MILWAUKEE — It was called "a tragic suicide of one of Milwaukee's brightest teachers." The FOX6 Investigators have obtained the emails the teacher sent to school leaders asking for help.

Karis Ross was a transgender special education teacher at the Milwaukee German Immersion School. According to her suicide note, she killed herself after years of being bullied by co-workers.

Just days before her death she wrote to the school principal, "I feel that I am being subtly bullied and it's taking a toll on my health."

Instead of directly responding to the faculty member, the principal sent the email to other leaders within the administration, seeking "advice in [sic] how to best address this matter."

For a year, MPS refused to release the emails, saying the 2014 suicide was still under investigation.  MPS would not comment on the outcome of that investigation, but it did finally release the emails, which show what school leaders knew about her struggle as a transgender special education teacher.

FOX6 shared those emails with her family.

Jill Greinke

"All of it was very difficult to read," said Ross' mother, Jill Greinke. "I only read them once because I couldn't take reading them more than that. Things that were, you know, just blatantly obvious and were ignored."

The emails document that three years after Ross transitioned from male to female, the school principal continued to refer to her as a man. Ross wrote, "I  know you meant no offense by such a slip-up. Old habits die hard. However, people look to you as a model of behavior."

That same year, she wrote to the principal about what she called "ongoing drama" in the special education classroom, rumors about her being spread by other teachers, and continued problems with classroom aides.

"Reading them was very hard because it is everything Karis talked about," Greinke said.

And then, the month she died, she sent numerous emails complaining about  "multiple panic attacks, extreme fatigue, and a complete loss of appetite."  Ross asked to meet with the principal to discuss "practical solutions to some of the difficulties" she was having with classroom aides.

When he never replied, she wrote again, saying "I don't feel I have your support in this matter."

Karis Ross was a special education teacher.

"She tried to get the principal to mediate, which in my opinion would have been his job," Greinke said.

Just days before she killed herself, she wrote to the school principal, "I feel that I am being subtly bullied by all CHAs and by the lack of support from administration and it's taking a toll on my health."

She never heard back.  Instead, the principal forwarded her email to labor relations, but by then it was too late.

In her suicide note she wrote, "I endured 10 years of bullying from several of my co-workers. After a lifetime of abuse from other people, I simply couldn't stand another day of it."

"The kind of bullying that went on with my daughter  was subtle," Greinke said. "It wasn't that she was kicked or hit or pushed. She was ignored."

That kind of emotional abuse, Greinke said, can take a toll.

In the days following Ross' suicide, the school principal emailed with other district administrators about possibly disciplining the teacher for failing to show up to class without notice.

German Immersion School

MPS would not talk to FOX6 on camera about how it dealt with this situation. The German Immersion Foundation wrote an email to FOX6 saying "The GIF is not involved in the daily operations of the Milwaukee German Immersion School, and its members have no knowledge of personnel matters related to the school.  Thus, we have no comment."

It's that kind of radio silence on the issue,  Greinke says, that is part of the problem.

"There has to be change," she said. "Bullying is not always physical. My daughter felt she wasn't being heard because she was different and she was transgender."

Madeline Dietrich, one of Karis' friends, wrote an open letter to MPS after Karis' death, which garnered national attention.

After we showed her the emails, she said she stands by what she wrote.

"MPS failed to acknowledge the obstacles Karis faces as a woman, as a trans person," Dietrich said, "This is really the takeaway I guess for other school districts -- is how serious this is and how seriously they need to take it."

Dr. Cary Costello, a sociology professor at UW-Milwaukee, says businesses can help transgender people on the job by adding gender identity and expression to nondiscrimination policies. More importantly, the policies should be enforced.

Dr. Cary Costello, a sociology professor at UW-Milwaukee, says it's important that employers, especially school districts, be aware of what their employees are up against when they transition at work.

"We have to be aware of the levels of discrimination and harassment, that  especially trans women face in this society -- and be good allies for them," he said.

Denise Callaway, executive director of communications & outreach for Milwaukee Public Schools sent FOX6 the following statement:

"Ms. Ross was a well-respected member of the Milwaukee German Immersion School family for many years. The absence of her presence is still felt today.

As the emails you received show, it was not evident until Ms. Ross’ November 26, 2014 email that she felt she was being bullied. That email was sent the afternoon before the two-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The principal responded immediately when he saw the email, reaching out during the holiday weekend to seek support for Ms. Ross and scheduling an appointment to talk to her."

But the emails FOX6 obtained show that the principal did not respond immediately to Ross. She emailed on Nov. 26, 2014, saying she felt she was being subtly bullied. On Nov. 28, 2014, the principal emailed another administrator asking for advice on how to best address the issue. There are no emails from the principal to Ross after that date.

MPS' Administrative Policy includes equal protection for staff regardless of gender.

"This policy was originally housed in the section of our policies related to students, even though it applied to students and staff. In 2015, we moved it to the section of policies that specifically applies to staff," Callaway said.

It's unclear whether the co-workers Ross mentioned in her suicide note were ever disciplined. MPS would not provide specific details of its investigation.

MILWAUKEE — More than a million smartphones are stolen in the United States every year and almost all new phones come with software designed to help you find them, but what should you do with that information?

FOX6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn shows you what happened when he went looking for the man who walked off with his phone.

Scroll down for information on how to track your phone if it's lost or stolen

Mobile phone theft is unlike almost any other property crime, because your phone can literally tell you right where it is. But what happens then?  If you report your phone's location to police, will they go get it for you?  And if not, should you go get it yourself?  The answer to that question could be a matter of life and death.

If you left a mobile phone sitting out in a public place, how long would it take before someone else walked away with it?  For the FOX6 Investigators, it took about five minutes.

Five minutes after the FOX6 Investigators intentionally left a mobile phone sitting unattended at a public restaurant, this man picks it up and walks away with it.

"You pick up a cell phone there?" FOX6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn asked the man he saw walking off with his phone.

"Uh-uh," said the man, indicating he had not.

Ava Gordon was working out at a gymnastics club in Brookfield when her mobile phone disappeared.

"I just didn't know what to do," Gordon said.

Ava used an app called Find My iPhone that relies on GPS technology to pinpoint a phone's location.

"The girls were like, 'go get it Dad,'" Ava's father, Dave Gordon said. "I am not going to go get it."

Ava's phone had made its way to a house in one of the most dangerous parts of Milwaukee. Her younger sister tweeted that Dad refused to go get it "bc he doesn't wanna get shot."

Instead, Dave Gordon called Milwaukee police.

Dave Gordon refused to go after his daughter's stolen phone, because he felt it was too dangerous. He called police instead.

"I'm like, pfft. Case closed. We're gettin' the phone back," Dave Gordon said.

It wasn't quite that easy.

"It's very frustrating. Somebody's stolen your stuff. You have a pretty good idea where it is, and the police won't help you, " said Tim Dees, a former police officer and current blogger for PoliceOne.com. "You can't roll out and do the full court press for every criminal complaint that you get."

Dees says police departments across the country are being inundated with complaints about stolen mobile phones.  The federal government estimates between one million and three million phones are stolen in the U.S. every year, and more victims are using tracking technology to find them.

"You could actually lock your phone. You could wipe it," said John Marinho, a cell phone industry spokesman.

Locking and wiping the data from your phone renders it virtually useless for a thief, Marinho says, but many victims are tempted to chase after their phones instead.

Ava Gordon, 16, shows FOX6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn the app she used to track her stolen iPhone.

"I didn't want to wipe it completely until I knew for sure if I was going to get it back," Ava Gordon said.

To show you how easy that is, the FOX6 Investigators left a phone unattended, in public, on purpose.

Within minutes, a passerby grabbed it and walked right out the door. He headed across the parking lot, and disappeared from view.  Then, the FOX6 Investigators asked Google to find our Android phone. We followed the movements on Google Maps, which led us right to a county bus, stopped near 76th and Barnard.

As we followed the bus north on 76th, the GPS pings matched the bus' movement. At 2:27 p.m., the phone pinged near 60th and Forest Home, right where we saw the bus. At 2:39 p.m., it pinged at 27th and Forest Home. At 2:52, it was at 16th and Pierce. And that's where we saw the man who took our phone getting off the bus.

The FOX6 Investigators parked the car and approached him on foot.

"Pardon me, sir. Do you have a moment?" Bryan Polcyn said.

At first, he denied that he took the phone.

"You pick up a cell phone there?" Polcyn said.

"Uh-uh," the man said.

Then, Bryan Polcyn explained how we tracked him down.

FOX6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn talks to the man who walked off with a mobile phone we left unattended, on purpose.

Bryan Polcyn / FOX6 Investigators: "If you could just give me the phone..."'

Man: "I just turned it into dude. Is there a reward for the phone?"

Polcyn: "What's that?"

Man: "Reward for the phone?"

Polcyn: "The reward is I won't call the police. How about that?"

Man: "I didn't steal it. Somebody else picked it up."

Polcyn: "I didn't say you stole it. I am just asking if I can have the phone back."

Man: "I didn't steal it. You can call the police if you want to. I didn't steal your phone."

He then appeared to toss the phone in a dumpster. Actually, it was a fake out.  As we searched the dumpster, the phone kept moving. The last ping came from the nearby casino and the signal went dark.

Marinho suggests you not do what the FOX6 Investigators did.

"Don't try to track the phone. Report it to police and let them intercede on your behalf," Marinho said.

Of course, that assumes police are willing to intercede.

Earlier this year, Bryan Polcyn's own phone was stolen from a Milwaukee nightclub. He tracked it to a neighborhood on the city's south side. A funny thing happened when he called police to report it stolen. The person who took the complaint suggested he should go knock on some doors himself.

The same day FOX6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn has his own phone stolen (for real), a man in Alabama was shot to death after tracking his own phone and confronting the thief.

That same day, a man in Alabama tracked his stolen phone, confronted the thief and was shot to death.

"Certainly, there's a safety concern," Dees said. "My advice to law enforcement agencies is to get out in front of this."

Dees says every police department needs to have a clear cut policy for tracking and recovering stolen phones, but many still don't.

FOX6 News asked six local agencies for their policies. Three told us they don't have one and two never responded.

"If the department doesn't have a policy on it, then they have to make it up as they go along," Dees said.

Turns out, Milwaukee police do have a policy that says they will attempt to recover a stolen phone with a known GPS location, but they won't respond at all for lost phones.

Curiously, Bryan Polcyn's phone was officially recorded as "lost" even though the report shows that he tracked it to 4th and Orchard -- a neighborhood he'd never been in.

"That's going to be a judgment call on the part of the person taking the report," Dees said.

Dave Gordon wasn't about to chase after a stolen phone himself.

"I am not a police officer. That's not my, not my wheelhouse," he said.

Milwaukee police wouldn't help, because the phone was stolen in Brookfield. So Gordon called Brookfield police. They sent a squad into Milwaukee and recovered Ava's phone.

"I was really happy because I didn't really think I would get it back," Ava Gordon said.

Make no mistake, Dave Gordon would lay his life on the line to protect his daughter, but he's not willing to risk that much for her iPhone.

"It's just too dangerous," he said.

Milwaukee police declined multiple requests for an on-camera interview, but a spokesman said the person who advised Bryan Polcyn to "go knock on some doors" was not a police officer. He was a police aide, assigned to take reports over the phone.

The Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) has information on how to track your phone if it's lost or stolen, depending on the operating system:

• Android
• iOS (Apple)
• Windows
• Blackberry
• Symbian

MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Police Department has gotten a lot of heat for its so-called "no pursuit" policy. Critics have said the city needs more police chases to drive down crime, but as the FOX6 Investigators have found, there were more police pursuits in 2015 than there have been in more than a decade.

Milwaukee police chased 232 cars in 2015, up from 98 in 2014, according to DOT records.

In January 2016, Karen Vega, who had just moved into a new neighborhood on the south side of Milwaukee, was carjacked in front of her children.

She says she was approached by four teenage boys. One pushed her to the ground and demanded her keys.

"They just stole my car right in front of my house," Vega told an emergency operator. "They just pushed me. I was getting out of the car. It was like five guys."

Her neighbor tried to chase the stolen car. His description of the vehicle helped police find the car -- which did not pull over immediately.

Dash cam video shows Milwaukee police chasing the vehicle down North Avenue, in the rain, at speeds over 70 miles-per-hour. The video shows police driving the wrong way through traffic and down alleys, before eventually catching up to the suspects.

"They're basically playing a real-life version of Grand Theft Auto," Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn said.

A January carjacking leads to several arrests. Police pursued the vehicle in the rain at 70 mph on crowded streets.

The teens were eventually caught and arrested.

In this particular case, police were allowed to chase because they suspected one of the teens had a gun -- which meant they weren't just going after a stolen car, they were going after suspects who had potentially committed an armed robbery.

It might not seem like a big difference, but  it is to Chief Flynn.

"Unless we know that driver has committed an act of violence or is in a car that was used in an act of violence, then we shouldn't chase it just because it's stolen," Flynn said.

Chief Flynn, worried about the safety of the public and his officers, changed the pursuit policy in 2010 when four innocent bystanders were killed in high-speed pursuits.

Alderman Bob Donovan says MPD's pursuit policy makes Milwaukee less safe.

Since then, police have only been allowed to chase fleeing drivers if they have probable cause to believe someone in the car is committing a violent felony.

The policy has provoked strong criticism from other city leaders, like Alderman Bob Donovan.

