This is the 5th story in a five-part series on the Waukesha County Sheriff’s race. You can read the other stories here, here, here, and here. The other stories cover Sheriff Eric Seversion’s perspective, the Deputy’s union perspective, the candidates’ bios, and their positions on the issues.
Two former students – a bank examiner and correctional officer who are willing to put their names to it – say THEY made the complaints about Waukesha County Sheriff’s candidate John Gscheidmeier’s alleged behavior around adult female students when he was a teacher in the law enforcement program at two area technical colleges, Milwaukee Area Technical College and Gateway Technical College.
Wisconsin Right Now gave Gscheidmeier more than a day to respond to the claims from Correctional Officer Jeffrey Leanna and bank examiner Ryan Herbert, including photos sent to us by a third party. He did not respond.
It is worth noting that Gscheidmeier brought this angle into the race first, when he disparaged a female Waukesha County Sheriff’s deputy in July, telling her superior, on audio, that SHE filed a false complaint accusing him of being “involved with students” at MATC because she had a “massive crush” on him. He denied being involved with students, omitting the fact he married a former student. The deputy denied making the complaint or having a crush on Gscheidmeier, and she accused Gscheidmeier of trying to intimidate her and possibly retaliate against her on three occasions.
Leanna and Herbert don’t know each other, and neither appears tied to the sheriff’s race in any fashion. Leanna is a state correctional officer (confirmed in salary databases) who says he previously worked for the Milwaukee Police Department, State Fair Park Police and the Walworth County Sheriff’s Department. Herbert works in Brookfield as a bank examiner for the federal government (also verified in salary databases). Both say Gscheidmeier was their teacher in law enforcement programs; Leanna, at Milwaukee Area Technical College, and Herbert at Gateway County Technical College. Leanna said he complained about Gscheidmeier in 2012; Herbert said he complained about Gscheidmeier in 2011.
Gscheidmeier, a realtor and County Supervisor, was a Glendale police officer for almost 20 years through 2012. He is running in the Aug. 11 Republican primary for Waukesha County Sheriff against Capt. Nick Ollinger. Sheriff Eric Severson is retiring.
Both men said they asked administrators to investigate accusations that Gscheidmeier was behaving inappropriately toward a female student or students. All people involved were adults at the time. Leanna, in particular, expressed intense feelings toward Gscheidmeier, accusing him of being “creepy” and also allegedly smacking him on the head during class, which is what initially provoked him to speak with an administrator.
Glendale Police Disciplines
Furthermore, leading up to that same time frame, Glendale police records show, Gscheidmeier received a reprimand and suspension for behavior on the job involving calling in sick to go to a Packers game in Atlanta and allegedly racking up multiple allegations relating to “tone and demeanor” concerns toward the public.
He quit the Glendale police force in April 2012, records show; Leanna said he complained about Gscheidmeier’s alleged behavior to an MATC administrator in March or April 2012. You can read the Glendale police disciplinary documents later in this story (as we revealed in a previous story, we also obtained Ollinger’s disciplinary file. He was disciplined for running into a pole while going 5-7 miles per hour; he was also found to have denied a deputy union representation. Early on, he was advised about how to improve his OWI investigatory response. That was it, though.)
Leanna says the alleged physical contact – which he described as a smack to the forehead in class – wasn’t hard enough to leave a mark but was hard enough that other students “heard” and became uncomfortable. He thinks it was because he gave the wrong answer.
“The complaint was my complaint,” Leanna said in a phone interview. “I went to (an MATC administrator) and I said, ‘Hey, I’ve got to talk to you,’ and I told him everything. It irritates me to no end about this guy (Gscheidmeier). He was just creepy. I said, ‘You know he’s (allegedly) trying to hit on and date other young girls? Everyone knows what he does.” (Note: Although Leanna used the word girls, he was referring to young adult females.)
Leanna named the MATC administrator; WRN is withholding his name until he can be reached for comment. The administrator has been identified in news stories as a law enforcement instructor at MATC, and, according to Leanna, he appears in a group photo that Gscheidmeier’s wife posted in 2012.
MATC has declined to comment on Gscheidmeier. “Why is he being so creepy?” Leanna said he wondered of his teacher.
John Gscheidmeier Brought the Student Question Up First
As noted, Gscheidmeier, 57, a realtor and Waukesha County Supervisor, first revealed the existence of a “complaint” himself, when, on July 22, he told Waukesha Sheriff’s captain Michelle Leffler, on audio, that the female deputy made a complaint at MATC accusing him of being “involved with students.” He disparaged the deputy’s performance at an unrelated sign theft investigation in this audio recording, and accused her of making the complaint because she had a “massive crush on him.” He then repeated some of the accusations on the radio.
