Hope Karnopp
A former Waukesha County Sheriff's lieutenant has been sentenced to four months in prison and a year of supervised release after smuggling marijuana and a cell phone to an inmate in Waukesha County Jail, the U.S. Attorney's Office said Thursday.
34-year-old Johanna Grace pleaded guilty to the offenses in federal court in July. Prosecutors say Grace coordinated with associates outside the jail "on multiple occasions" to bring contraband inside the facility.
A tipster outside the jail alerted authorities to her misconduct, according to U.S. Attorney Gregory Haanstad. Grace shared internal law enforcement reports with her associates, he said, who confronted the tipster. Grace acknowledged she obstructed justice, Haanstad said.
“Today’s sentence is the direct result of an individual abusing her authority and violating the trust of the residents she was entrusted to serve and protect,” Haanstad said in a statement.
U.S. District Judge J.P. Stadtmueller said a sentence of imprisonment was required to deter others, and that Grace's request for a probationary sentence was not appropriate, according to the release.
The case was investigated by the Waukesha County Sheriff's Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Grace is facing separate charges of allegedly abusing a resident of a penal facility in the death last year of Waukesha County Jail inmate Randy Glenn Jr.
Investigators said Glenn was arrested during a Jan. 16, 2023, traffic stop for a probation violation that was connected to prior drug convictions. Glenn was found dead in his jail cell the next morning.
An autopsy report found five small bags containing roughly 10 grams of cocaine in Glenn's stomach.
Grace and Deborah Link, a jail nurse, were charged with abuse of residents in a penal facility, a felony. Both are scheduled for a hearing in that case on Nov. 8.
Contact Hope Karnopp at HKarnopp@gannett.com or on X at @hopekarnopp.
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