"Now the genie is out of the bottle," Donovan says. "The bad guys know they are not going to be chased for the most part. I believe the policy has sadly created a less safe city. It has given the criminals a green light to do what they want to for the most part, and get away with it."

State data provided by DOT shows Milwaukee Police are chasing more cars.

But statewide data shows there were a lot more drivers last year who didn't get away with anything.  A database of police pursuits obtained from the Department of Transportation shows that, for the first few years after Milwaukee police changed its pursuit policy, the number of chases did go way down.

But in 2015 the numbers shot up -- way up.  Last year, Milwaukee police chased 130 percent more cars compared to the year before, according to state data. That was more chases than in any single year since 2002.

Milwaukee Police Chief Edward Flynn says his officers do pursue stolen cars, but they must have probable cause to believe the vehicle was used in a violent felony.

"It's not that we can't pursue them. We do. If that car has been used in a violent crime, it has been taken, for example, in a carjacking, we certainly can pursue," Flynn said.

As of April 2016, MPD says officers have chased more than 100 cars already.

It's not that they've stopped pursuing, Flynn says, it's just that they are being more deliberate about who they go after.

"Cops are making arrests. Lots of arrests. But until the juvenile justice system starts treating this seriously, I am afraid we are going to continue to have accidents and injuries caused by these reckless young drivers," Flynn said.

In the January 8, 2016 chase, only one of the teens got in much trouble. Elton Poe had turned 18 years old a month earlier. He now faces felony charges, but his friends were charged in juvenile court with operating a car without the owners consent.

"It's a minor offense," Flynn said. "And if it's juveniles, they're home before the paperwork is done."

MPD says the number of police pursuits has risen dramatically in the last year because officers have been encountering more cars that have been used in violent crimes.

WAUPACA — The controversy surrounding high speed police pursuits has mainly focused on the Milwaukee Police Department, but if you leave the city and head to more rural communities, police policies can change dramatically. Sometimes, they can be deadly.

The FOX6 Investigators received a tip about a sheriff's deputy in Waupaca who is known around town for his high-speed chases. In August 2015, he tried to stop a driver who was doing donuts in an intersection. When the driver failed to pull over, a chase ensued, reaching speeds over 117 miles-per-hour.

Deputy Bryan Strobusch radioed out: "I got a Mustang not stopping."

"What was your reason for the stop?"  a Waupaca dispatcher asked.

"Doughnuts in the intersection of QQ and Fulton,"  Deputy Strobusch said.

"Did you say doughnuts in the intersection?" asked the dispatcher.

"Yes," Strobusch said.

Per Waupaca's pursuit policy, the chase could have ended there. But Deputy Strobusch kept on with the pursuit, before he briefly lost control of his squad.

That's when he saw the driver in front of him flip his car and crash. Strobusch told Dispatch to page an ambulance because "he rolled bad."

Delmer Peterson with his Mustang. His family says he loved to drive fast, and warned it might get him in trouble.

The driver wasn't wanted for a violent crime.  In fact, he wasn't even suspected of committing a crime.

Police knew who he was and where he lived. In the reports that followed, Deputy Strobusch would write that the Mustang "was not driving erratically." And that he had planned on stopping the chase seconds before the accident.

Delmer Peterson, a father of four, was ejected from his car at 108 miles-per-hour. He was not wearing a seat belt.

Peterson's family says they think he would be alive if the police officer had given the situation more thought before chasing at such high speeds.

"They shouldn't ever have to go to that extreme to get somebody for a ticket, a simple ticket," said Kelly Peterson, Delmer's sister-in-law. "I thought it was very extreme."

The family says they know Delmer should have stopped immediately when he was being pulled over, but they also say the video of the crash and what happened afterward is just as disturbing.

"Whether or not you think someone is dead, if they have a severed limb or something you should go up and check for a pulse," Kelly Peterson said.

The dash cam video shows the deputy exit his car with an intern who had been riding along during the pursuit. Instead of rushing to check on the driver, they walk, eventually shining a light on the body, before sauntering back slowly to their car. After the incident, the deputy would write in his report that he was going to get gloves.

But more than three minutes pass at the scene before anyone actually approaches the driver. The video doesn't show whether officers checked his vital signs before emergency responders arrived.

"It just looked like no urgency whatsoever, like they thought, 'he's dead.' And I don't know how anybody can think like that,"  Kelly Peterson said.

"I am not saying he would have survived or anything, but you don't know," said Delmer's brother, Scott Peterson.

The August 2015 pursuit was not the first time this particular deputy has been involved in a questionable high-speed chase.

"This cop, he's got an issue with chasing people," Scott Peterson said.

In March 2015, Strobusch chased a man for 50 miles because he didn't have a front license plate. The chase reached speeds of 105 miles-per-hour.

"I've dealt with you before. Why didn't you stop now if there is nothing, like, more serious going on? That doesn't make any sense," Strobusch asked the man after the pursuit ended.

"I don't know. I panicked," the driver said.

"Panic for what?" Strobusch said.

"I don't know," the driver responded.

In February 2016, Strobusch chased a vehicle for allegedly speeding on the highway. The car eventually crashed into a ditch after reaching speeds of 85 miles-per-hour.

Department of Transportation data shows police chases in Waupaca County have gotten faster since 2002.  Most chases in the county reach speeds over 100 miles-per-hour and almost all of them are for minor traffic violations.

"Is it a concern? Absolutely," said Sheriff Brad Hardel.

When the FOX6 Investigators asked whether it was safe to chase drivers who might be intoxicated at such high speeds, the sheriff said it probably is dangerous -- but the alternative, he's afraid, might be worse.

Waupaca Sheriff Brad Hardel said Strobusch didn't violate the pursuit policy, but he was disciplined for not immediately rendering aid to the driver.

"If you don't pursue, we stop. And he continues on driving like that and something happens — then where are we?" Hardel said. "Obviously, the most important part of the policy is the public safety. Things happen so fast.  A matter of seconds and you can have a crash. There’s a fine line that you have to choose between —  is it worth pursuing or not? I mean, we are in a no-win situation. We understand that," Hardel said.

After Delmer Peterson died, Strobusch was suspended without pay for 40 hours. He got in trouble because he didn't run to help Peterson at the scene, and because he had an intern in the car.

"Did he react probably appropriately? Possibly not," Hardel said.

But the chase itself did not violate department policy. Neither did his other chases. Deputy Strobusch is still on patrol, though he was given a Last Chance Agreement.

"He is going to kill somebody else, you know?" Scott Peterson said.

The Petersons say their brother, who loved Mustangs and who loved driving fast, is not without blame.

Deputy Bryan Strobusch was briefly suspended without pay, and is now back on the job.

They say he absolutely should have stopped for police. But, the punishment for making a stupid decision, they say, doesn't fit the crime. And they don't think the officer, whose job is to "serve and protect," thought about protecting their brother, even after the crash.

The FOX6 Investigators went to Deputy Strobusch's house to try to talk to him for this story. He came to the door, but wouldn't open it or talk to us.

"These things happen and these officers are human also," Hardel said. "I can tell you it has affected him immensely in his life, what happened."

Tests showed Peterson had alcohol and marijuana in his system. But according to the police reports, Strobusch didn't have reason to believe he was intoxicated when he initially tried to pull him over for doing donuts. He wrote in his report the Mustang's "lane position was not erratic."

You can read Waupaca's review of the chase here. You can read the officers' statements about the August 2015 crash here.

NORTHBROOK, Illinois — A groundbreaking study in Illinois could change the way firefighters attack the hottest and most dangerous fires. The Milwaukee Fire Department is taking part in the study, but a retired New York City battalion chief says the researchers are all wet.

It may sound elementary, but scientists in suburban Chicago are studying whether applying water on a fire from the outside should come before search and rescue on the inside.

"It's an inherently dangerous profession," says Erich Roden, battalion chief for the Milwaukee Fire Department. "Our ethos and our mission is to get inside that building as quickly as possible to rescue those trapped civilians."

Steve Kerber is director of the Fire Safety Research Institute at UL, which invited firefighters from all over the world to witness a one-of-a-kind experiment.

Roden is on the advisory board for Underwriters Laboratories, which recently invited firefighters from around the world to witness a first-of-its-kind experiment. Not just a controlled burn, but a live fire inside a fully-furnished, 1,200 square foot house, with temperature sensors, oxygen sensors, air flow sensors and video cameras.

"We couldn't make measurements like this 30, 40 years ago," said Steve Kerber, director of UL's Fire Safety Research Institute. "Now we can."

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for most of us in the fire service to see it through other people's eyes," said John Chubb, a member of the Dublin Fire Brigade from Dublin, Ireland.

The tests are being driven, in part, by the way most homes have changed.

"There is a lot more synthetic material in our homes today, which means fires burn hotter and faster than they did 30 or 40 years ago," says John Drengenberg, a spokesman for UL. "This means you have less time to escape."

It also means that by the time firefighters get to a burning building, the fire may already be nearing its most dangerous point -- a sudden, dramatic combustion event known as flashover.

"It used to take upwards of 20 to 30 minutes for a room to reach flashover stage. Now it's down to as few as seven or eight minutes," said Lloyd Bertram with the New Berlin Fire Department.

To prevent firefighters from getting trapped, UL is studying an alternative method of attack.

"A standard attack would involve usually going right through the front door, getting inside and searching for occupants," Kerber said.

UL equipped a 1,200 square foot building with thousands of sensors to conduct the tests.

Instead, they're employing what's known as a transitional attack that starts outside.

"The occupants are on the inside, so the firefighters want to get to the inside as quickly as possible. But if the fire isn't under control, that opening in the door can make the fire larger and now you are in a situation where you could potentially be making things worse for me inside," Kerber said.

Hartland Fire Chief Dave Dean describes how his crews used transitional attack on a suburban garage fire.

"The fire was extremely hot. A lot of flames. Huge fire ball," Dean said.  "Before we were able to send anybody into that structure, we were able to cool the fire by a large diameter hose attack line outside... then entering the structure. It worked like clock-work."

In the fire service, they call that "hitting it hard from the yard."

"I don't fight fires like that," said John Salka, a retired battalion chief for the New York City Fire Department. "I am not a scientist, but I have done some experiments myself. Like about 30,000 experiments. I've been to a lot of fires."

Salka says experience tells him there's no time to waste.  In 2012, he wrote an opinion piece for Firehouse magazine titled, "Transitional Attack Is Whack."

"Any minute that you delay going in to find a victim in a building puts them at greater risk," he said.

A standard attack usually involves a team going inside the building to knock down fire and search for victims. Transitional attack starts by hitting the fire from the outside before moving in.

In addition to delaying search and rescue, there's another concern among old-school firefighters.

"The conventional teaching was that if you put water on a fire before you have had a chance to actually rescue a victim, you are, in essence, steaming that victim," Bertram said.

"Am I doing what my grandfather taught me 30 years ago?" Kerber asked a room full of firefighters.

He says science is proving that theory wrong.

"It allows temperatures to cool off quickly, heat flux to go down, [and it's] more survivable for occupants faster. The numbers don't lie," Roden said.

Salka is not convinced.

"They set all these beautiful controlled conditions up, do an experiment and then write down with their little pencils the results and say, `look what happened. Look what happened. Look what happened,'" Salka said.

With the exception of the 2001 terrorist attacks, civilian fire deaths have steadily declined over the past 40 years across the US, while firefighter deaths have remained relatively unchanged.

He worries that the new approach is being driven by a desire among firefighters for self-preservation.

"It certainly is a lot easier and a lot safer to be out there than inside," Salka said.

"Firefighters are very much at risk today," Drengenberg acknowledges.

Data obtained by FOX6 News from the US Fire Administration shows civilian fire deaths have steadily declined over the past 40 years, but firefighter deaths have remained the roughly the same.

"So this research is focused on how to keep firefighters safe," Drengenberg said.

"I'm fairly certain that it is designed to assist and protect firefighters, rather than civilians," Salka said.

UL's research will show what happens to fire and the heated gases inside a room when water is applied from the outside first.

Milwaukee's Erich Roden says they're trying to do both.

"What we are learning here is a much more rapid application of water is going to allow us to get in there and rescue occupants much quicker and it is safer for the victim and for ourselves," he said.

Salka remains skeptical.

"I am afraid the fire service is going to embrace and run with this and adapt and adopt it too quickly," Salka said.

For some, the retired FDNY chief represents the stubborn old guard of the fire service.

"Change a lot of times is difficult in the fire service," Dean said.

"It is part of human nature to resist change," Chubb said.

"We're very attached to the way we have always done things," Roden said.

But the director of UL's research says it's not  their place to tell firefighters how to do their jobs.

"What we are going for is informing them," Kerber said.

When the right approach is a matter of life and death, they just want to put the data behind the decision. The tests conducted by UL back in March are part of a three-year study that's expected to be published later this year (2016). Fire departments can then use that information to determine the best approach for protecting their own personnel as well as victims who may be trapped inside a burning building.

JEFFERSON — The federal government made a big mistake and now, a disabled Wisconsin veteran is paying the price. An error in the federal Workers' Compensation Program could force the father of four to sell his home.

Ron Bearce did nothing wrong.  The letters from the government say so, but that has not stopped Uncle Sam from treating this decorated combat veteran like a deadbeat.

Nine years ago, Bearce was in the Army -- fighting for his country, but today, he is fighting chronic back pain.

