposits listed foreach month. The small (a) depicts a footnote on the last page of thespreadsheet, which indicated the daily customer deposits were for AssociatedBank account. The bank account contained the Society's fundraising activities,including the Greeter Box donations. It was noted the Donor Tube donations arerecorded in a separate bank account and the customer deposits include onlycurrency/coins and checks. It excludes all electronic deposits.

The fourth column of the spreadsheet, which was labeled "greeter box cashdonations with notation on deposit slip or deposit book" has deposits for eachmonth of 2017 and 2018. By each deposit is a letter in parentheses, whichprovides information from the last page of the ledger of what that depositdenoted. For example, in February 2017, under customer deposit of February22nd, under Greeter Box cash donations, there is a deposit of $4,293.00 with asmall letter d in parentheses. What that deposit means is that there was adaily duplicate-carbon deposit slip that contained a handwritten reference tothe Greeter Box donation. To reference this slip, you have to go to appendix b


01/06/20

for a copy of this deposit slip. The column of the Greeter Box donations arecross referenced with deposits and documentation to support these deposits. Thetotal for 2017 of the Greeter Box cash donations was $179,267.00.

Again, for the 2018 Greeter Box documents, a spreadsheet was provided withgenerally the same concept. In column four is the "Greeter Box cash donations,with notation on deposit slip or deposit book". The total for the greeter boxesfor 2018 was $159,595.91.

Hanson then talked about a fifth column where it states "cash depositsconsistent with Greeter Box donations, but with no notation on the deposit slipor deposit book". He explained these deposits were cash deposits in a verylarge amount that would likely be associated with greeter box donations becauseit was cash. If there was a similar large deposit, other than cash, it would befrom someone writing out a check to the zoo, and there would be a record of thecheck deposited. It would be unlikely for someone to give a single cashdonation of a higher amount, as these are usually seen in the form of a check.So this is why the column had been generated Hanson because it would bereasonable for these cash deposits to be associated with the greeter boxes and acash deposit. However, Hanson kept these cash deposits separate because hecould not definitively find a notation on a deposit slip or deposit book notingan association with the greeter boxes.

The total of the column labelled "cash deposits consistent with Greeter Boxdonations, but with no notation on the deposit slip or deposit book" for 2018was $10,442.00, and in 2017, the total for the same column was $18,152.00. Ifyou added these amounts to the greeter box column that has documentation with anotation on a deposit slip or deposit book, the amount would increase for eachyear. Again, Hanson advised he was trying to be as transparent as possible withall the numbers of deposits for the Zoological Society. All the money generatedfor the zoo, whether through donations, fundraising or endowments, was depositedinto accounts to be used for the zoo specifically.

Hanson also discussed his concern with the safety of zoo operations as itrelates to the zoo's collection of money now that the media had portrayed theamount of donations the zoo collects from donor tubes placed throughout the zoo,and the greeter boxes. He felt the public did not know the Zoological Society'soperations as far as the collection of money and what was done with it, not tomention the magnitude of the amount of donations being collected. He felt therewas an extreme safety issue considering the escalated violence in Dane Countyover armed robberies and thefts.

I informed Hanson I needed to complete a few more things regarding myinvestigation, but was hopeful I would be reviewing this investigation with theDistrict Attorney's Office and my administrators soon. I agreed to contact himonce a decision had been made. I then ended my contact with Hanson atapproximately 12:45 p.m.

ADDITIONAL INFORMAITON:

I will place all the documents within the binders received from Hanson, intoevidence. I will also have these documents scanned into the case file underthis case number.

END OF REPORT


01/06/20


esb Mon Dec 16 13:54:51 CST 2019


01/06/20

Supplement12/15/19 Detective Janet Boehnen SUMMARY

SUMMARY OF INVESTIGATION:

On December 9, 2019, I received documents from Tom Hanson, which provideddonation amounts for the Donor Tubes and Greeter Boxes for 2017 and 2018. Iadded the amounts of the Donor Tubes and Greeter Boxes (using only the amountprovided in the column of the spreadsheet that had documentation to support thedeposit). For 2017, the Donor Tube donation was $42,885.00 and the Greeter Boxdonation was $179,267.00, which is a total of $222,152.00.For 2018, the Donor Tube donation was $41,125.42, and the Greeter Box donationwas $159,595.91, which totaled $200,721.33.The Dane County Controller's Office had a total of $192,142.15 for their totaldonations, which included both the donor tube and greeter box donations.


