A fired probationary Milwaukee police officer was charged Monday with misconduct
in office for failing to report information about a homicide involving the
father of her child and that her vehicle may have been involved in the crime.
Danielle D. Scott, 22, faces two counts - misconduct in office/acting
inconsistent with duty, and aiding or harboring a felon. She had graduated from
the police academy in March, and was fired in early May, shortly after the
April 29 slaying of Russell J. Setum.
Each offense is punishable by up to 18 months in prison and two years of
extended supervision.
According to criminal complaints, Setum, 24, was killed execution style
after being robbed of his clothes and customized GMC Yukon outside his mother's
home near N. 48th and W. Wright streets, as she begged the shooter to spare her
son.
After shooting Setum twice in the head as he knelt on the ground, the
shooter fired at Setum's mother repeatedly as she fled. She was struck but
survived.
One of the men, Nicholas Smith, is the father of Scott's child. According
to the criminal complaint, he and another defendant, Robert Lavern Cameron,
went to her home shortly after the fatal robbery and Smith said he told her
that Cameron had just killed someone, and then detailed the entire crime.
Smith, 23, Cameron, 22, and Anthony Montrell Perkins, 23, were charged
with conspiracy to commit robbery in the case.
Last month, Cameron's charges were amended to first degree intentional homicide,
attempted first degree intentional homicide, and armed robbery, all as party to
crime, as well as bail jumping and being a felon in possession of a gun.
Perkins is now charged with felony murder, and Smith with robbery, use of
force.
Scott reported for duty later that day and told no other police officers
what she had learned, according to the complaint.
"All of the supervisors in District No. 7 that worked during Danielle
Scott's shift state that Danielle Scott never told them that her boyfriend had used
her car during an armed robbery attempt, or that a suspected homicide suspect
was currently asleep on her couch in her house," the complaint states.
Instead, she used the department computer system to look up incident
reports and other information about the robbery and homicide, and to find
information about Setum.
Investigators figured out Scott's possible connection to the crime after
surveillance video revealed that a car seen near Setum's stolen Yukon - later
discovered stripped and burned - was registered to Scott. She initially told
investigators she was asleep when Smith came to her home and that he never
mentioned his involvement with a homicide.
Had Scott been married or otherwise related to Smith, she could not have
been charged under Wisconsin law with harboring a felon. Wisconsin is one of
about a dozen states that forbids prosecutors from charging family members with
aiding their fugitive relatives. An effort to change the law
failed again last session.