He was once a strapping young soldier. Now, he needs help just to start the lawnmower.

"Causes a lot of stress on our marriage," Bearce said.

Bearce lives with his wife and four children in Jefferson, and mowing the lawn is about the most physical activity he gets these days. It's a marked change from the 23 years he spent serving in the Wisconsin National Guard, including a pair of tours in Iraq.

Bearce (center), with members of his unit during one of two tours in Iraq.

"Me and my bros, we still get together every once in awhile," Bearce said.

It was a tough day in 2013 when word came that the National Guard was letting him go.

"Just like, wow. I couldn't believe it," Bearce said.

Bearce was a "dual status" technician at the Milwaukee Armory. That meant his full-time civilian job depended on him being a member of the military. In other words, losing his position in the National Guard also cost him his regular job.

"Bam, slapped in the face again," Bearce said.

Ron Bearce

The notice that he was being "non-continued" for service came six months ahead of his actual termination date. So Bearce kept working. With one month left on the job, he picked up a 60-pound military Hawker battery and injured his back.

"Boom. It popped. That was it," he said.

He knows the timing looks bad.

"That's definitely the feeling I was getting. It really felt like, 'he did this on purpose. He knows the system well enough to fake this,'" Bearce said.

Ron Bearce

X-rays and MRIs would eventually show his injury was legit. He had a herniated disc that required surgery and left him with a medicine cabinet loaded with pills, from OxyContin to morphine.

"Just to like, be able to get through the day," Bearce said.

Bearce's 'letter in the mail' now includes collection agency notices.

Still, the real back-breaker is what happened after he was discharged.

"My credit is so down the drain now," he said.

Bearce applied for workers' compensation.  For the first several months, no money was coming. Finally, in May 2014, a check arrived for more than $11,000, covering four months of lost wages. Then another check for $3,000.

"And I was like, thank God, because bills, they were stackin' up," he said.

He used the money to pay those bills -- and then, the government dropped a bomb.

''I got this letter in the mail," Bearce recalled. "'Oh, we're sorry. We made a mistake.'"

The Office of Workers' Compensation Programs informed him they had erroneously sent more than $14,000.  Even though it was not his fault, the government wanted the  money back.

"And I was like 'what?'" he said.

Bearce has kept every letter sent to him by the federal government since his injury.

The feds approved Bearce for disability retirement and agreed to pay 100 percent of his medical bills, but decided he was not entitled to lost wages from January 2014 to May 2014, because he'd already been told his job was ending before he got hurt.

"The fact that he received advanced notice of discharge is irrelevant," Attorney Mitchell Barrock said.

Bearce hired the Brookfield attorney to help fight the government's claim.

"It's a slam dunk," Barrock recalled thinking at the time.

"There is no way we are not gonna win this case," Bearce said.

Ron Bearce

But as the months passed by, Bearce heard nothing.

And Barrock wrote the federal government a letter, and another, and another -- asking for an update.

"I think this absolutely should've received due consideration, and he should've received his benefits. But he didn't," Barrock aid.

It wasn't until two years after the injury that the U.S. Department of Labor finally told Bearce its decision was final. And that's when the federal government started sending collectors to get the money.

"Feel like I've been punched in the stomach and slapped in the face and treated like dirt," Bearce said.

Barrock referred Bearce to a federal workers' compensation specialist in Ohio, who requested a hearing on Bearce's behalf, and then quickly dropped him as a client because he couldn't afford the hefty retainer.

"There's no way I can fight this by myself," he said.

Since then, Bearce has tried every workers' compensation lawyer he can find.

"Private counsel don't usually get involved in military cases," Barrock said.

And since Bearce is no longer in the military, he can't get legal help there either.

"When I was in, they took good care of me and everybody took care of each other, but then when I was out, it was like you're an outsider looking in," he said.

Because the over-payment was not Bearce's fault, the government could waive repayment, but so far has declined to do so.

"How are we going to do this? How are we going to pull this magic rabbit out of the hat?" Bearce said.

Bearce's family home in Jefferson is now up for sale, as garnishments and income tax interceptions have made it harder for him and his wife to make ends meet.

He insists he can't afford to make the payments and has listed the family house for sale.  His disability retirement checks are now being garnished. In March, the government confiscated his federal tax refund -- more than $1,100.

"After all the time that I gave my country and gave up as far as myself and my family, I have a very, very bad taste in my mouth for the government," he said.

His former attorney, Mitchell Barrock, said: "I always thought the military is supposed to stand up for the people who stand up for the rest of the country and I just don't see it happening here."

As a decorated combat veteran of the war on terror, it is safe to say Ron Bearce has faced tougher battles.

"This is piddly, but this is what I have to do for survival now. I feel like I've been punched in the stomach and slapped in the face and treated like dirt," Bearce said.

After years of fighting for his country, it is hard to blame him for wondering why his country is now fighting him.

MILWAUKEE— Like it or not, America is undergoing a profound transition.  From Caitlyn Jenner to public restrooms, gender identity has taken center stage. But not everyone is happy about that. The FOX6 Investigators found some of the harshest criticism coming from a place you might never expect.

When it comes to fighting for gay and lesbian rights, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more battle-tested soldier than Milwaukee's own Miriam Ben-Shalom.

"If I have to march in lock step to some political line, then to heck with it. Because I don't march in lock step," Ben-Shalom said.

But when it comes to transgender rights, she might just be fighting for the other side.

Miriam Ben-Shalom

"My fight is ensuring that women are safe from the pretenders who might use the trans issue to get in and hurt somebody," Ben-Shalom said.

Transgender issues are stirring debate across America, but they may also be driving a wedge in a community that, for decades, thrived on solidarity.

"Is there a growing chasm in the LGBT community?" asked FOX6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn.

Before he even finished the question, Ben-Shalom replied, "Yes. I would say that there is."

And that helps to explain why she was invited to serve as grand marshal of the Milwaukee Pride Parade, only to be told 'nevermind.'

"Her mindsets don't line up with ours at this time," said Brent Holmes, coordinator of the parade.

Parade coordinator Brent Holmes called Ben-Shalom's selection as grand marshal a 'no-brainer' until they saw her Facebook posts.

Holmes said this year's theme is "Heroes Of Pride," which made the selection of Ben-Shalom a no-brainer. That is, until board members noticed her Facebook page.

"It was a shock to all of us," Holmes said.

In recent weeks, Ben-Shalom shared posts asking whether transgender women are a threat in public restrooms, and created her own posts calling them "violent and judgmental" -- even urging other lesbians to "Get the 'L' out of LGBT."

"There's some hostility it seems," Polcyn said.

"Sure there is," Ben-Shalom said. "Sure there is. I have hostility."

The parade board called the posts an "attack on trans women" and informed Ben-Shalom she was out as grand marshal.

"It's a bad thing for everyone, in my opinion. But it just had to happen," Holmes said.

"I just think they're full of it," countered Ben-Shalom, a self-described 'radical feminist' who has never been afraid to say what's on her mind.

Her lifetime of activism is deemed so important the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee is preserving boxes of her personal records in library archives and the Library of Congress has historical files on her, too. In a 2004 interview, recorded for the national archives, Ben-Shalom says her activism started in 1975 with a single question, not long after she enlisted in the U.S. Army.

"I got called into my commander's office," she told the Library of Congress. "And it was, 'Sergeant Ben-Shalom, are you a homosexual?'"

She admitted she was a lesbian and the Army kicked her out.

"I was judged because I told the truth. I refused to lie," Ben-Shalom said.

In 1988, 12 years after she was discharged, Ben-Shalom became the first openly homosexual service member to be re-enlisted in the Army, by court order.

"I want it recorded that it was not a gay man who first won and went back in," she told the Library of Congress. "It was a Jewish lesbian from the state of Wisconsin."

Miriam Ben-Shalom is arrested and dragged away from the White House during a protest in 2010.

But the fight was far from over.  In 1993, President Bill Clinton made 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' the official policy of the United States military. And for nearly two decades she fought to repeal it, twice chaining herself to the White House fence. When President Barack Obama finally repealed 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' for good in 2010, Ben-Shalom's place in history was sealed.

"I'm really thankful for Miriam's work and what she's done," Holmes said.

Ben-Shalom actually served as grand marshal of the Pridefest Parade in Milwaukee in 1990.  A quarter-century later, things have changed.

Karen Gotzler, Director of Milwaukee's LGBT Community Center

"I think in the community in the last 25 years, we have come a long, long way," said Karen Gotzler, executive director of Milwaukee's LGBT Community Center.

She said it's not just the general populous learning to accept transgender individuals, it's some gays and lesbians too.

"There's so many of us in the lesbian, gay and bisexual community who really don't have a full appreciation and understanding of what it means to be transgender," Gotzler said.

But it's Ben-Shalom's position on restrooms that has her most at odds with LGBT leaders.

"If trans women were really women, they would get it!" Ben-Shalom said.

She insists she is not "transphobic," as Pride Parade officials have suggested -- just protective of spaces reserved for women who were born women.

"My concern is not with transgender people," she said. "My concern is with the pretenders."

And by "pretenders," she said, she means men posing as women.

"I have not heard at any time where an honest to God man has just put on a dress and tried to walk into a ladies room for a nefarious purpose," Holmes countered.

The safety argument is one more commonly made by conservatives like Wisconsin Assemblyman Jesse Kremer.

"I mean, if I send my girls into the girls changing room," Kremer recently told FOX 6 News, "I don't know who's in there."

Rep. Jesse Kremer

Last year, Kremer introduced a bill that would've required Wisconsin schoolchildren to use the bathroom that matches the sex they were assigned at birth, rather than the gender they identify with now.

"If they need to use the bathroom, they should use the bathroom," Holmes said, noting that the bathroom debate is just one example of how transgender individuals face hurdles today similar to what gays and lesbians faced years ago. "And look, they were with us back then. We need to be with them now as they go for those same struggles and those same rights."

"Are they going through the same struggle you were then?" Polcyn asked.

"Possibly," Ben-Shalom responded. "But we were not authoritarian in our demands. We didn't say 'our way or the highway. Give us what we want, or else.' We worked for it."

Gotzler said Ben-Shalom represents a mindset that is going away.

"The percentage of people who feel that way is decreasing over time," Gotzler said.

It's safe to say that Ben-Shalom is not the only lesbian with reservations about trans women in the restroom, but she might be one of the few saying it so loudly.

"I mean, how many women have to get hurt before enough is enough?" she said.

Milwaukee Pride Parade

Pridefest opens at the Summerfest grounds on Friday, June 10th and the separately organized and operated Milwaukee Pride Parade is scheduled for Sunday, June 12th, at 2:00 p.m. in Walker's Point.

Ben-Shalom tells FOX6 she intends to be miles away from both.

SHEBOYGAN —  Last month a local mom was criminally charged when she took off with her kids to Georgia without informing their father. It's a common problem in Wisconsin, but a review of court records show it's rare for parents who take off to be held accountable.

James Wolfe has been involved in his son's life since he was born. Now he spends his days searching for his son with little help from the courts and law enforcement.

Two years ago James Wolfe became a dad.

"There's nothing like it in the world. You're afraid at first, because you don't know, but when you see that little baby for the first time you never want to give it up," Wolfe said.

Wolfe is a truck driver.

"Sometimes that means I was gone for two weeks at a time, three weeks at a time and I'd come home and I'd spend as much time as possible -- every waking moment with my son."

In January he was out on the road when he got a call from his landlord. A moving truck was outside of his apartment.

"My heart sank. I knew what I was walking into but there was nothing in the world that could have prepared me for it," Wolfe said.  "She took all of my son's toys. Every single one of them. Every single thing of my son's is gone -- including him," he said.

Latisha Anderson took her son out of state without permission from the boy's father, James Wolfe.

The mother of his son is Latisha Anderson.  She's better known in the porn industry as Darcy Tyler.

James met her on a movie set -- something he says he's not proud of. It's a life he wanted no part of, so he convinced her to start a family with him in Wisconsin. The couple moved to Sheboygan after their son Ethan was born.

"I'd give anything I have just to have him back," Wolfe said.

It's been 179 days since James has seen his son.

"I'm doing everything that I can," he said.

But everything he's done has not yet been enough.  Wolfe has spent more than $30,000 on lawyers, process servers, and private detectives trying to get custody of his son.

"The police won't help. The courts won't help. There is nobody out there that's doing anything, and I'm trying as hard as I can and I'm getting nowhere," Wolfe said.

James is not married to the mother of his child, so he's been forced to spend months in court proving he's the father.

"I just want my son back," he said. "I'll find a way. I can't stop. I love my son more than anything in this world. I would do anything for him and I never want him to go without knowing that."

James Wolfe was just granted temporary physical placement of his son.

When his son was born he signed the birth certificate acknowledging he's the father. His son even has his last name. But in Wisconsin, legally, that's not good enough. "I'll find a way. I can't stop. I love my son more than anything in this world. I would do anything for him...and I never want him to go without knowing that."

Wolfe's attorney, Chelsea Williamson, says unwed parents need to get paternity and custody established early on.

His attorney says normally the court would order a DNA test, but how do you test your child when don't know where he is?

"It's very concerning, that they make it that difficult for someone who has been there since the beginning, who co-parented," says his attorney Chelsea Williamson.

"People need to know if you have a child out of wedlock that you need to get your legal rights established. Having your name on a birth certificate isn't always enough," Williamson said.