In the Wegner CPA audits given to me by Hansen, the 2015 Donor Tube donation was$87,718.00, and the 2016 Donor Tube donation was $60,997.00. According toHansen, it was not until 2015 that the Zoological Society started tospecifically break down the various donations under visitor services, whichincluded the Donor Tubes, and other things such as the carousel, the train andconcessions. It was reported to me from Hanson that Dane County received apercentage of visitor services sales to include the aforementioned things. In2015, it was decided to record separately some of the visitor services, such asthe donor tubes into its own column, which was per the recommendation of WegnerCPA.

From my original meeting with Ronda Schwetz and Charles Hicklin, Schwetzprovided various documents from board meetings with the Zoological Society. Oneof the documents she provided had the totals of the Donor Tube donationsrecorded by the Zoological Society from 2006 to 2011. The following is thetotal amounts for each year.

2006 $52,272.602007 $60,278.902008 $58,923.502009 $63,768.032010 $68,410.492011 $87,834.04

Also included in the documents provided by Schwetz, were other financial summaryreports, but were not in any order. There was one document of a financialsummary report indicating in 2012 to 2013, which the Zoological Society had donea fiscal year instead of a calendar year, the Donor Tube income was $96,150.00.For the fiscal year of 2013 to 2014, the amount of Donor Tube donations was$99,710.00.

Both Schwetz and Hanson advised that over the years the donations amounts forthe Donor Tubes have varied, which is not atypical depending on weather, whichcan affect the amount of visitors to the zoo and can affect donations if thenumber is low. The amount associated with the Donor Tubes are reported asinformation only since the main concern of the county controller's office andthe zoo board director was to find out why there was a big difference indonations from the previous year when the Zoological Society was responsible foroperations to when the county had taken over operations this year.


01/06/20

The documents provided by Tom Hansen provide information of deposits for theGreeter Box and Donor Tube donations, which ultimately does not portray asignificant difference from donations the county has received. My investigationdid not provide any findings that the Zoological Society had been depositing anydonations through fundraising, endowments or any other donations to any otheraccount other than the accounts set up at Associated Bank for the ZoologicalSociety and zoo operations.

This investigation will be reviewed by the Dane County District Attorney'sOffice in the near future.

END OF REPORT:Detective Janet BoehnenDane County Sheriff's OfficeField Services DivisionInvestigative Services Bureau

Mon Dec 16 13:55:59 CST 2019


01/06/20

Supplement12/10/19 Detective J. Boehnen CASE REVIEW WITH DISTRICT ATTORNEY'S OFFICE

CONTACT WITH DANE COUNTY ASSISTANT DISTRICT ATTORNEY PAUL HUMPHREY:

On December 10, 2019 at approximately 2:30 p.m., I had arranged to meet withAssistant District Attorney (ADA) Paul Humphrey at his office. ADA Humphreyagreed to review the findings regarding this investigation.

Upon meeting ADA Humphrey, I explained the history of the Zoological Society andthe most recent contract they had with Dane County, which was from 2013 to 2018.The County did not renew the contract with the Zoological Society, and tookover all operations of the zoo as of April 1st of this year.

I then provided a copy of a page of the expired contract that included sections1.3 - 2.6, and specifically addressed 2.5 with ADA Humphrey. I explained howthe concession operations and donor tubes were included in this section as partof a percentage to be paid to Dane County over the years of the contract. Ithen referred to section 2.3, which states the Society shall have the right tosolicit and receive donations, gifts, grants, bequests and other forms ofrevenue from any source pursuant to this agreement, provided all such net incomereceived is used by the Society to support the zoo.

