Sheriff's sergeant resigns, agrees to plead guilty (tanning salon peeper)

[Editor-in-Chief]

Sheriff's sergeant resigns, agrees to plead guilty

By JACQUELINE SEIBEL
jseibel@journalsentinel.com

Posted: Dec. 7, 2004

Waukesha - A Milwaukee County sheriff's sergeant agreed Tuesday to resign and to plead guilty to a reduced charge involving his use of a telescoping mirror to peek at a woman taking off her clothes in a Muskego tanning salon.

Background
3/10/04: Sheriff's sergeant accused of peeping at woman
1/13/04: Milwaukee County deputy will not face criminal charge

Daniel J. Lent, 42, of Hales Corners was charged in March with misdemeanor disorderly conduct after investigators learned that he had been cited before in a similar incident.

As a result of the criminal charge, he could have been sentenced to 90 days in jail and fined $1,000. But Lent was allowed to plead to a non-criminal municipal ordinance violation of disorderly conduct and to pay a civil forfeiture of $100.

The change means he will not have a criminal record.

Lent worked in the Milwaukee County Jail and was a member of that county's tactical team. Tactical officers use telescoping mirrors when peering around corners during building searches.

The mirror has never been found, Assistant District Attorney Susan Opper and Lent's attorney, Martin Kohler, noted.

"We felt the proof wasn't there for a criminal conviction," Kohler added.

Kohler said that they were pleased with the result and that his client wants to start a new career "after everything he's been through."

Opper said the case was resolved through an agreement by both sides.

"He pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct," she said. "He agreed to resign his position of authority." Lent also has undergone counseling to resolve some personal issues, Opper said.

Lent was cited for trespassing and paid a forfeiture of $125 after he was accused of peering in a bathroom window of a home where a woman was taking a shower in the 5300 block of Eastway in Greendale on Aug. 6, 1984.

In the most recent incident, on Dec. 10, 2003, Lent, who was a regular customer at Goldi's Tanning Spa, S63-W13646 Janesville Road, was given a tanning room and a 36-year-old woman was given an adjacent room.

As she was undressing, she later told police officers, she saw a 4-inch circular mirror over the top of the partition between the tanning rooms. She dressed, and the mirror was pulled back over the wall.

The woman notified a spa employee and was visibly upset. She completed her tanning session in another room, and Lent was banned from the salon.

Opper said the victim in the most recent incident was consulted.

"In the long run, overall it was fair to both sides," Opper said.

Milwaukee County Sheriff David A. Clarke Jr. confirmed Tuesday that Lent had resigned.

"This organization is guided by a set of values. We have a code of conduct that guides the actions and behaviors of all our people at the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department," Clarke said.

"What Mr. Lent did was well below the standard that we set for ourselves," he said.



From the Dec. 8, 2004, editions of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Source