These days 40 percent of babies born in the United States have parents who are not married.  State laws often prioritize the rights of mothers, but aren't as specific about the rights of fathers.  Dads like Wolfe often find themselves fighting a losing battle in a tug-of-war over their kids.

Peter Kerr talks with Meghan Dwyer about the difficulty fathers have  protecting their rights in family court.

"It's so common and unfortunately it's accepted as common," said Peter Kerr, former president of Wisconsin Fathers for Children and Families.

After spending years in court fighting for his daughter, Kerr now offers advice to other dads.

"I was up to $135,000 when I stopped counting. Not many people have got that to fight for time with their children," Kerr said.

He says society should reward involved dads, not punish them.

"We really need to protect a child's rights to know both parents and that the definition of family includes fathers."

When Wisconsin parents leave the state with their kids without permission from the other parent, it's technically a felony --  but our research shows cases are rarely filed.   With few consequences for the parent who took off with the kids, experts say, are the ones who suffer most.

After months of going to court, Wolfe finally has a court order saying his son should be living with him, at least temporarily.

But he still doesn't know where his son is.

He bought his son a new crib, new clothes, and a new car seat.

"Even though I didn't see him on his birthday, I still got him presents," Wolfe said.

It's been six months since he reported his son missing.  Sheboygan Police are finally involved with the case, and are searching for Wolfe's son.

James Wolfe hasn't seen his son in 179 days.

But here is no guarantee they'll find him.

We were able to reach Latisha Anderson on Twitter. In messages, she says she is in hiding because she fears for her safety. She says she doesn't want Wolfe to find her -- but was not able to provide credible evidence of any domestic violence in the relationship. She says Wolfe was never abusive toward their son Ethan.

In this case, a judge gave Wolfe joint custody after making a preliminary finding that there is no evidence of domestic violence. Police had never been called to the residence.

This could be charged federally as a parental kidnapping case. The Parental Kidnapping Act was passed decades ago, but it really hasn't been utilized much.  A federal court clerk says to her knowledge there has never been a parental kidnapping case filed in Southeast Wisconsin.

If you are trying to find your child, click here for more resources.

GREEN BAY—A year ago small businesses all over the state told the FOX6 Investigators they had tried to place ads in the Kids' Directory. "I thought 'Hey! This is a perfect place for us to advertise,'" said Lauren Ashley, owner of YETA (Youth Empowered Through Art)  Studios in Milwaukee.

Former customer Mark Harmann, who owns Homestead Animal Farm, thought the same thing. He and his wife paid for an ad during busy fall months.

Those companies, like many others, paid to place an ad in the booklet. The booklets would be distributed all over town.

"As far as I can tell that never happened," Ashley said.

We went around town looking for directories, too, with a list of places the directory's owners -- Kathleen and Harry Belsha -- gave us. We didn't see a single Kids' Directory in any of the stores we went to in Milwaukee.

But we did find that Harry and Kathleen Belsha had been investigated before. In Washington, Arizona, and Wisconsin, court records showed the Belshas owed more than $75,000 to people and businesses around the country. They've been investigated for theft and writing bad checks. In fact, their cleaning companies (Completely Clean, Cathy's Cleaning Crew) have taken people to the cleaners.

When we tried to talk to them for our first story, they ran from us and hid in their garage. Later, their lawyer faxed us these documents, with information about the Kids' Directory (also known as Wisconsin Marketing Resources & Publishing LLC). But they still never provided proof of printing or distribution.

In June 2016 we started getting calls from other consumers, saying they had paid a lot of money to a company called Bright Day Cleaning.

"This has to stop," said Tom Garland, who lives in Green Bay. Garland and his wife Terri say they found Bright Day Cleaning through Home Advisor and hired them to do a deep clean of their home. They paid upfront for the services, but claim the cleaners didn't do what was promised after the first day of cleaning.

"They know what they're doing," Terri Garland said.

When the Garland's tried to cancel the contract, they say they got hung up on.   So they filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

"I want to do everything I can to prevent these people from striking again," Tom Garland said.

As it turns out, Harry and Kathleen Belsha are also behind Bright Day Cleaning. They have a new business partner in both the Kids' Directory company and the cleaning company -- a man named Dolph Popp.

The BBB says there are five complaints against the Kids' Directory now. Three were filed in June by small business owners in Madison.

"They've made promises that they haven't kept," BBB Regional Director Susan Bach said. "They have been on our radar for a while."

The BBB has received one complaint about Bright Day Cleaning.

And a lawsuit was recently filed against Bright Day Cleaning by a dentist from Green Bay. He had also hired Bright Day Cleaning to clean his home, but instead cleaners allegedly broke a shelf and brought a sick child to their home.

We wanted to ask the Belshas about their new cleaning company, so we tracked them down at a warehouse in Green Bay. But they refused to answer our questions about claims they are still cheating small businesses.

"Our business is ruined because of you. You. Meghan Dwyer, Meghan Liar," Harry Belsha said.

The Belsha's mugshots from previous arrests.

When we asked if we could just talk about the new cleaning company, he yelled again.

"If you put this on the air, you don't realize how much trouble you are in," Harry Belsha said. "I will destroy you. I will spend the rest of my life making your life miserable. Enjoy it," Harry Belsha said.

Tom Garland, who reported the Belshas to local police, says he hopes law enforcement will eventually hold the Belshas accountable. But police say they have no probable cause to file any criminal charges at this point.

"There's absolutely no consequences, which I find absolutely absurd," Garland said.

The Garlands hired the Belshas and Dolph Popp to clean, remodel, and paint the outside of their home for $11,000. They plan to file a lawsuit, but don't expect their money back.

"They're going around and all they're doing is they're taking advantage of people," Tom Garland said.

After we left their warehouse, the Belshas called FOX6. They say they are just hardworking people trying to earn a living and support their family. They say they have a lot more satisfied customers than unhappy ones, and they can't please everyone.

Dolph Popp, Harry, and Kathleen Belsha are business partners in Bright Day Cleaning and the Kids' Directory.

They claim they do not own the cleaning business, but are mere employees. But when they called police on FOX6 they told officers they own Bright Day Cleaning.

In Popp's emails to FOX6 he referred to himself as the "former office manager of Bright Day Cleaning." When we asked what his actual role in the company was, he didn't reply.

Popp is the registered agent for the Kids' Directory. He emailed us a new list of places where the directory is distributed. The company expanded to Madison in July 2015. We called some of the businesses on the list and some say they have received Kids Directories in the past, but not for a while. Others told us they are waiting to get their money back because they are unhappy with ads they paid to place.

The Belshas say they stopped printing the directories in February 2016.

Harry and Kathleen Belsha threaten FOX6 Investigative Reporter Meghan Dwyer.

Home Advisor has removed Bright Day Cleaning from its website.

The BBB says to beware of placing ads in directories. In just the last 12 months, about 50 consumers around the state say they have lost money by advertising in similar booklets.

If you would like to file a complaint against the Belshas or Dolph Popp, you can file a complaint at  datcp.wi.gov or you can call the Consumer Protection Hotline (800-422-7128) to request a complaint form by mail.

The BBB is also encouraging consumers to file complaints with them online at https://www.bbb.org/consumer-complaints/file-a-complaint/get-started. If you would rather file a review of any of these businesses, you can do so by CLICKING HERE.

MILWAUKEE— Mark Harmann's great-grandfather started Homestead Animal Farm in Hartland 138 years ago. You might say it's the American dream.

Mark Harmann of Homestead Animal Farm

"We love it,"  Harmann said.

So do all the kids who visit each fall to see the farm in its full glory. But if you leave the farm, and head 20 miles southeast to Milwaukee you'll see a different kind of American dream; a little magic hidden in a trailer off North 76th street at YETA Studios.

"Arts are disappearing from schools at a really horrifying rate," said dance teacher Lauren Ashley.

YETA Studios, which stands for Youth Empowered through the Arts,  is filling that void for inner-city kids.

"Kids that wouldn't get the opportunity to participate in these activities otherwise," Ashley said.

Homestead Animal Farm and YETA Studios are two vastly different small businesses, with one thing in common: Their desire to help kids made them targets.

YETA Studios Head Choreographer and Dance Teacher, Lauren Ashley

They both paid big money to place an advertisement in a free booklet called the Greater Milwaukee Kids Directory.

"These guides would be distributed to local businesses, you know, right here in our area," Ashley said. "They told us doctors offices and grocery stores." They told Harmaan and his wife the same thing.

"As far as I can tell that never happened," Ashley said.

"We never saw one customer come through with any of the coupons," Harmann said.

Both businesses say they paid up front, but when they asked to see a copy of their ad nobody ever got back to them. And if they did, it was after complaints were filed with the Better Business Bureau -- or after months of emailing and calling.

"We told them that we were unhappy with it, that we wanted our money back," Harmann said.

But the owners of the Kids Directory refused to refund their money.

Frustrated, they called the FOX6 Investigators.

"They'll print out maybe one or two copies of this guide and send it to you and say, 'Hey look, this is so pretty. This is the guide,'" Ashley said.  "And then you will never hear from them again."

Kids Directory pamphlets that hit areas in Greater Milwaukee and Northeastern Wisconsin.

This is a list of nearly 300 businesses where the Kids Directory is supposed to be distributed.

For an entire afternoon the FOX6 Investigators went looking for the colorful booklets. Over and over again we found nothing.

More often than not, nobody had ever heard of the pamphlets.

"It really sucks to have that chunk of money go poof," Ashley said.

The Belsha's have a history of not holding up their end of a deal. Court records in Wisconsin, Arizona, and Wisconsin show they often get sued for not following through on contracts.

Curious to see if other local businesses had been burned, we looked up court records. A place called Palette and Pub in Green Bay, Wis., sued the Kids Directory in 2014 for the same thing.

In that case, a judge ordered the Kids Directory to pay back more than $4000 to the local business.

The couple behind the directory, in Green Bay and Milwaukee, is Kathleen and Harry Belsha. They publish the Greater Milwaukee Kids Directory and the Northeast Wisconsin Kids Directory. They were trying to start a Seniors Directory at one point, too.

We found evidence they have quite the history of not holding up their end of a deal.

Lisa Van Donsel met Kathy Belsha in 2013 when she got a call out of the blue from a company called Completely Clean.

"They got me when I was vulnerable," Lisa Van Donsel said.

Van Donsel, who suffers from multiple sclerosis, had just gotten out of the hospital.

Lisa Van Donsel talks about how the Belsha's took advantage of her while recovering from a hospital stay.

"She was very polished. Very likeable. And I was gullible," Van Donsel said.

The Belsha's offered to help clean and declutter her home.

"I just could not do it myself, so I hired them, and like I fool I wrote out a check," Van Donsel said.

And when they asked for more money...

"Like an idiot I wrote out another check," Van Donsel said.

She paid the cleaning company nearly $3,000. And when she refused to pay more, she says they just stopped showing up.

"I want my money back," she said.

Van Donsel sued and won.  But she did not get all of her money back.

"They're going to continue to do this until someone stops them," Van Donsel said.

It's a common complaint heard from Washington State to Wisconsin. Court records show the Belsha's owe more than $75,000 to people who trusted them.

They've been investigated for theft and writing bad checks.  Their cleaning companies, Completely Clean and Cathy's [sic] Cleaning Crew, have taken people to the cleaners.

Kathy and Harry Belsha owe money to victims across the U.S.

We looked for them for weeks. A new tenant in one of their former homes told us we weren't the only ones on their trail.

"They don't live here but everybody's always been looking for them here, whether it's the police, neighbors, mail, everything."

Harry Belsha runs from our camera.

We finally found them in Green Bay.

We asked them why they owe so many people so much money. We wanted to see proof they were actually publishing and distributing the Kids Directories. But they ran away from us.

Small business owners like Ashley want the couple to finally be held accountable.

"Stop doing this to small business owners who are already struggling and just go away," she said.

For the businesses, it's not just about the money, it's about the kids who are losing out. YETA Studios, which opened earlier this year, was hoping for full classes this summer. They thought publishing an ad in the directory would do the trick. More kids enrolled would mean healthy competition, camaraderie and sense of community.

"That is what we were trying to get by advertising in this guide," Ashley said.

A lawyer for the Belshas faxed us this packet of information, after weeks of requesting an interview. When asked to show proof that the directories were being published, the Belshas did not respond. Over the phone, Kathy Belsha said the directories are very popular. She says we were not able to locate them at any of the area businesses where they are supposed to be distributed because they "fly off the shelves."

She says the businesses featured in this story were "difficult to work with," though her lawyer writes that their company, Wisconsin Marketing Resources and Publishing, LLC, "works to do right by its clients in all situations."

The Belshas have also been accused by other local businesses of organizing expos, taking money for booth space, and then cancelling the events. Monkey Joes says they paid for ads in the directories and paid to have their monkey attend an expo to take place at the Waukesha Expo Center in October, 2015. The Waukesha Expo Center told us there is no such event scheduled and the Belshas have failed to pay for the space as required by contract.

If you feel you've been wronged by Harry or Kathy Belsha, you can file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau by clicking here.

WATERTOWN — The mastermind behind a $10 million Ponzi scheme is dead. More than a year later, his son is trying to dodge a swarm of angry investors. He's also dodging questions from the FOX6 Investigators.

Among the victims of the Ponzi scheme are dairy farmers, factory workers, plumbers and elementary school teachers.  They trusted their life's savings to a man who turned out to be a liar. But what role, if any, did his son play in the scheme?  That could be a multi-million dollar question.