I explained what donor tubes were and how they have been at the zoo for manyyears, and are stationary tubes placed throughout the zoo. I then explained howthe Zoological Society implemented what has been known as greeter boxes, in oraround 2015, to increase their fund raising, and these were not stationary andhad to be placed at the entrances of the zoo.

I informed ADA Humphrey back on November 13, 2019, myself, along with other DCSOadministrators, met with Dane County Controller Administrator, Charles Hicklin,and Zoo Director, Ronda Schwetz. Their concern was the higher amount ofdonations they had received this year, compared to what the Zoological Societyhad reported the previous year. I then provided documents to ADA Humphrey ofwhat Dane County has received in donations since taking over operations thisyear. The number of $192,000 was generated by including the money from both thedonor tube and greater box donations together.

At the meeting with Schwetz and Hicklin, Schwetz indicated the donationsreceived from the Zoological Society over the years for the donor tubes had beenbetween $40,000 and $60,000. Their concern was why their donation amounts weresignificantly higher than what the Zoological Society had reported, and askedfor the Dane County Sheriff's Office to investigate their concerns.

I advised that early in my investigation, I found the Zoological Society hadcounted the donor tube donations separately from the greeter box donations. Itold ADA Humphrey I had been talking with a former board member of theZoological Society, Thomas Hanson, who explained the greeter boxes wereimplemented in or around 2015 or 2016, after the contract had been signed.Furthermore, Hanson advised the greeter boxes were enacted as an additionalfundraiser for the zoo.

I then provided spreadsheets to ADA Humphrey of the recorded deposits for thedonor tubes for 2017 and 2018 from the Zoological Society. I informed him I hadtwo binders for each year that were broken down into tabs by each month of the


01/06/20

year, which included bank statements and deposit slips. I explained there was aspreadsheet included with the amounts of deposits recorded in the society'sQuickBooks records.

I also informed him I had two binders of the greeter box documents for 2017 and2018 which also included copies of bank statements, deposit slips, and depositbooks of carbon copies of deposits. In addition to the Zoological Society usingQuick Books to keep records, Kollath Accounting firm kept these records in orderand Wegner CPA did all the society's audit reports. I informed ADA Humphrey,Hanson had also provided the audit reports from Wegner CPA for 2013-2018

I then provided the monetary amount of donations for the donor tubes and greeterboxes to ADA Humphrey. In 2017, the Zoological Society donor tube donationswere approximately $42,885 and the greeter box donations were approximately$179,267 for a total of $222,152. In 2018, the donor tube donations wereapproximately $41,125.42, and the greeter box donations were approximately$159,595.91 for a total of $200,721.33. I then compared these totals to whatthe Dane County Controller's Office had received for donations this year, whichwas approximately $192,142.15 (greeter box and donor tube combined).

After reviewing all the information, ADA Humphrey, did not believe there was anintentional act, from the Zoological Society, of any theft or fraud that isconsistent with embezzlement or misappropriation of funds. Regardless if theZoological Society counted the donor tubes separately of the greeter boxes, allthe money had been deposited into a designated bank account specific to theZoological Society. There was no indication the money deposited was for nothingelse, but to support the zoo.

ADA Humphrey, requested to review all of this with District Attorney IsmaelOzanne to make sure he was aware of my investigation, and DA Ozanne agreed withno criminal charges being filed. I informed ADA Humphrey if either him, or DAOzanne had any questions or concerns, they could contact me to discuss thingsfurther.


On this same date, I received a telephone call from ADA Humphrey indicating hehad reviewed this investigation with DA Ozanne and he too agreed there wasnothing the District Attorney's Office was going to pursue as far as criminalcharges.

END OF REPORT.

Detective Janet BoehnenDane County Sheriff's OfficeInvestigative Services BureauField Services Division

dlw Mon Dec 16 13:57:18 CST 2019


01/06/20

Supplement12/16/19 Detective Janet Boehnen MORE FOLLOW-UP WITH THOMAS HANSON

CONTACT WITH THOMAS HANSON;

During previous contacts with Hanson, he was not sure when the greeter boxeswere placed at the Henry Vilas Zoo, but thought it was sometime in/or around2015. On December 13, 2019, at approximately 2:50 p.m., I contacted ThomasHanson, via phone. I asked if he would be able to acquire any correspondenceabout the greeter boxes between the Zoological Society and the ZooAdministrators, specifically Ronda Schwetz, in regards to the implementation ofthe greeter boxes. Hanson advised there were likely a record of board meetings,which usually included the attendance of the Zoo Director, Ronda Schwetz. Hewas confident Schwetz was aware of the implementation of the greeter boxes andhad been present at meetings when discussed. He advised he would look into thisand get back to me soon.

