DARIEN — The village of Darien prosecutor has resigned in apparent sympathy with the village’s fired police chief.
But the current village attorney said the move is irrelevant.
Delavan attorney Frank Lettenberger on Thursday sent a letter of resignation to newly elected village board President Evelyn Etten.
“I feel that based on the events of the last several months that I can no longer stand idly by and not take a stand on what has happened to Chief (Steve) DeVoy as well as officer (Craig) Konopski,” Lettenberger wrote.
Lettenberger worked as the village prosecutor in the village municipal court. He served under two police chiefs for more than 10 years, according to the letter.
Lettenberger worked with current village attorney David Danz, Danz said Friday night.
Danz did not think Lettenberger’s desire to see DeVoy re-instated carried any relevance, because Lettenberger has not seen the materials the village collected in its investigation of DeVoy.
“I do not know what the relevance is of anyone rendering opinion who has not seen the materials that Judge (Robert) Kennedy ordered released,” Danz said.
DeVoy was fired March 7 after being suspended with pay Dec. 1. A hearing is pending that could make the firing official or change the level of discipline, Etten said.
Reinstating DeVoy would be up to the hearing board, she told The Janesville Gazette on Friday night.
The village board has accused DeVoy of unauthorized surveillance of the police department, violating the village’s computer policy, having a relationship with a subordinate and failing to lead the department, among other things.
Danz has collected thousands of pages of documents from police department computers that were sent to and from DeVoy’s work e-mail address. The village went to court when DeVoy tried to block the release of the documents to The Janesville Gazette.
Some of the pages are racist, sexist or otherwise offensive. Others depict naked people or people with hazardous medical conditions.
Danz said that DeVoy has 30 business days from April 3 to request a disciplinary hearing.
The village board April 20 voted to terminate Konopski from the part-time officer call roster, although he has not worked in the village for several months.
Walworth County Sheriff David Graves earlier in the month made a request to the village under the Wisconsin Open Records Law for e-mails “related to” Konopski, who is a Walworth County deputy.