Aaron Holzhueter refuses to answer questions from FOX6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn.

After a recent court hearing, Aaron Holzhueter asked security to escort him past what he called a "mob" of reporters.  It was actually just one reporter -- FOX6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn.

"Why don't you tell me what your dad did with that ten million dollars, do you know?" Polcyn asked, as he followed Holzhueter to his truck on the way out of a court hearing in Madison. "You have nothing to say?"

Holzhueter is dodging more than the news media.  He's trying to fend off the very people who once considered his father a friend.

Loren Holzhueter was a farmer and a businessman who owned a chain of insurance and tax preparation businesses throughout the state.

"Everybody trusted him. Everybody knew him," said Jim Degner, one of more than 150 investors who suffered losses. "He was a nice guy."

He spent years building relationships with clients, and then exploiting them.

"Before all this, I said, 'I would trust him with my last dollar,'" said Tony Milbrath, another investor.

Wendy and Bob Lippert say the $50,000 they invested with Loren Holzhueter was their "safety net."

Between 2008 and 2014, Holzhueter raised $10.4 million from more than 150 investors in and around Watertown and Oconomowoc.

According the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Holzhueter told a "wide array of lies" to convince investors their money was going into typical securities, like stocks, bonds and mutual funds.  Instead, Holzhueter used their money to fund his business -- the Insurance Service Center (ISC) -- and to pay himself and his family more than $511,000 dollars.  The SEC called it a "classic Ponzi scheme," in which Holzhueter used money from new investors to pay off old ones.

"It's disgusting," Lippert said. "Absolutely disgusting."

Criminal charges were imminent when Loren Holzhueter died in 2015, at the age of 69.

A federal criminal investigation against Holzhueter was still pending in the spring of 2015 when the 69-year-old businessman passed away.

"If he were standing next to me today, he would sit there and say, 'you know what guys? Don't worry. You are going to get your money back,'" said Shirley Degner, who, along with her husband, Jim, had more than $160,000 invested.

Before Loren Holzhueter died, he took out a series of life insurance policies for the benefit of his wife and son, but a  federal judge froze the proceeds, setting off a legal free-for-all. There are civil lawsuits in Dodge and Waukesha counties, a probate case in Jefferson County, plus fraud and bankruptcy cases in federal court.

"Seems like the only ones making out in this are his lawyers because they are the ones getting paid," Lippert said.

While a federal judge has approved payments to attorneys and a monitor overseeing the case, victims have yet to receive a dime. The courts are still sorting out who gets paid, and how much. The SEC says Holzhueter's life insurance totals more than $9 million, but investors are owed more than $15 million.  That means there's not enough money to pay investors back in full.

"I want every dime," Lippert said.

Jim Degner says Loren Holzhueter reassured him that his son knew "everything" about the business, in the event of his death.

And that is where 37-year-old Aaron Holzhueter comes in.

"He's next in line. He's just like Loren was," Degner said.

Beyond being Loren Holzhueter's offspring, Aaron is an accountant and tax preparer by trade. He was employed by ISC during the time his father was operating the scheme, then became CEO after his father's death. Several victims say when they met with Loren, his son was sometimes in the room.

"And Loren said, 'if I die tomorrow, Aaron -- this guy here -- knows everything that's going on,'"  recalled Wendy Lippert, who had $50,000 invested.

In March, Aaron Holzhueter filed for bankruptcy, declaring nearly $2 million in assets, including more than $1 million dollars worth of farmland.

When the government tried to probe further at a recent hearing, his answers were often vague. At other times he didn't have answers at all. Cameras aren't allowed in bankruptcy proceedings, but the FOX6 Investigators obtained a recording in which Aaron struggled to answer dozens of questions.

Aaron Holzhueter: "I don't know."
Aaron Holzhueter: "I can't recall."
Aaron Holzhueter: " I don't recall."
Aaron Holzhueter: "I don't recall."
Aaron Holzhueter: "I don't recall."

Tony Milbrath, a dairy farmer, invested more than $110,000.

At one point in the hearing, an attorney for the US Trustee's Office seemed to become frustrated with the lack of forthcoming answers.

"I mean, here's the thing," said Debra Schneider, a trial attorney for the U.S. Trustee. "You come into bankruptcy and you file voluntarily to have bankruptcy relief."

"Yes," Holzhueter answered.

"And so, I need you to be honest," Scheinder said.

Even as he seeks bankruptcy protection, Holzhueter continues to pull in a six-figure salary -- an "executive salary" of $3,000 per paycheck from ISC, plus another $2,815 in "officer wages" from Quality Tax & Accounting -- according to records he provided to the bankruptcy court.

Meanwhile, Tony Milbrath is putting off plans for retirement.

"I am going to be 74 next month," he said. "I would like to quit. Can I afford it? No. I can't, so what are we supposed to do?"

Like so many others who fell victim to the Ponzi scheme, Milbrath says he believed in Loren Holzhueter until the end.  He even shook Aaron's hand at his dad's funeral.

"And I said 'how are things going to go now?'" Milbrath recalls asking, as they stood next to Loren's casket. "He said 'don't worry about it. Dad taught me well.'"

Words he now sees in a whole new light.

"'My dad taught me well.' Exact words," Milbrath said.

Aaron Holzhueter was, at one time, the subject of a criminal investigation, but after his father died, the US Attorney's Office said no criminal charges would be filed. Instead, the past year has been spent determining who gets the $9 million in life insurance.

Last month, Aaron and his mother, Arlene Holzhueter, signed agreements relinquishing their rights to the life insurance proceeds. That clears the way for payments to start going out to victims in the next few months.

The SEC says victims should expect to get roughly two-thirds of their net principal investment, with more payments possible once ISC and a related business are sold.

As for Aaron's bankruptcy case, the US Trustee has recommended that the case be dismissed. Holzhueter filed under Chapter 12, a type of bankruptcy specifically for farmers. However, the Trustee says his farm income was not sufficient to quality. That leaves the door open for victims to try and recover additional money in state court actions that are pending in Dodge and Waukesha Counties.

MILWAUKEE COUNTY/RACINE COUNTY —  There is a new victim every three seconds. Nationwide, last year, 17 million people were hurt by this crime.

Police rarely catch this type of crime as it happens, but FOX6's Contact 6  got a rare look at a financial  crime in progress: identity theft.

Jamarr Bowens listens as the judge hands out a sentence of one year in prison and one year supervision.

So many questions led up to this point.  For answers, you have to go back to St. Patrick's Day when Detective John Milotzky of the Wauwatosa Police Department tried to connect the dots of this crime. He questioned Bowens after his arrest.

"So how did you end up getting arrested yesterday?" Detective Milotzky asked Bowens in the interrogation.

"I don't know. The only thing  is, I was looking for an iPad for my girl," Bowens responded.

Police already had surveillance footage that showed Bowens inside the Best Buy in Wauwatosa.

In the video, you can see Bowens chatting with an employee. He does not realize the employee is stalling for police to arrive.

The reason employees knew to keep an out for Bowens was because he went to the Best Buy in Greenfield first.  He tried to make a purchase with a fake credit card and it got declined. He immediately left.

The manager at the Greenfield Best Buy decided to call other area stores to be on the lookout.

Detective John Milotzky interviews Jamarr Bowens after his arrest.

"When they observed him enter, they immediately called us. So, our patrol squads were literally parked outside the store waiting for him when he came out after trying to make another purchase," Detective Milotzky said.

Police busted Bowens with a fake ID and credit cards. In all, Bowens was carrying four identities from four different states.

Zachary Barron-Melton and Andrew Moultrie are waiting for their day in court. The pair are accused of using fake identities to steal from an AT&T account.

Bowens' crime isn't unusual.

Zachary Barron-Melton and Andrew Moultrie are accused of similar crimes.

According to the criminal complaint, the pair tried to access someone else's AT&T account using fake IDs at an AT&T store in Mount Pleasant.  Police arrested them a short time later.

Authorities say they are familiar with these types of scams because of similar investigations around the area.  Police say this type of identity theft is becoming more attractive.

Detective Milotzky says creating the fake cards is easy.

"You can get any gift card that's got a magnetic strip and recode that and use it just like a credit card," Detective Milotzky said.

Jamarr Bowens is seen on store surveillance using one of several identities in an attempt to make a purchase.

Police say selling them is even easier, thanks to the internet.

"Potentially that is where you can see a victim here in Wauwatosa — all of a sudden their credit card number ends up getting used in India," Detective Milotzky said.

While people like Bowen, Barron-Melton and Moultire get caught — they aren't the only ones involved.

"We might arrest someone using counterfeit credit cards and they don't know where that account number came from.  They just bought it," Detective Milotzky said.

During the interrogation, Bowens revealed that's what he did.

"So, you paid 20 bucks for the ID and the four credit cards?" Detective Milotzky asked Bowens.

"Yeah," Bowens responded.

Detective Milotzky says whoever sold the cards to Bowens didn't do a good job.

Detective John Milotzky says the quick work of employees at Best Buy helped a great deal. Usually law enforcement learns of the theft several weeks after the crime occurs.

"What did he tell you about the credit cards?" Detective Milotzky asked Bowens during  questioning.

"He didn't tell me nothing. He didn't tell me anything. He said they might work and might not," Bowens revealed.

Even though the police caught Bowens, they say it's likely the account numbers on the cards he bought were used on others.

"He probably sent them to 20 more people — ain't no tellin'," Bowens told Detective Milotzky.

So it's possible the numbers Bowens tried to use are still out there.

If you are concerned you are a victim of identity theft or you want to be proactive in protecting your information, there's plenty you can do.

It's important to check your bank account and card statements regularly. In addition, check your credit report. You can get a free one each year. If you monitor activity, you're more likely to notice when something isn't right.

If you notice any suspicious activity, inform your bank or credit card company and contact one of the three major credit bureaus (Equifax, TransUnion or Experian.) You can place a fraud alert on your credit file.  Your alert will be forwarded to the two other credit bureaus.

Also, don't forget to contact your local police — no matter where the crime occurred.

Bowen was sentenced to one year in prison.

Barron-Melton and Moultrie are awaiting trial.  Both men appear in court for hearings in August.

FRIENDSHIP -- It's a good bet your grandma's not on Snapchat. At least, not on purpose. Across the country -- and in Wisconsin -- young nurse aides are sharing photos and videos of elderly residents on social media, without their knowledge.  It's invasive, embarrassing, and - in some cases - it's a crime.

John L. Miklavicic was born in 1927, the same year the first transatlantic telephone call was placed from New York to London. 87 years later, it's a safe bet he didn't know much about Snapchat. Neither did his son, John M. Miklavicic.

"No, I didn't even know what it was 'til they explained it to me," he responded.

Snapchat is a social media app used to share photos and videos called "Snaps" with friends. Unlike Facebook or Twitter, each "Snap" disappears within seconds, unless it's posted to a user's story, where friends can see it for 24 hours.

But what happened in the tiny Adams County village of Friendship, Wisconsin, was hardly an expression of friendship.

"They're in the last years of their life. They deserve respect," Miklavicic said.

The elder Miklavicic had lost his leg to diabetes and his wife to a heart attack when his son placed him at Villa Pines — the nursing home just down the road.

His dementia was so advanced, he would often forget his wife was gone.

"He was going around the halls in his wheelchair, calling for Thelma. You know, 'Thelma, where are you?'" Miklavicic explained about his dad's condition.

Screen shot taken by a co-worker of a video shared to Snapchat. The video showed an employee kicking John Miklavicic's wheelchair and Miklavicic kicking back, as laughter is heard in the background. The caption reads, "Jerk!"

The staff said he was agitated and, one day, a nurse aide decided to tell her friends about it. She shared a Snapchat video of Miklavicic with the caption "JERK!" across the middle.

"One of the employees was kicking his wheelchair and the Snapchat showed him trying to kick back and other employees laughing in the background," Miklavicic recalled.

No one said a word until three weeks later when a co-worker reported the video to state inspectors.

Villa Pines fired 23-year-old Allexys Meyers, the Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA), who shared the video. The Sheriff's Office sought no criminal charges and Miklavicic says he never heard another word from the nursing home.

"I never got any kind of an apology, sympathy, we're so sorry what happened," Miklavicic said.

For victim's families, it's an act that comes with embarrassment.

FOX6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn sat down with one victim's daughter. She did not want to be identified beyond her first name, Mary. For decades, Mary's mother lived across the street from Lambeau Field until her daughter moved her to assisted living at Brookview Meadows in Green Bay.

It was there that a pair of CNAs were taking photos and videos of residents vomiting, passing stool and showering and sharing them on Snapchat.

One night, 22-year-old Michelle Bulger and 19-year-old Ashley Schumberg engaged in an unorthodox procedure to help Mary's mom with an obstructed bowel. The 84-year-old woman was nude from the waist down. Bulger was gagging and covering her mouth with her T-shirt, while Schaumberg recorded with her phone.  Both of the women were laughing.

"My mom took good care of me all my life," Mary said. "To think that somebody would not treat her in a respectable manner was beyond words. I lost it."

Bulger and Schaumberg were charged with felonies, but pleaded guilty to misdemeanors. They can no longer work as caregivers in state-regulated facilities. However, Mary and her family are going one step further by suing the nursing home for invasion of privacy.

"It's total disrespect and total violation of somebody's privacy," Mary said.