On Monday, December 16, 2019, at approximately 10:15 a.m., I received atelephone call from Thomas Hanson. He advised he had spoken with both BrentWalter and Alison Prange, about my requests of any correspondence about thegreeter box implementation at the zoo, and the knowledge the zoo administratorshad of these boxes. He advised he could send me via email the board ofdirector's meetings where the greeter boxes are discussed. He clarified theboard of directors to be the Zoological Society, and when they had meetings, theZoo Director, Ronda Schwetz, and/or Jeff Halter, the Assistant Zoo Director,would attend.

I requested of Hanson to forward these emails of the board meeting minutes,which he said he would. During our conversation, he advised one of the HenryVilas Zoological Society board meetings was from June 8, 2015, and anothermeeting was from January 19, 2016.

The meeting on June 8, 2018, Ronda Schwetz did not attend, but Zoo AssistantDirector Jeff Halter did. During this meeting, under the heading of financialswas a notation of how there will soon be two see through acrylic donation boxes(one at the front gate and one at the bridge gate).

During the Zoological Society board meeting on Tuesday, January 19, 2016, bothRonda Schwetz and Jeff Halter were there and represented the Zoo administration.Under the heading of "Friends of the Zoo Business Plan 2016," Brent covered zoooperations and development, summarizing an expansion of revenue and increase ofgreeter boxes.

Hanson advised he never attended the operational board meetings, but Prange andWalter did. In his conversations with both Prange and Walter about the issue ofSchwetz knowing about the greeter boxes, they informed him they had talks withher about them through informal conversations. He stated there would be nodocument signed about the approval of greeter boxes being implemented, but theywere well aware of the boxes. Hanson then referenced the zoo light fundraiserwas also implemented shortly after the greeter boxes and there was no documentsigned for this either, but there was an informal approval by the zooadministrators.

I asked Hanson if Schwetz, or any other zoo administrators, brought up anyissues or concerns about the greeter boxes and its donations, and he stated no.He described how he thought the Zoological Society and the zoo directors both


01/06/20

shared information and acted as partners for the benefit of the zoo. He did notthink their ongoing activities were out of the ordinary.

I asked Hanson if he could provide my contact information to Alison Prange, as Iwould like to hear from her regarding any information about the greeter boxesand anything else she would like me to know about the Zoological Society. Inthe email Hanson sent me with the information requested, he indicated he left avoicemail message, and a text, for Alison Prange with my request.

END OF REPORT


rz Tue Dec 17 09:00:40 CST 2019


01/06/20

Supplement12/17/19 Detective J. Boehnen CONTACT WITH ATTORNEY STEPHEN HURLEY

CONTACT WITH STEPHEN HURLEY:

On Tuesday, December 17, 2019, at approximately 9:48 a.m., I received atelephone call from Attorney Stephen Hurley. He advised he represents AlisonPrange and was aware that I wanted to speak with Prange. He asked why I neededto speak with her, and what kind of things I might be looking for. I explainedthat I was interested in talking with Prange regarding the operations of theZoological Society, along with any issues there may have been with zooadministrators, or anyone else.

Attorney Hurley wanted me to know it was nothing personal with me or myinvestigation, but he usually advises his clients he represents not to speak toanyone. In this situation, he was going to advise Prange not to talk with mebecause of the ongoing issues between the county and Zoological Society, andbecause of previous issues of how Prange had not been treated very well by zooadministrators.

I informed Attorney Hurley it was my hope to wrap up this investigation soon,and once things had been completed, I would contact Tom Hanson, who then couldrelay any information to Alison Prange or Brent Walter. Attorney Hurleyappreciated this information, and I then ended my contact with him.

