Prosecutors: Former deputy would scour obituaries, break into homes when people attended funerals

Janelle Gericke (Courtesy: Jefferson County Sheriff's Office via WITI)

A former sheriff’s deputy in Wisconsin is charged with burglarizing the homes of people who were away at family funerals.

According to a criminal complaint Janelle Gericke, 29, entered the homes of people who were listed as relatives of the deceased in local obituaries when they were attending services. The complaint lists at least a half-dozen incidents in which she tried to enter homes in 2018 and 2019, although Gericke is charged with a single felony count of burglary.

Four of the incidents happened while families were away for funerals, WITI reports.

Gericke, who was employed as a Jefferson County sheriff's deputy, raised suspicions when another deputy spotted her on the front porch of a fallen firefighter's home, while the family was attending his funeral.

Prosecutors said Gericke told the deputy she was trying to purchase an item that was listed for sale on Facebook Marketplace and had gone to the wrong house.

According to WITI, she later texted the deputy, saying she found the item at the home next door. But when investigators talked to the neighbor, no one had sold anything to anyone.

Prosecutors said she also tried getting into a co-worker's home while that person was out of town, and was spotted in surveillance video. 

The Journal Sentinel reports that in February 2018, one victim’s doorbell camera caught Gericke entering and leaving a home in Watertown while the owner was at a funeral. It said Gericke left behind a note that read she was picking up “stuff” from a Facebook marketplace transaction but the items weren’t by the door. The complaint says a checkbook was missing from the home.

More than a year later, investigators said they were able to pull a fingerprint from the note that matched Gericke’s.

The sheriff’s office says as soon as Gericke became a suspect in the burglary investigation, it was turned over to the state’s Division of Criminal Investigation. Gericke was fired in July.

"Jefferson County Sheriff Paul Milbrath and the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office apologize to the people that they serve for the embarrassment and mistrust that this individual may have caused," the sheriff's office said in a statement.

Gericke’s attorney did not immediately return a message seeking comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.