Mary's attorneys, Ann Jacobs and Jackie Chada Nuckels, are teaming up to sue Brookview Meadows.

"Cases like these, we need to shine light on them so they don't happen again," Jacobs said.

"Somebody's dignity and privacy is grossly violated," Nuckels said.

They say it's time to draw attention to a growing problem across the country of caregivers abusing, degrading and humiliating the elderly on social media.

"It is intensely personal," Jacobs said.

It's an issue Greg Crist, a spokesman for the America Health Care Association (AHCA), takes seriously.

"If that were my mother or my grandmother, I wouldn't want that to be shared or posted online," Crist said.

In records for three of the four Wisconsin cases, there are statements that indicate employees were 'laughing' about the inappropriate posts or thought they were 'funny.'

The AHCA is an industry group that represents assisted living centers and nursing homes. Crist says while he doesn't want to see any cases like this, they aren't seen often.

"The good news is it's uncommon. It's rare — one case is one too many," Crist said.

Last winter, the non-profit news team at ProPublica detailed 37 cases of inappropriate social media posts at elder care facilities across the country, including four in Wisconsin. In addition to the cases in Friendship and Green Bay, a CNA in Stoughton shared pictures of  a resident lying naked in bed covered in feces. Earlier this year, a 21-year-old staffer in Kenosha snapped a video of a partially nude, 93-year-old Alzheimer's patient playing tug-of-war with her clothes. At the time, Grace Riedlinger "thought it was funny." Now, she's facing criminal charges.

Nuckels says she sees a pattern with the people involved in these cases.

"It tends to be, sort of, the younger workers who are very active on social media," Nuckels said.

Every Wisconsin case has something in common. Nurse aides had personal cell phones with them while they cared for residents.

"There should not be any cell phones on the floor. Period," Jacobs said.

Crist says most nursing homes already have rules that prohibit staff members from using cell phones in patient rooms.

"If you are in their room, you should not have a device. It should not be out," Crist said.

After a recent inquiry by Iowa Senator Charles Grassley, the AHCA sent all of its members a memo urging them to ban personal electronic devices during work time or in work areas.

"These are invasions of privacy. These are threats to a person`s value, their worth, how they view themselves," Crist said.

The fallout is more crushing for family members.

"There's embarrassment, personally, because we wanted the best for our mom and it didn't turn out that way," Mary said.

Most offenders appear to be young nurse aides who are active on social media.

"It was my job to put him somewhere safe," Miklavicic said.

Miklavicic says he is just thankful that someone finally came forward.

"She did the right thing," Miklavicic said.

"They do it sometimes at the risk of their jobs, at the risk of their friendships," Jacobs said about those who choose to turn people in.

It's that exact reason that Miklavicic believes there are many more cases of abuse that need to be exposed. He says if you see it — report it.

"It's your ethical duty," Miklavicic said.

Meyers, Bulger and Schaumberg are all banned from working as caregivers in nursing homes or other state-regulated health care facilities.

Riedlinger is scheduled for a plea hearing in Kenosha County on July 28th.

The case against Brookview Meadows has been moved into arbitration.

Villa Pines sent a statement to FOX 6 News saying, in part, that it has a long-standing policy that "cell phones must be shut off and kept out of designated work areas."

Experts say the key to protecting your loved one when look for a long-term care facility is asking the right questions. With regard to privacy issues, ask the facility if they have policies on cell phone and social media us. Ask to see those policies. And, ask how those policies are enforced.

MILWAUKEE— They called for emergency help, but say they got a glorified cab ride.  Now a local couple is asking the FOX6 Investigators to find out why it took so long for help to arrive.

Emergency responders call it 'siren anxiety.' You think it's taking too long for help to arrive because you are in a stressful situation. Our investigation finds there could be something else that's slowing down your ambulance response. It might just be something  you said -- or didn't say.

In a  medical emergency, every second  counts. But when you call 911, so does every word. Because what you say to 911 could be the difference between an urgent response, and a more deliberate one.

Carole Last and her husband, Ron, filed a complaint with the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission over the response to his medical emergency.

Carole Last and her husband Ron own Last Stop Motors in Racine. They are also regulars at Sobelman's Pub and Grill in Milwaukee. That's where they stopped for lunch on a recent Sunday.

"And shortly after we got our food Ron just started not feeling well," Carole said.

"And I sweat so much it was like I just got out of a pool," Ron recalled.

Seconds after complaining that he wasn't feeling well, Ron slumped over on his barstool, unconscious.

"Bam, when you're out, you're out," he said.

His wife began to panic.

"And then I started screaming out, 'Somebody dial 911. Somebody dial 911,' I don't know what's happening here."

A Sobelman's worker made the call.  Then a second call.  And then another worker made a third call.

• Click here to read a transcript of all three calls to 911
• Click here to listen to the calls

"And everyone was like, 'What is going on? " Carole recalled. "Why is this taking so long?!"

Dave Sobelman says his employee did the best he could in explaining a medical emergency.

Restaurant owner Dave Sobelman wasn't there at the time, but says his staff was worried.

"911 means we want somebody here ASAP,"  he said. "The 911 operator was a little curt with my waitress in saying, we already got the second call."

Carole Last said the wait was at least 20 minutes. "Some people have told me it was 30, 35, 40 minutes, she said.  Records obtained by FOX6 Investigators show it was less.

Scott Mickelsen says it's common for people in an emergency to experience 'siren anxiety.'

Scott Mickelson of Bell Ambulance says it's not uncommon for people in a stressful situation to think the response is taking longer than it really is,.

"Time slows down," he said. "Seconds seem like minutes."

He calls it siren anxiety.

"You are waiting on the siren, but when you don't hearing the siren, what's going on?"

Time stamped audio files indicate the first call came in at 1:01pm.  The second call was placed seven minutes later, at 1:08pm. The third call came six minutes after that, at 1:14pm. By the time an ambulance crew was at the patient's side, 15 minutes had passed.  That's far less than the half hour Carole thought, but still 6 minutes longer than an emergency response with full lights and sirens is supposed to take.

But that's just the thing.

The Milwaukee Fire Department didn't send an ambulance with lights and sirens. Dispatchers only requested a private ambulance with no lights or sirens.

"It was flagged as a non-emergency BLS response," Mickelsen said.

BLS stands for Basic Life Support.

"'They just need to remember that we are coming. We are responding," he said.

According to Bell's contract with the city, they have 15 minutes to get a non-emergency call.

Heidi Mueller, Milwaukee Fire Department Dispatch Manager

The Lasts filed a complaint with the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission and, because of that, the fire department won't go into specifics about why the call was deemed a non-emergency. They did invite FOX6 to their 911 call center to see how decisions are made.

"Every call is based on information received at the time receiving it," said Heidi Mueller, Dispatch Manager for the fire department's 911 call center.

For a little more than a year, Milwaukee Fire Department has been using the Emergency Medical Dispatch -- or EMD --Protocol. It's a standardized-system with questions that are scripted. That means your choice of words can dramatically impact how a call is handled.

"The attitude of the Fire Department was, you know, it was the caller's fault," Carole said.

As her husband was doused in sweat, drifting in and out of consciousness, Carole says she feared for his life. Halfway across the restaurant, the worker who called 9-1-1 painted a different picture. He told the dispatcher he thought the patient had a seizure or had "passed out," but that the patient was "conscious right now and he's breathing." In a second call, he told the dispatcher "the episode is over."

Mueller says they can only go with what they're told. Carole says the caller is not a doctor.

"He has no training, no medical background," Carole said.

She believes the dispatcher should have asked more questions.

"He could have had a heart attack, he could have been having a stroke," she said.

Ron Last eventually spent three days at St. Luke's Hospital and was diagnosed with a "neurocardial dysfunction," according to records provided to FOX 6 News by the Lasts. He's fine now and back at work, but his wife says that's no reason to dismiss their concerns.

"It could have just as easily turned out very different," Carole said.

"Do you think this call was handled properly?" asked FOX6 Investigator, Bryan Polcyn.
"Yes," Mickelsen responded.

Dave Sobelman says his workers did the best they could.

"I don't want to come down hard on the paramedics. They got a tough job," he said.

Carole and Ron Last believe emergency responders could do better.

"We would have gotten help sooner if we had attempted to try to put him in our car," she said.

Ron put it more bluntly.

"You don't call 911 for a cab ride."

The Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission says it plans to have a disposition on the complaint next week (July 25-29). Meanwhile, Mueller says when you call 911, to be as specific as possible about the most serious symptoms. Is the person breathing? Awake? Bleeding? Are they having chest pain?

If symptoms get worse after you hang up, call back. It could change the kind of response you get.

MILWAUKEE — In March,  a Milwaukee child died in a house fire.  There was no working smoke detector in the home. A FOX6 analysis of Milwaukee Fire Department data and Department of Neighborhood Services records shows a single change in policy might have saved that child's life.

Two years before that fatal fire started, court records show the city of Milwaukee knew there was no working smoke detector in that home.

But for two years, nobody made the landlord install one, even though four children lived in the upstairs apartment.

"It's really tragic to have a fire. And when you have someone die in a fire -- I mean, hopefully this will be a wake up call for people to really get on their business," said a neighbor, who watched the fire from afar.

MJ was 18 months old when he died in a house fire.

"It hurts. It's not even my children and it just hurts," neighbor Patrice Mitchell said. "I can't even imagine if that was any one of my kids -- just sad."

Assistant City Attorney, Patrick Leigl, says the city regularly enforces code violations, but the city can't physically force property owners to install smoke detectors.

A review of city records shows the upstairs apartment had no working smoke detectors.

"The property owner failed to install smoke detectors," Assistant City Attorney Patrick Leigl said.

In April of 2014, city inspectors first noticed the problem and alerted the landlord, eventually taking her to court twice.

"In a perfect world, nobody would come to court. Because everybody, if they had orders on the property, they would fix it up right away and not have to come to court. Unfortunately, that's not the way it works,"  Leigl said.

In this case, for two years city inspectors and city attorneys tried to get the landlord to install smoke detectors at least 10 times.  She fixed other problems at the property, and paid hefty city fines, but never installed smoke detectors.

"It's just a complete disregard to any kind of compliance whatsoever," Leigl said.

"That would have [installing detectors] probably gave a chance for him to live," said Cherie Franks, the grandmother of the child who died in the fire. "You never know. If somebody could have got in there sooner before it got so bad..."

Police reports show by the time the fire department arrived on scene, much of the damage had already been done.

"I can just hear him screaming in the house. I can't stop hearing it," Franks said.

MJ's grandmother still has a hard time coping after the death of her grandson.

According to a FOX6 review of city records, in the last five years, 42 people have died in house fires in Milwaukee. Most of those homes had no working smoke detectors. Twenty percent of the time the property owner had previously been in trouble with the city because of a fire hazard at the home.

In most cases, the underlying fire hazard was never corrected despite the city taking property owners to municipal court.

"You got these people paying you rent all this and you can't even have smoke detectors in the there? That's ridiculous. That's just ridiculous. And they should be accountable for that," Franks said.

But the city says it can't physically make landlords install smoke detectors.

"The city can order that, and the city can bring them into court for as much compliance as they can, but unfortunately your hands are tied in some aspects," Leigl said.

The landlord of the property where the child died is Milwaukee County Corrections Officer Shaunta Finley. She owns and rents two properties in Milwaukee. Both burned this year. City records show neither had working smoke detectors. Finley would not respond to FOX6's request for comment.

Firefighters will install smoke detectors in your home for free. Call 414-286-8980.

In more than half of the fatal fires in Milwaukee, there's not a working smoke detector. When landlords don't or won't install one, the city doesn't do it either. That means there's no accountability for property owners, sometimes even after a tragedy.

MJ's grandmother and the rest of his family are still trying to make sense of what happened to him.

"He was just so sweet. He just was the sweetest baby," Cherie Franks said.

Milwaukee Fire Chief Mark Rohlfing says you need a smoke detector on every level of your home.

"If there's nothing else that people hear, it's that they have to take personal responsibility to make sure there's a working smoke detector in the place that they live,"said Mark Rohlfing, Milwaukee Fire Chief.

MFD says residents should have a smoke detector on every floor of their home.  The owner of a building is the person who is legally obligated to install a smoke detector, but if you rent, you cannot rely on the landlord. You have to install one yourself, or call the MFD hotline 414-286-8980. MFD will stall a smoke detector at your home for FREE.

In the next five years, MFD plans to knock on every single door in the city and make sure everyone has a working smoke detector in their home.

There is still not a smoke detector in the apartment where MJ died.

EAGLE -- He lied to supervisors, falsified reports and got fired from the police force.  Now a  former Milwaukee police officer is back on patrol about 45 minutes away.

Fox 6 Investigators show you how he got back on patrol and why his case may not be unusual.

It's Friday afternoon and a squad car is blazing through Bay View blowing through red lights and stop signs.

A high-speed police chase in 2012 leaves a motorcyclist seriously injured and an innocent driver hurt. The officer who initiated the chase lied about his reason for doing so.

Nearly hitting a semi and driving over a curb. All because of a motorcycle the officer claims was speeding.  When Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn changed the department's policy on vehicle pursuits, this is the very thing he was trying to avoid;  a motorcycle rider is nearly killed and an innocent driver's car is totaled.

Officer Kurt Kezeske found a new job this year in Eagle after he was fired by Milwaukee Police Department.

