After stealing from family, friends, and employers numerous times, Brett LaChappelle is finally being held accountable for his crimes. His thefts go back to the 1990s. He and his wife, Sherrie Nejedlo LaChappelle, conspired to steal large sums of money from family with the help of Sherrie’s father, Daniel Nejedlo, Jr.

When the money ran out there, Brett and Sherrie moved onto other victims. The fraud victims included Aldi in Manitowoc (where Brett was a store manager), Hope Community Church in Two Rivers (where Brett was a pretend “pastor”), another elderly family member, and then the members of “The Gathering” (the pretend church Brett and Sherrie started in Two Rivers).  (scroll to the bottom to see a bit of Brett’s resume)

All of Brett’s fraud victims sent him on his way and did not pursue him. They just wanted to be done with him. Until Brett stole from his last employer. Finally, someone said NO MORE.

In 2021, Brett H. LaChappelle was charged with 37 felonies for stealing from his employer, the Two Rivers Parks & Recreation Department. The crimes charged include 1 count of theft and 36 counts of forgery.

According to the criminal complaint: It all started when Brett was a supervisor for Parks & Rec, and helped his employee Kirk Shillcox steal from the city. In 2018, Shillcox was caught inflating his hours to receive pay he was not entitled to. Brett approved the hours and both Shillcox and LaChappelle were suspended.

During the suspension, it was found that Brett used the department’s credit card for personal purchases between 2015 and 2018. The personal purchases included things like a dehumidifier, a gift card, a mini refrigerator, and a television. To cover his theft, Brett submitted doctored receipts to make it appear that the purchases were for items for the department. In all, $20,321 was stolen by Brett from the department.

When interviewed by the police:

Brett admitted to falsifying the document and did so because he is dishonest.

He further admitted:

La Chappelle stated that he couldn’t put a date on it, but there was a period when he started making wrong decisions. He said that continued until the end, when he resigned his position. La Chappelle stated that this did not start right at the beginning of his employment with VICTIM, but probably a few years into his employment.

La Chappelle recounted his struggles and bouts with lies and dishonesty since he was a boy. He fully acknowledged that he lied, cheated and stole for the previous three years of his employment with VICTIM. He said he knew right from wrong, but he didn’t address his issues. He said it started little, and it became easier as it went unchecked. La Chappelle said he knew the day would come when his deceitfulness would be exposed, and he’d have to account for it.

La Chappelle stated that there was no real reason for his fraudulent purchases other than gluttony, greed, and seeing things that he wanted without having to pay for them. He said his income was enough, and he didn’t have a financial need.

Brett also admitted to stealing cash from the department. He said 3 or 4 times he stole payments of $300 that were received for basketball league payments. You can bet that if he admitted to 3 or 4 times, he did it many, many more.

And then there is the sad, sad story that Brett told the police to explain why he keeps stealing from people:

First of all I knew this day would come – I knew that – and I knew that it had to – I guess I’ll just say that I for most of my life ever since I was a young boy I’ve struggled with dishonesty – much like many young kids you tell a white lie, fibs and I was no different, but even as a young kid I think I recognized a pattern that grew and it stayed with me and you tell more lies and stole a candy bar and in the grand scheme of things, minor things, but yet started out to become who I was – it grew with me to my teens and my young adult life – and into my marriage where I mismanaged our home finances and mad a mess of things –

I’m not going to go all religious or anything on you, but in my early 30’s is where god got a hold of me – made me aware of my sin made me aware of the things that I was doing were wrong – and because of that I was able to start making changes in my life and for the first time in a long time in my life I was able to have victory over the lies and the deceit and things like that I was truly changed – I wasn’t perfect – I still made mistakes – there were days where I would take one step forward and two back but then the reality was for the most part I had taken two steps forward and one back I made some progress and overcame a lot and that continued for a long time and I built a lot of relationships during that time that held me accountable that helped me – and ultimately I know it was god that changed me and allowed me to have that victory –

There was a set of circumstances in 2012, 2011-2012 that just I left the ministry that I was involved in and started a new one and continued on that path for quite a few years things were going well and over the past couple of years I noticed a shift and I couldn’t quite place my finger on it – in some respects I guess I lost some of my passion I had let go of some of the relationships that I had that were very valuable to me and I began to walk away from god and then not long after that I started dealing with some of the same patterns that I had overcome –

Naturally I didn’t like it, but after telling one lie, or two lies, or three lies they just start to come back and for some people its drugs, some its alcohol, some its whatever mine happens to be this is my issue and I need to own that – I fully acknowledge that I’m not gonna run from any of this – sitting here before you with my dishonesty exposed it seems almost pointless to tell you that I’m being honest with you, but that’s the reality of it – I’m just being truthful about where I am at and I’m ashamed to tell you that.

It seems that fraud and theft may run in the family, as Brett’s brother Paul LaChappelle (now deceased) went to prison for wire fraud and tax evasion.

And so…. on June 24, 2022, Brett pleaded no contest to four of the felony charges. Counts 5 to 37 are dismissed, but would be considered during sentencing in September.

Sentencing occurred on September 8, 2022. Our little friend got 6 months in jail with work release privileges. Since he doesn’t work, I suspect this was done so he can go to medical appointments. He must report to the Manitowoc County Jail on November 11, 2022. Our little friend will be spending Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter in the pokey. I bet he’ll be doing a lot of praying. Brett also got 4 years of probation, so in theory he’ll have to stay out of trouble for 4 years. More praying!

November 23, 2022: Brett will spend Thanksgiving in jail. Give thanks he’s not out there defrauding people! The word “prisoner” warms my heart.