Read about that here.
The deputy then fired back in a letter DENYING that she ever made a complaint against him or had a crush on Gscheidmeier, her former teacher. Our story on that is what prompted Herbert and Leanna to come forward, independent of each other, to WRN. Both said they thought their accounts were important in light of the deputy’s denial, which they randomly heard about on the radio and through Facebook. And both said they have no tie to, nor interest in, the Waukesha County Sheriff’s race nor Gscheidmeier’s opponent, Ollinger. Leanna said he doesn’t even live in Waukesha County.
Gscheidmeier told the Sheriff’s captain in the audio, and repeated on the radio, that the allegations were false, omitting the fact that he later married a student, his current wife. The deputy said that, although she didn’t make the complaint, she remembers hearing at the time that someone had, and she believed it related to Gscheidmeier allegedly dating his now-wife, then a student in his class (a second student, who didn’t want his name printed, told us the same thing.)
Gscheidmeier said the complaint was false, and told the deputy’s superior that, if he wins the sheriff’s race, he will sit down with the deputy and tell her, “It ends today. Because we’re not going to do this.” She told WRN she is concerned about retaliation if he wins, as a result of that comment, which is on audio.
The deputy also accused Gscheidmeier of sending her angry texts and trying to get her disciplined years ago because he thought she made the alleged complaint. The female deputy told us she believed there were photos circulating at the time of Gscheidmeier and his now-wife, then a student. She believed the complaint involved his now-wife.
“I learned about that complaint (at MATC) when Mr. Gscheidmeier sent me a series of text messages accusing me of being the person who had made it. Receiving those messages from one of my instructors made me feel uncomfortable, intimidated, angry, and afraid. I was a student being accused by an instructor of something I had not done,” she wrote. “I denied his accusations in my responses to him, but I did not believe my denial was accepted. Following that exchange, I limited my communication with him to what was necessary in the classroom.”
There’s more.
The Photos
A woman who is tied to Gscheidmeier’s wife’s friend circle sent us photos that are still on his wife’s Facebook page. Gscheidmeier’s wife Samantha’s resume on RocketReach says that she was a student in the law enforcement program at MATC through 2012. His LinkedIn page confirms Gscheidmeier was a teacher in the program at the time.
What do the photos show? In the interest of privacy, we will describe them here rather than publishing them. Gscheidmeier made them relevant to public discussion when he blamed the female Waukesha County Sheriff’s deputy for making a complaint against him at MATC alleging he was “involved with students” and then said it was false to a sheriff’s captain and on the radio, omitting the fact that he married a former student.
The photos on Gcheidmeier’s wife’s page include: A picture of a sock monkey and the caption, “John got me a California bred #sockmonkey,” posted in April 2012. A text message from “John” reading “I envy me for dating u,” dated May 11, 2012. A picture of a bed posted in August 2012 that reads, “John and I’s new bed.” A picture of kissing posted in August 2012 that reads, “My everything.” A screenshot of text messages with “John” that show a plate of food and read “WTF WTF WTF,” posted on June 7, 2012. Leanna says the semester ended in May 2012.
WRN undertook multiple verification steps. Leanna provided us with a screenshot of the MATC graduation program, which has his name listed as student in 2012, the year in question. Herbert provided us with the name of a person who confirmed that he told her generally about the incident at the time, although she didn’t remember the instructor’s name. We asked the person sending us the photos to record a video proving they were still on Samantha Gscheidmeier’s Facebook page. She did. Gscheidmeier was about 43 in 2012; his now wife was about 19.
Gscheidmeier and his wife appear to have a loving marriage today blessed with two kids. They married in 2015. In 2023, he wrote on Facebook: “Eight years ago today Sam and me married…two people from completely different worlds who came together by the grace of God. Two children, two houses, three fur babies, lots of great and some challenging memories later, we are out tonight celebrating our times together. Life is full of challenges and tons of highs and lows…but together we can and have accomplished great things.” He declined to make his wife available for comment.
Gscheidmeier’s LinkedIn page mentions MATC, but not Gateway. He has touted his experience as a teacher in the Sheriff’s race.
Jeff Leanna and Ryan Herbert’s Claims in Greater Detail
Leanna says he went to the MATC administrator and told him, “I don’t feel comfortable with this guy teaching because of the stuff he (allegedly) said and who does this as a teacher? I don’t think he taught again, although it’s hard to remember as it was 14 years ago.”
Alleged Leanna: “He smacked my forehead. I think after the whole hitting me in the forehead, I felt degraded. Everyone after class was like, ‘What was that about?’ He asked the questions in class, and I raised my hand and gave the wrong answer. It was hard enough people heard it. It was not hard enough to leave a mark.”