The crash happened in 2012, a year after the new pursuit policy began. It only allows an officer to chase if he believes a violent felony has been committed. Speeding is not sufficient cause, and  Officer Kurt Kezeske knew that. So, the 18-year veteran of the force lied.

In the heat of the chase, Kezeske radioed to dispatch, "I've got a motorcycle that tried to ram me."  Attempting to ram a squad car would be enough to justify a chase and according to a report by the Milwaukee Fire and Police Commission, Kezeske repeated the ramming story again and again to detectives and supervisors.  There's just one problem-- it never happened. He made it up, so the Milwaukee Police Department fired him.

Four years later, he's back on patrol. Just not in Milwaukee.

Eagle Village Trustee Mike Rice says he never would have made a motion to hire Kezeske had he known about his dishonesty as a Milwaukee police officer.

The Village of Eagle covers little more than one-square mile in the southeastern corner of Waukesha County. Fewer than 2,000 people call it home, but they pay for their own local police force.  With three full-time officers and a handful of part-time cops they don't often get applicants who come with 18 years of experience.    "I think we're gonna have to... I don't know what we're gonna have to do, to be honest with ya," Hein said.
When the village supervisor, Mike Rice, voted to hire Kezeske full-time earlier this year, he did not know Milwaukee Police fired him.   "We all work for a living full-time or are retired and we do this part-time. We're not experts at anything. So, we take the word that comes forward from people around us," Rice said.

Rice relied upon the recommendation of the 3-member police committee, chaired by Greg Hein.

Greg Hein, chair of the Eagle Police Committee, said he could not remember if he'd seen a background check on Kezeske.

"Did you know about the background and what had happened in Milwaukee?" Fox 6 Investigator, Bryan Polcyn asked.
"You know, it's been so long. I'd have to go back and look at my records to make sure, you know, that I had all the information," Police Committee Chair, Greg Hein, replied. "So, I really don't wanna answer yes or no to that question."

Hein says the committee relied on the recommendation of Police Captain Steve Lesniewski.

"How do you feel about hiring an officer who lied to investigators?" Polcyn asked.
"I've said I'm not going to get in specifics," Lesniewski said. "That's a personnel matter."

Kezeske is hardly the first fired cop to get hired by another department.

The FOX6 Investigators asked the Wisconsin Department of Justice for a list of every police officer in the state who's been discharged from duty since 2012 -- and where they work now. It took the department 42 days to turn over the list. And when they did, every officer's name was blacked out.

In a letter to FOX 6 News, attorneys for the Department of Justice argue that releasing officer's names might subject them to personal attacks and could have a chilling effect on recruitment. The records they did release show that more than one-third of the officers discharged since 2012 are already back on the job somewhere else.

Sharon Royston, a former Eagle trustee, said Kezeske's hiring is just the latest in a string of questionable personnel moves related to the police department.

Sharon Royston says she's not surprised it happened in Eagle."I don't think it should've happened," she said, " I was never allowed to see any background checks. Never."   Royston is a former member of the Eagle Village Board, " 40% of our village budget is going towards the police department and I didn't think, and a lot of villagers didn't think, we were getting our money's worth."

It was Royston who exposed a secret deal that allowed the last police chief to retire with a two-year severance package. A highly unusual deal the village is still paying for, but can't explain  because of a confidentiality agreement.  "We'll never know. They are prevented from telling any details," Royston said.

So Royston spearheaded an effort to eliminate the Eagle Police Department and have Waukesha County patrol instead, but voters shot it down. That was before officer Kezeske was hired full-time in May.

After the Fox 6 Investigators started asking questions, the Eagle Police Committee met to talk about their hiring practices, but they declined to talk about any officer in particular.

"I think we're gonna have to... I don't know what we're gonna have to do, to be honest with you," Hein said to colleagues in the meeting.

Rice says he never would have voted to hire Officer Kezeske had he known about his background.

"The biggest thing is the falsifying reports and I think that would concern anybody here," Rice said.

But the one man who admits he knew, didn't seem to share his concern.

Eagle Police Captian Steve Lesniewski recommended Kezeske to fill a full-time officer opening in May. He says he knew about the chase incident in Milwaukee, but declined further comment because it was a "personnel matter."

"Did you know about the background? " Polcyn asked.
" I did," Captain Lesniewski said.
" You did? And you were ok with that? Polcyn asked, as Lesniewski walked away.

After the Fox 6 Investigators got involved, Eagle Village supervisors voted to release Officer Kezeske from his duties.  He did not return multiple calls for comment.

As for the other 446 officers discharged statewide since 2011, the Department of Justice says they may or may not have done anything wrong.  The state doesn't keep track of which officers are discharged for cause and since the state blacked out all of their names, we have no way to find out how many committed actual misconduct before being hired somewhere else.

KENOSHA -- It's supposed to be for the kids, but no one seems to know how much money a local football booster club has raised or what the club's longtime president did with it.

Tom Stone became President of the Bradford End Zone Club in 2007. For historical perspective, that's the same year Bradford's most prominent football player -- Melvin Gordon -- was a freshman. Gordon is not accused of any wrongdoing, but just as he launched the brightest period in the history of Red Devils football, Stone may have presided over the darkest period in the history of the school's booster club.

Nine years after he took over the booster club, Stone didn't want to talk with FOX6 News about the tens of thousands of dollars parents have donated since he's been in charge of the End Zone Club, a parent-driven organization that operates with the permission of Bradford High School.

A report produced by the Kenosha Unified School District says the club has historically raised $50,000-$70,000 a year, but the district can't say exactly what those funds have been spent on because the club operates outside of the school's accounting system.

Michele Vega joined the club when her son was a freshman in 2012.  She immediately started helping raise money for the team -- from pancake breakfasts and spaghetti dinners to golf outings and game day concessions.

"My question has never changed," Vega said. "Where did our money go?!"

Vega was so good at raising money, she and another Bradford parent -- Kim Aker -- were named fundraising co-chairs last year.  By then, Vega already had concerns about where the money was going, so she pressed Stone, the club's president, for information.

"'What did we do in sales last year?' He said, 'I don't know,'" Vega said. "I said, 'What's in our account?' He said, 'I don't know that either.'"

One month, Vega said Stone mentioned having $32,000 in the bank. The next month it was $22,000.

"'Where did it go? What did we do with $10-thousand dollars?' And there was no answer," she said.

As part of this investigation, the FOX 6 Investigators obtained hundreds of pages of records, including emails, letters, internal memos and executive reports through an open records request to the Kenosha Unified School District. The records were released in five PDF files.

To see them click the links below:

Part One -- Part Two -- Part Three -- Part Four -- Part Five

Stone was the only person with access to the club's private bank account. After all, the Bradford End Zone Club was registered in Tom Stone's name as a for-profit corporation, rather than a charity, as school district rules require.

In 2012, Tom Stone registered the Bradford End Zone Club as a private corporation in his own name, rather than a 501(c)(3) charity, as the school district had directed him to do as early as 2007.

And while the district insists the club operates independently, Stone listed the high school's address as the club's principal office.

"He had a mailbox," Vega said. "The head coach's secretary was doing his paperwork."

In addition to registering the End Zone Club, Stone owns a business called Prime Fundraising, which sells discount cards to the club. He also owns T-Shirts Your Way, which produces Bradford football apparel.  In other words, Stone's businesses sold products to the club he ran which then sold those products to parents using the Bradford name and logo.

"Who said it was OK for a private business to come into a public school and make money off our kids?" Vega said.

She complained to the football coach, the athletic director, the principal, the school board and eventually, in November of 2015, to the superintendent of the Kenosha Unified School District.  Dr. Sue Savaglio-Jarvis declined repeated requests for an interview. FOX6 found her at the dedication of Bradford's new $6 million, taxpayer-funded football stadium.

Kenosha Unified School District Superintedent Sue Savaglio-Jarvis declined multiple requests for an interview about the End Zone Club. When approached before the dedication of Bradford's new stadium, she walked away from FOX 6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn without answering questions.

FOX6's Bryan Polcyn: "Dr. Savaglio-Jarvis, do you have just a minute?"

"No I don't, we're goin' on the field," she said.

"We're getting ready to go on the field," an assistant interrupted.

"If you won't talk now, when can we talk?" Polcyn asked, as the superintendent walked away.

In a brief statement sent to FOX6 News, the superintendent wrote that parent organizations are "run entirely separate from all district operations" and that members are held accountable by the club, "not the Kenosha Unified School District."

Last winter, at Vega's request, the school district conducted its own investigation of the End Zone Club. Since most of the money raised was in cash and Stone didn't keep any formal documentation of meetings, the district wrote that it "could not conclude fraud" had been committed.

"I can't prove to you he's stealing. Nobody can prove to me he isn't," Vega said.

Vega took her complaints to Kenosha police, who declined to investigate. So she went straight to the Kenosha County district attorney, who requested an interview with Stone.  The DA told FOX6 it would be inaccurate to call it a "formal investigation."

"That's why I came to you," Vega told FOX6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn. "Find my money!"

FOX6 asked Stone to show us the club's financial statements and tax filings for the past several years. At first, he agreed to do so, even scheduling an interview nearly two weeks in advance.  The night before the interview, however, he backed out. Stone wrote that the "leadership" of the club had directed him not to talk to the media.

After initially agreeing to meet with FOX 6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn to go over the club's finances, Tom Stone canceled the interview. He then avoided questions when Polcyn approached him before Bradford's first game in its new home stadium.

"All you have to do is talk to me," Polcyn said, as Stone walked away toward the Bradford players' locker room. "If you have good answers, I'm right here, Tom."

While he refused to talk to the FOX6 Investigators, Stone did tell school officials that all the money raised went to the football team and that Vega's allegations are an insult.

"If it was me, I'd be giving you every ounce of paperwork to prove I was innocent," Vega said.

The district has acknowledged that Stone's role as both president of the End Zone Club and one of its primary vendors  "raises the appearance of impropriety." So, earlier this year, the district recommended that the old club be stopped and a new one created in its place as an official 501(c)(3) charity.

As the 2016 season got underway, however, the 'new' End Zone Club had yet to file for non-profit status. Tom Stone was still heavily involved as the club's game day coordinator.  His T-shirt and prime card businesses were once again chosen as the club's official vendors.  And Stone had yet to return over whatever funds remained in the old club's account.

"If he was for the kids this whole time, what is the problem with him handing the money over?" said Kim Aker, a Bradford parent and former co-chair of fundraising for the club.

It wasn't until after the FOX6 Investigators got involved that Stone finally wrote a check for nearly $10,000 to the new End Zone Club.  Four days after that, the new club paid the IRS application fee to begin the process of becoming a charity.

Michele Vega joined the End Zone Club in 2012 when her son was a freshman in Bradford High School. She has been involved in fundraising ever since.

Now, Bradford has a new football stadium and a new End Zone Club. But Vega won't be satisfied unless a proper accounting of the money already raised finally comes to light.

"Show me where our money went," she said.

Booster clubs are not required by law to register as 501(c)(3) charities, but -- if they use their own private bank account -- they are required by Kenosha School District policy to have 501(c)(3) status.

Why does it matter? Because the tax returns of non-profit organizations are public records. That means you can see how much money they raise , how much they spend and how much they have in the bank at the end of the year.

That way, you know if the money you're donating is going where it is supposed to go.

MILWAUKEE — A slap on the wrist.  That's how one patient describes a settlement between the Wisconsin Attorney General's office and a Milwaukee doctor accused of fraud.

FOX6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn has details on the lawsuit that started with a FOX6 investigation and dragged on in court for more than three years.

Mark Simpson mows the spacious yard on his Baraboo property without any trouble. After all, he's on a riding mower. You'd ride a lawnmower too, if you had the kind of pain Simpson was suffering a few years ago.  The retail store manager is usually on his feet all day and, in 2013, one foot was killing him.

"I didn't know what it was," he said. "I just had, my foot was achin'".

He went to see a Milwaukee podiatrist, Dr. John Lanham.

"And then he gave me the cortizone injection shot," Simpson said.

John Lanham was suspended from practicing podiatry in 2013. His license is currently active, but limited. However, it does not appear he is practicing.

The real pain hit when the bill came in the mail.

"I was like, something's wrong here," Simpson said.

The total cost was more than $13,000.

"It was, like, crazy!"

About that same time, the FOX6 Investigators were exposing Dr. Lanham's long history of unscrupulous billing practices. When Simpson caught the broadcast, his jaw dropped.

"I called up screaming to my wife. I go, 'They found this guy! Someone's actually doing something about this!" he recalled.

Not only FOX6 News find Dr. Lanham charging other patients more than $10,000 for a single visit, we found a long list of formal complaints had been filed against Lanham with state regulators year after year.

After our investigation, the state podiatry board suspended Dr. Lanham's license for one year.

"These practices will continue if he is not stopped,"  prosecuting attorney, Arthur Thexton, said to board members at the time.

In addition to the suspension, the Wisconsin Attorney General's office filed a lawsuit, accusing Lanham of misleading patients about insurance coverage.

Becki Johnson/Patient: "I asked if he took my insurance, and he said, 'Yes.'"
Sophia Ocasio/Patient: "She said, yes, you can submit your insurance."
Lynn/Patient: "She said yes, they accept it."

FOX6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn attempts to speak to Dr. Lanham about his billing practices in 2013. Lanham shut the door and did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

It was our investigation that proved what patients had been telling state regulators for years was true.