END OF REPORT


esb Tue Dec 17 15:29:09 CST 2019


01/06/20

Supplement12/19/19 Detective Janet Boehnen ADDITIONAL DOCUMENTS FROM ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY -2019

SUMMARY:

This investigation initially included monetary donation amounts from greeterboxes and donor tubes by both the Zoological Society and Dane County. In 2019,from January through March 31, 2019, the Zoological Society was responsible foroperations and depositing donations from the greeter boxes and donor tubes.From April 1st through present, Dane County has taken over operations at the zooand has been responsible for all the donations of the greeter boxes and donortubes.

I received information and documents regarding the donation amounts for donortubes and greeter boxes deposited by the Zoological Society from January throughMarch 31, 2019, and from Dane County starting from April 1, 2019, to present.

CONTACT WITH THOMAS HANSON:

On December 17, 2019, at approximately 2:15 p.m., I contacted Thomas Hanson. Irequested any bank statements, deposit slips or any other documentationregarding deposits from the donor tubes and greeter boxes at the zoo. Hansonadvised he did not believe any money was removed from the donor tubes fromJanuary to March of this year because of the weather with snow and ice.However, he thought there should be something as far as deposits for greeterboxes and he was going to check the accounts for both and get back to me.

On December 18, 2019, at approximately 10:20 a.m., I met with Tom Hanson at theTown of Cottage Grove Police Department. He provided another binder with the2019 greeter box documents to include the month of January through March.Included in the binder were the financial documents for Associated Bank underaccount number The spreadsheet provided documentation of depositsfor the greeter boxes, and the set up was the same as the previous two bindersfor 2017 and 2018.

The binder had tabs for each month of the year for January through March of2019, which included deposit slips and monthly bank statements. In addition,appendices A through C included were included. The headings are the same aswith the other binders and in column 4 under the heading of "Greeter Box CashDonations with notation on deposit slip or deposit book", is a total of$1,508.00 for the month of January, February and March. There was also a columnindicating cash deposits consistent with greeter box donations, but with nonotation on the deposit slip or deposit book with a total of $2,664.00. Again,this column indicates cash deposits, which would likely be from greeter boxesbecause there were no other cash donations from other fundraisers during thesemonths. This also would not be any cash deposits from donor tubes, as those hadbeen deposited in a different account.

Hanson advised there were no collections of the donor tubes at the zoo for thefirst quarter of 2019, which were for the months of January, February and March.There was a transition memo that had been prepared by the Zoological Society angiven to County executives on March 27, 2019, which included Josh Wescott, DaveGault (who was filling in for Carlos) and Chuck Hicklin. In the memo there wasa reference to the donor tubes of how they had not been accessible due to snow


01/06/20

and ice accumulation, and because limited donations occurred in the wintermonths, they were not emptied. The memo advised the keys would be provided toDane County on March 31, 2019. Based on this, Hanson did not have any documentswith any deposits for the donor tube donations for this year.

A copy of the financial documents provided to me by Hanson will be placed intoevidence and a copy will be scanned into the case file under this case number.Also, the transition memo provided by Hanson will be scanned into this case fileas well.

I again thanked Hanson for providing these documents, and then ended my contactwith him at approximately 10:40 a.m.

CONTACT WITH CHARLES (CHUCK) HICKLIN:

On Wednesday, December 18, 2019, I sent an email to Charles Hicklin requestingany further deposits Dane County has done since the last deposit on November 1,2019. Hicklin sent back an email advising there were deposits on November 27,2019 totaling $4,865.36, bringing the new total of donations from greeter boxesand donor tubes to $197,007.51.

A copy of these emails with Hicklin will be scanned in to the case file underthe case number.


As of November 27, 2019, the total amount of deposits from the ZoologicalSociety ($1,508.00) and Dane County ($197,007.51) is approximately $198,515.51.This amount is from both the donor tubes and greeter boxes.

From November 1, 2019, to November 27, 2019, Dane County had an additionaldonation deposit of $4,865.36. The month of December deposit will likely be thesame from Dane County, or a little higher because of the Zoo Light eventhappening in the month of December. Typically, if the weather is favorable,there are more visitors, which usually increases donations.