Asked if he has any tie to, or opinion of, the Sheriff’s race, Leanna said, “I don’t live in the county. I don’t give a sh*t. I don’t like this guy.”
Of Gscheidmeier’s wife, Leanna said, “I guarantee she was a student.” He said there were part-time and full-time law enforcement classes, and people were talking about it, alleging, “Did you hear he was (allegedly) dating a chick? Then, I heard he was dating someone from a part-time class.”
He said he told the administrator: “Just so you know, I’ve heard he’s (allegedly) been hitting on students. I heard he’s even (allegedly) dating a student.”
Asked if his complaint was investigated or verified, he said, “I know they did” investigate it (Gscheidmeier previously denied the complaint was investigated). He said that the administrator was a “good guy.” But Leanna says he doesn’t know if the allegations were verified or what the outcome of the investigation was. (We filed an open records request with MATC but haven’t heard back. Again, MATC declined to comment.)
Leanna said he didn’t see Gscheidmeier in any compromising situation with a student. “Everybody in our class was talking about it. I was like, ‘What are you talking about?'” he said.
“He’s arrogant, undermining. He honestly seems like a prick,” said Leanna. “I didn’t think he was qualified to teach class the way he talked to us, even though he has all these degrees.”
When he read the story on the female deputy, Leanna said, “It just irritates me. He’s just a creepy guy.”
He said Gscheidmeier taught field sobriety test classes. “He always talked about how he just got divorced. His (former) wife was a Fox 6 reporter. We didn’t give a sh*t. He seemed very arrogant. He was just an odd person. He would talk about personal stuff.” Gscheidmeier was recently divorced from Fox 6 reporter Yanick Dalhouse by 2012.
Leanna said that Gscheidmeier once allegedly made a gesture with his leg toward a female student that also made him uncomfortable.
“We had two girls in class, one was younger, and he went up to one and at the empty desk put his leg up like his leg is on the seat of the other desk and just looked toward her, his midsection right by her. We were like, ‘What the f*ck is he doing?”
“It is creepy. That complaint is probably me.”
He said he told the administrator, “You know this is major stuff. I’m perturbed at this. I paid over 3 grand for this class. I don’t need this bullsh*t.” He described the administrator as the “head of criminal justice.”
The administrator indicated they needed evidence, Leanna said. Leanna also said he brought his friends to a field sobriety class, where test subjects are brought in, and he alleged Gscheidmeier said some “pretty creepy things” there too.
Leanna worked for State Fair Park Police, and for the Milwaukee Police Department’s forensics identification division. He has worked for the state Department of Corrections for more than 12 years. He said he was a Correctional Officer for the Walworth County Sheriff’s Department.
Ryan Herbert
“I just heard the podcast of Dan O’Donnell show from last Friday about John Gscheidmeier,” Herbert wrote WRN (this author hosted it). “Back in 2011, I was in the Gateway Technical College Police Academy where John was one of the instructors.” He said Gscheidmeier was an instructor “for our DUI and field sobriety test class.”
“As part of that class, us cadets had to find people to get drunk in a controlled setting so we could do field sobriety tests on actual drunk people. So our recruit class found some female nursing students who volunteered to be our test subjects,” he added. (That’s common and allowed for field sobriety instruction.)
He alleged that he heard through people involved in that class that Gscheidmeier was allegedly “hitting on” and “saying inappropriate comments” to female test subjects who were supposed to get drunk so law enforcement students could practice administering field sobriety tests.
“To the point that the nursing students told us recruits about it,” alleged Herbert. “We in turn told our Academy Director about it.” He alleges that the director told him Gscheidmeier would no longer be invited back as an instructor.
He continued: “I didn’t observe any of the inappropriate comments, but it was serious enough for us to have a discussion about it with the director.”
WRN asked Herbert whether he was 100% certain that the teacher in question was John Gscheidmeier.
“Yes. His name is very unique,” he responded. “During class he told us all about him being a realtor and that we should come to him if we were buying houses in the future. Thought it was odd that he was a cop and a realtor at the same time.”
A person who Herbert identified as a corroborative witness told WRN that she was one of the test subjects brought in for the field sobriety class. She said that instructors were allegedly making “inappropriate comments, 40-year-olds hitting on people in their 20s. Now I think it’s disgusting. Then it was more annoying.” She doesn’t remember the instructors’ names, though. She wasn’t a student there; she was brought as a test subject to one class by a friend.
She remembers Herbert “talking about” making a complaint at the time. “I remember him talking about that,” she said. She said she wasn’t hit on. “The group was younger, maybe 21, 22-year-old females. I commented after the fact how one or two of the instructors were hitting on them. It was nothing that was over the top.” She didn’t want her name printed, but she holds a credible position.