"Do you guys take United Health?" A FOX6 producer, posing as a prospective patient, asked.
"Yes,"  Dr. Lanham replied, without hesitation.

In reality, Lanham was not a part of any insurance network, meaning patients were stuck paying his outrageous bills on their own.  And the doctor was relentless in pursuit of those bills.

"They kept threatening the house," Simpson said. "They say, if you don't pay something every month, then we're going to have to put a lien on your house."

Simpson paid more than $4,400 out of the $13,000 Lanham tried to charge him. He cooperated with state officials in their lawsuit against Lanham.

The intimidation tactics were a big part of what prompted Simpson to work with the Wisconsin Attorney General's office in its lawsuit against Lanham, but for three years he heard very little about its progress.  On August 30th -- 3 years and 1 month after the lawsuit was filed -- the state quietly reached an agreement just before trial, settling the case for $15,000.  That's barely more than Lanham was known to charge a single patient.

"$15,000 is nothing," Simpson said. "That's a slap on the wrist."

Dr. Lanham agreed to settle the Attorney General's lawsuit against him for $15,000.

As part of the agreement, the disgraced former doctor will be allowed to pay off the judgment in monthly installments of $500.00. In addition to the payments, Lanham is required to take action to stop any collection efforts against dozens of patients whose bills he had previously sent to collection agencies.

Simpson is hardly impressed by the outcome, but he's more concerned with something else.

"Can we stop him from doing this to others?" Simpson said.

He wants to make sure Dr. Lanham never threatens the public again.

After our investigation, Lanham closed all four of his Milwaukee area locations. However, in settling the lawsuit, Lanham did not have to admit to any of the allegations against him. And the state podiatry board lists his license as "active," but "limited." That means Lanham could practice again with certain restrictions that were laid out in the 2013 order against him. It does not appear that he is practicing at this time. A call to Lanham's attorney was not returned.

MEQUON — Heroin addiction is a public health crisis in Wisconsin and some experts say effective drug treatment is crucial to saving lives, but a FOX6 Investigation found one treatment provider who should not be treating anyone.

He surrendered his professional counseling license four years ago.  So why is Larry Kane still running a drug treatment clinic? And why won't the state do anything about complaints that he's practicing without a license?

Larry Kane surrendered his professional counseling and clinical social worker licenses in 2012. Since then, complaints that he continued to practice have resulted in no action by state or local authorities.

FOX6's investigation found government officials are pointing the fingers at each other.

When Rita Michels needs to clear her head, she goes right for the needle. The one on her sewing machine.

Her son, Nick Sullivan, craves a different kind of needle.

"You almost get addicted to the process," Sullivan said, in a video-streamed interview over his cell phone from a drug treatment center in Florida. "There would be times where I would be sitting in a car waiting for my drug dealer, and I'd be shooting up water, just because it's the whole process of it and the rush that comes with it."

Rita Michels and her son, Nick, who is battling heroin addiction.

That's why, a couple of years ago, Michels - a single mother of four - gave her son an ultimatum.

"If you want to stay in my house under my roof, you need to be into treatment," Michels said.

She Googled heroin treatment counselors in the area and found Wisconsin Community Mental Health Counseling Centers, headed by Larry Kane.

"Want to talk to you about treating Nick Sullivan," FOX6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn said.

"You have to talk to my attorney," Kane replied.

Kane charged Michels $550 just to get her son in the door, and then another $200 four days after that. It wasn't long before Michels had racked up more than $2,000 in payments for her son's drug therapy.

"I'm on a pretty tight budget," she said. "So I'm like, 'this $2,000 is really gonna put me over the top.'"

But Michels said the sessions with Kane were required in order for her son to get Suboxone -- a drug used to treat opiate addiction.

"I went to those sessions just so I could get my prescription," Sullivan said.

Nick Sullivan says Kane took him along on personal errands during his treatment sessions.

He is now undergoing addiction treatment in Florida, but in 2014, he lived with his mom in Muskego.  She would drive him 73 miles round trip to see Kane in Mequon, and then take him to a doctor in Hales Corners to get his pills.

"The only way you could get a prescription is if you saw Larry," Michels said.

But after a few months, Michels noticed a problem. Nick's visits with Kane had not been applied to her deductible. She dug deeper and found out why.

"You are obviously not allowed to do any kind of treatment. You are unlicensed, correct?" Polcyn asked.

"Correct," Kane replied.

Lawrence Kane III used to be both a certified professional counselor and a licensed clinical social worker.  Not anymore.

Between 2002 and 2012, he was sanctioned by the state time and time again for unprofessional conduct, including false advertising, misleading billing practices, violating patient confidences and conducting therapy sessions in public while simultaneously running personal errands.

"Larry would drive Nick around and they would do his...chores," Michels said. "Larry's chores."

"Other times he would take me out and drive and get his coffee or whatever," Sullivan said.

When approached by FOX 6 Investigator Bryan Polcyn, Kane did not deny treating Sullivan. He said he "didn't charge" him.

In 2011, Kane's professional licenses were suspended. The next year, he surrendered them for good. By December of 2012, the state found that he "continued to treat and see clients" anyway.

The Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services warned Kane that if he kept practicing without a license, he could be charged with a crime.

That was December of 2012.

Nick Sullivan started seeing Kane in August of 2014.

When the FOX6 Investigators caught up with Kane outside his clinic at 9950 N. Port Washington Road in Mequon, he didn't deny treating Sullivan.

Bryan Polcyn: "They talked about you treating him at length in 2014 and 2015. Can you explain that?" 
Larry Kane: "I didn't charge him."
Polcyn: "You didn't charge him?"
Kane: "No."
Polcyn: "Does that make it legal?"
Kane: "No, you can't... no comment."

Michels and Sullivan said that's absurd.

"We paid him so much money. We paid him thousands of dollars," Sullivan said.

Sullivan said he kept seeing Kane, even though he knew he had no license.

"What am I supposed to do? I need my prescriptions," he said.

"When you're desperate, you're desperate. And I'm like, 'well, the Suboxone is keeping him... sober,'" Michels said.

But when she could no longer afford the payments, she said Kane came up with an alternative.

"Larry had Nick start doing things for him," she said.

"Random things around his house," Sullivan recalled. "Painting his house, or cleaning up the leaves during the fall. Anything really to make money so I could keep getting my prescriptions."

Bryan Polcyn: "He also says that when he ran out of cash that he did work for you to pay for his treatment at your house and at your office here. Is that true?"
Kane: "No.
Bryan Polcyn: "Are Nick and his mom lying to me?"
Kane: "Bryan, no comment."

Kane is now the director of Psychological Evaluation and Consulting Services. When Michels tried to report him to the state, she says she didn't get very far.

Rita Michels wants to stop Kane from practicing so addicts like her son get the help they need from reputable professionals.

"'Hey! This guy is still practicing. What can I do about it?'" she recalled asking. "And they're like, 'Oh, nothing. We already punished him. We sanctioned him, so he lost his license. That's all we can do.'"

In an email to FOX6 News, the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, or DSPS, said it has "no further authority" to take action against Kane. Instead, DSPS said it has referred Kane to the Ozaukee County District Attorney's Office for prosecution.  Ozaukee County DA Adam Gerol told FOX6 those referrals were not sufficient to charge Kane with a crime.

In other words, it's not a crime in Wisconsin to practice professional counseling without a license -- even if you've been ordered to stop.

"So basically, you can do nothing and he can still practice and rip people off," Michels said.

Kane is still sending Rita Michels bills for unpaid treatment sessions, but her concern is about much more than money. She's worried about people like her son.

"I went there because I wanted help," Sullivan said. "I'm going to die if I continue using."

Bryan Polcyn: "These are matters of life and death wouldn't you say?"
Kane: "He has to turn the camera off."
Bryan Polcyn: "No, he doesn't have to turn the camera off."

Wisconsin Attorney General Brad Schimel has called heroin addiction a public health crisis -- with more people dying each from drug overdoses than car accidents.

Sullivan said his sessions were worthless.

"I don't even recall him asking any questions about why I used," Sullivan said.

All Rita Michels wants is for someone to stop him.

"He should not be able to run a therapy type business," she said. "He shouldn't have anything to do with treating people or patients."

Ozaukee County DA Adam Gerol said it is not a crime in Wisconsin to practice professional counseling without a license. It is just a civil violation. In other words, the most Larry Kane could face is some hefty fines -- up to $10,000 per day. So far, the DA has not pursued those fines.

He said Kane could be criminally charged for illegally practicing therapy or counseling, but only if the state gets a court injunction first that orders Kane to stop practicing. Violations of a court-ordered injunction could be treated as a crime. But so far, neither DSPS nor the DA has sought such an injunction.

A spokesperson for DSPS provided FOX6 News with a statement that indicates it is "routine practice" to refer violations like this to the DA for further action.

DSPS says the last complaint it received about Kane's unlicensed practice was March 2014. However, Rita Michels said she called in late 2014 or early 2015 and was "discouraged" from filing a complaint because Kane had "already been sanctioned." DSPS said it has no record of the call.

MILWAUKEE — A year ago, the FOX6 Investigators tried to speak to someone at Hickman Academy, a choice school in Milwaukee. The story was about voucher schools in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. No one returned our calls or emails, so FOX6's Meghan Dwyer showed up at the school one afternoon as the buses took children home.

The main office was filled with cigarette smoke. Two women, who appeared to work at the school, didn't want to answer questions.

"We don't want to talk to you. No comment. Have a nice day ," one of the women said. "Goodbye. Call the administrator tomorrow. We don't want you in the building."

Hickman Academy is voucher school. It used to be a day care center.

Hickman Academy's vice principal was convicted of stealing insurance premiums from the elderly while employed as an insurance agent. His resume says he oversees operations and the budget for a Milwaukee voucher school.

In 2009, it was investigated for its ties to drug dealers, who police suspected were using the day care as a front.

As a day care center, Hickman Academy received more than $12 million in taxpayer money. As  a school, it receives about $2 million a year.

Now, the FOX6 Investigators have learned Hickman's vice principal is a convicted criminal.

"I am good to work in the school. That's the most I can say," said Jeff Montgomery.

The FOX6 Investigators have reported extensively on voucher school leaders in Wisconsin.

"When these schools you have never heard of show up one day and people get a glossy flyer saying 'enroll your student today for a great education,' you know, everything that glitters isn't gold," said Rep. Mandela Barnes.

Many voucher school leaders don't even have backgrounds in education. That's a sticking point for voucher opponents like Congressman Mark Pocan.

Jeff Montgomery's mugshot, courtesy the Milwaukee County Sheriff's Department.

"We would never tolerate that in the public school system," Pocan said.

Jeff Montgomery, who has been a vice principal at Hickman Academy since January 2016, used to work as an insurance agent. He got caught pocketing premiums from elderly clients and was convicted of embezzlement in 2005.  His resume shows he's in charge of developing and monitoring the school's budget of more than $2 million per year -- and nearly all of it is taxpayer money.

Jeff Montgomery says Hickman Academy is "well aware" of his background.

"I am not going to talk on air,"  Montgomery said. "I can tell you my background check is clean."

That's what he told the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families, too, when he applied for a license to run a day care center.  Records show he denied ever being convicted of a crime, and state officials never caught it.

"I trust him. He probably turned over a new leaf. He made a mistake," said Joe Fox, a Hickman parent.

According to the Milwaukee Police Department, Montgomery is currently under investigation for writing bad checks.

"I can tell you Hickman Academy does current background checks, so my background is good. I am good to work in the school. That's the most I can say," Montgomery said.

Montgomery has filed for bankruptcy seven times. He owes the state money for unemployment benefits he shouldn't have received.  Court records show he owes $80,000 in child support.  That kind of background could bar him from obtaining a teaching license and working in a public school.

But a voucher school?  No problem.

He even tried to open his own school, Pinnacle Academy of Technology. He raised about $4,000 on GoFundMe, but the school never got off the ground. He has never applied for a teaching license in the state of Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction says there is no formal record showing Montgomery works at Hickman Academy because under state law voucher schools are not required to disclose everyone they hire.

Congressman Mark Pocan says vouchers schools should have the same requirements as public schools.

"We had people who used funds to buy Cadillacs. We had people who said they could read a book by putting their hand on it, and they were getting public funds," said Congressman Pocan. "Now, we've cleaned up some of that, a little bit of it -- but there's still a lot of other accountability problems."

The FOX6 Investigators showed Hickman parents Montgomery's mugshots.  Most had no clue he had a criminal conviction.

" No, I didn't know that," said Joe Fox.

"No telling what else he could be doing," said Tony Watson.

Hickman Academy parents react to seeing a booking photo of Vice Principal Jeffrey Montgomery when he was convicted of embezzlement and theft.

FOX6 followed up with Montgomery off camera and asked him to sit down with us.  He said he would call us back to arrange a meeting, but he never did. We wanted to ask him about his record and his current debts.

The day care center he owned is JT's Education Center. He was a co-owner until last year. That day care has received nearly $130,000 in state subsidies, and there are no complaints against it.

Most of the people Montgomery stole from were elderly, and have since passed away. He paid them back in 2005.

UPDATE: When this story was posted on the FOX6 Facebook page, Jeff Montgomery commented on the story, saying: "I definitely made some mistakes in my past, but there are many inaccuracies and several flat out lies in this story. Bottom line is, I work hard for our staff and students and will continue to do so. I have no control over our budget and all CHOICE Schools are required to have audited financials."