Former Officer, Brad Young, Admits To Over 60 Burglaries In Crime Spree

Brad Young, a former police lieutenant in Waupun, Wisconsin, has admitted to over 60 burglaries in seven different counties. When the 22-year police veteran was arrested in 2013, police believed that Brad Young was merely responsible for a burglary at a restaurant in the town of Green Lake. However, after further investigation, police officials started looking at more unsolved crimes around the same time period, and what they discovered was quite shocking.

After robbing the Kollerville Restaurant in Green Lake, officers discovered Officer Brad Young. Young bolted, running into a corn field. He managed to steal a vehicle from the area and eluded officers. Brad headed north, ditching his first stolen car and stealing a second one, which he drove to Northwestern Wisconsin. Authorities in Barron County were alerted to Young’s presence and gave chase. That high-speed chase ended in a car crash and a subsequent man hunt before Brad Young was arrested.

At the time, Young’s coworkers at the Waupun Police Department, including Deputy Chief Scott Louden, said they were shocked at Brad’s arrest. Louden, who had known Young professionally for 13 years, said there was no indication that there was anything strange going on in Young’s life.

After being arrested, Brad Young said that in addition to the Green Lake restaurant, he had also robbed a Piggly Wiggly grocery store in Markesan, Wisconsin a month earlier.

For his crimes, former officer Brad Young was sentenced to six years in prison in December of last year in a Barron County, Wisconsin court.

Now, after looking into other unsolved crimes, authorities say that Brad Young has pled no contest to over 60 burglaries in the Wisconsin counties of Fond du Lac, Dodge, Green Lake, Marquette, Burnette, Waushara, and Waupaca. As a result of a plea agreement, district attorneys in the affected counties have agreed to recommend no more than a total of 10 years in prison for the crimes.

Brad Young told authorities that he committed the crimes because of his financial problems and an affinity for gambling.

Just how common is it for police officers to commit a burglary or theft? According to statistics, it’s a rarity, but it does happen. In 2010, the CATO Institute released their “National Police Misconduct Reporting Project,” in which they stated that fraud or theft was committed by 7.2 percent of officers involved in allegations of misconduct. Fraud and theft came in third in the report, following sexual misconduct and excessive force as the number one complaint in over 23.8 percent of all allegations.

[Image via WDIO]