WRN reached out to Gateway Technical College’s media contact, Lee Colony, about all of these allegations, and he responded:
- John Gscheidmeier did teach classes here from 2007-11.
- His titles were law enforcement academy assistant, and law enforcement academy adjust instructor.
- Keep in mind, these were not semester-long, or academy-long, courses. They were short courses.
- Essentially, we hire people as needed, and I don’t see evidence that we hired him after 2011.
Glendale Police Discipline
Glendale police records show a series of issues on that force; in one instance, a police lieutenant recommended that Gscheidmeier receive a written reprimand. The Glendale police memo from Lt. Don Haffner says that “all these complaints show a continued pattern of behavior by Officer Gscheidmeier all relating to his tone of voice and demeanor when dealing with citizens.”
Read the memo in full here:
“Approximately 70 of his traffic stops were also reviewed. Officer Gscheidmeier conducted himself properly on almost all of the stops when the violator was cooperative. However, it appears that whenever there is the slightest challenge or questioning by the violator Officer Gscheidmeier’s voice, attitude and demeanor immediately changed to being defensive and unprofessional,” wrote Haffner.
On November 21, 2010, “Sgt. Butler and I met with Office Gscheidmeier regarding his pattern of behavior. I informed him that I reviewed three videos that showed poor verbal skills and quick escalation with the public. He defended his actions on two of the stops and didn’t remember the third stop,” the memo states.
“I offered to show him the videos, but he declined. I informed him that based on these three incidents and a similar pattern of behavior over the past 2.5 years that I was recommending a written reprimand against him. I also informed him that any future complaints could result in further discipline including suspension. I believe Officer Gscheidmeier’s quick and inappropriate verbal escalation is affecting the reputation of both him and the department.”
The document contains a list of incidents, some unsubstantiated but multiple listed as “counseled” over the previous 2.5 years. The Glendale police document says that “documented citizen complaints have been a concern for the past 10 years.”
In a July 2026 interview, Gscheidmeier downplayed these incidents, saying there weren’t that many and alleging he was just an “active cop.” He also said he had received many commendations and merits over the years. You can read all of his commendations and merits here:
The Packer Game
A January 2011 letter to Gscheidmeier from the then-Glendale police chief accused him of misuse of sick time and responsiveness to orders.
The letter says that Gscheidmeier called the desk and requested a sick day. A lieutenant had “information that you were in Atlanta for the Packers game and suspected that you may try to call in sick.” The lieutenant left directions with the desk clerk that if anyone called in, she was to tell the officer that the lieutenant was ordering them to call back on a landline within 10 minutes or leave a landline number where they could be reached, the letter says. “You told Clerk Jones that you weren’t going to do that. Lt. Hinman then tried unsuccessfully to contact you,” the letter to Gscheidmeier alleges.
When administrators met with him later, he allegedly said he was in Atlanta for the Packers game. “You stated that you called in sick on the 16th because you needed a ‘Mental health day.’”
He denied he was insubordinate, the letter says. He was accused of stating that because he did not have a landline available, he told the clerk “that’s not going to happen.”
Three days of suspension were ordered without pay by Glendale Chief Thomas E. Czarnyszka.
In March of 2011, Czarnyszka wrote Gscheidmeier: “I believe that the violations are serious and have an adverse effect on department operations. I believe that the original discipline imposed was appropriate and I am disappointed at the methods used to try to influence my decision. I do not think it was proper to take this matter to the city administrator for any reason.”
Read all of the memos and emails here:
The chief wrote: “There are rules, laws and procedure for appealing decisions such as this. While I did again consider your request for reconsideration on the discipline I will stay with my original order. Your appeal to the Police Commission was placed on hold pending your return to work. Now that you are back to work I will direct Attorney Vliet to proceed with the charge specification unless I receive written notification that you are withdrawing your appeal. Please let me know, either way.”
On March 17, 2011, Gscheidmeier wrote the Glendale chief: “For a multitude of reasons I have decided to withdraw my appeal of the pending suspension and charges against me.” In an earlier memo, he said he didn’t have the capability to call back from a landline and thus didn’t disobey the order. He argued that to the best of his knowledge, no one else had been made to call in sick from a landline.
On April 8, 2012, Gscheidmeier resigned from the Glendale police force voluntarily, saying he was leaving to work part-time at another Police Department and to pursue other interests. He then forged a career in real estate.
WRN asked Gscheidmeier about this during an interview in July 2026, and he said that sometimes officers need to “take mental health days” because of how “tough” law enforcement officers’ jobs are. He also claimed that, on Opening Day for the Milwaukee Brewers, “half of the people there are probably playing hooky from work.”
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