(J.D. Davidson, The Center Square) The Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended a Milwaukee judge facing two federal charges for allegedly trying to help a man illegally in the country escape from immigration officials.
The order, released late Tuesday, said Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan faces two federal charges – one a felony and one a misdemeanor – and it is in the public interest to relieve her of her duties temporarily.
“The court is charged in the Wisconsin Constitution with exercising superintending and administrative authority of the courts of this state. In the exercise of that constitutional authority and in order to uphold the public’s confidence in the courts of this state during the pendency of the criminal proceeding against Judge Dugan, we conclude, on our own motion, that it is in the public interest that she be temporarily relieved of her official duties,” the order reads.
Dugan is charged with obstruction of a federal proceeding and concealing an individual to prevent discovery or arrest. The obstruction charge could result in up to a $100,000 fine and a year in prison, while the second concealment charge can result in up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.
The defendant is accused of concealing Eduardo Flores Ruiz, who was previously deported and came back to the U.S., where he was facing charges in Milwaukee of domestic battery and abuse.
FBI Special Agent Lindsay Schloemer wrote in the complaint against Dugan that law enforcement often makes arrests at the courthouse because “not only the fact that law enforcement knows the location at which the wanted individual should be located but also the fact that the wanted individual would have entered through a security checkpoint and thus unarmed, minimizing the risk of injury to law enforcement, the public, and the wanted individual.”
Dugan is scheduled for a pretrial hearing on the federal criminal charges on May 15.