If Dane County has the same number of deposits in December as it had inNovember, donations should be around $5,000.00, which would increase the totalnet of donations for the year to approximately $203,000.00 to $205,000.00. Thetotal amount of donations from the Zoological Society in 2018, which includeddonor tubes and greeter boxes, was $200,721.33. The numbers for both years arecomparable.

END OF REPORT


rz Thu Dec 19 08:36:05 CST 2019


01/06/20

Supplement12/19/19 Detective Janet Boehnen Evidence / 2019 Zoological Societydocuments

EVIDENCE:

On December 19, 2019, I placed into evidence the 2019 Zoological Society bankdocuments with property tag number 35604, and then placed them into PSB evidencelocker B-22.

END OF REPORT



01/06/20

SupplementDetective Janet Boehnen CONTACT WITH CHARLES HICKLIN

CONTACT:

Charles (Chuck) HicklinDane County Controller Administrator210 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.Room 426Madison, WI 53703

CONTACT WITH CHARLES HICKLIN:

On Thursday, December 19, 2019, I sent an email to Charles Hicklin inquiringabout a document he had sent to me back in November of 2019. The documentincluded payments received from the Zoological Society, per the contract, alongwith any miscellaneous revenue and overtime reimbursements from county staffduring the Society's after hour events. I requested of Hicklin to providecopies of documentation to support the amounts listed from the accountingdatabase Dane County uses. I also requested any credits to the ZoologicalSociety from the County, or any other documentation that would help explain theamounts on the spreadsheet. Hicklin thought it would be best to meet in personto talk about my requests.

On Monday, December 23, 2019, at approximately 1130 a.m., I met with Hicklin inhis office located at 210 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, in Madison, WI. Iinformed him the reason I was looking for any documentation was to make sense ofthe amounts he sent to me, and what the payments had been paid to the Countyfrom the Zoological Society per the agreement. Hicklin advised he only sent methis documentation because he thought it was requested during our initialmeeting back at the beginning of November. I told him I did not recall askingfor this, but certainly could have. I explained if anyone were to ask for anopen record request regarding this investigation, I wanted to have informationsupporting the document he had sent. Hicklin advised he is not concerned aboutthe amount of money or payments the County has received over the years from theZoological Society and there was never a question of the agreed upon amountspaid.

Hicklin further advised their only request for the Sheriff's Office was toinvestigate the donation amounts the County had received this year compared towhat the Zoological Society had reported the previous year, and why there wassuch a difference. I informed him based on my investigation, the amount oftotal donations was not that different from last year to this year. I explainedthe difference was the County was including all donations, to include the donortubes and the greeter boxes together, and the Society was placing the amounts ofthe donor tube donations in a different banking account than the greeter boxdonations. Hicklin was already aware of this information and felt this was moreof a contractual language issue of how the Society interpreted the greeter boxesas not being a part of the contract. He was thankful the initial difference ofdonations was because the money was put into a different account of theSociety's and that no one was stealing the money.

Hicklin then asked if I was aware of the County settling with the ZoologicalSociety on Friday, December 20, 2019. I told him I was not aware of this andasked what it meant. He advised the $7 million the Society had in their account


01/06/20

was placed into a trust account that will be managed by the Madison CommunityFoundation. He also advised the Society paid $593,000.00, from the $7 million,to the County for the difference of greeter box donations they had receivedsince implementing them. So basically, Hicklin advised the County signed offwith the Society and there are no longer any ties between the two.

I thanked Hicklin for the information he provided and told him there might be ameeting set up in the near further for him and Ronda Schwetz (Henry Vilas ZooDirector) to discuss this investigation and to answer any questions or concernsthey might have. I then ended my contact with Hicklin and told him if he hadany other questions or concerns he could contact me.

END OF REPORT


rz Thu Jan 02 12:05:07 ST 2020

Documents

DaneCountySheriff'sOffice...Randall Ave., in Madison. After our initial meeting Schwetz and I agreed to meet individually so I could get more specific information from her. Schwetz