MONROE — One of several defendants involved in an alleged scheme during which a Green County jail deputy helped smuggle contraband into Green County jail was sentenced to time served on a reduced misdemeanor charge.
The contraband was not weapons or drugs but instant coffee. Still, authorities said the case had a potential “cascading effect” on security at the jail, resulting in a jailer’s arrest and firing.
Initially charged with a felony count of delivering illegal articles to an inmate as party to a crime, Judith Disrud, 59, of Monticello, was accused of helping her son, inmate Brandon Disrud, obtain the coffee, allegedly via jail deputy Dustin J. Andrews. He is alleged to have given store-brand instant coffee to Disrud and another inmate, John E. Tracy, according to the criminal complaint.
In October, Sheriff Cody Kanable announced that Andrews, 39, of Monroe, was arrested for Deliver Articles to an Inmate — a Class I Felony — and Misconduct in Public Office, also a Class I Felony, among other charges. Following that arrest and others, Kanable immediately terminated Andrews’ employment as a Deputy Sheriff and filed the revocation of oath with the Clerk of Circuit Court.
And while the illegal article in the case might not seem like a major violation, Nolen said in court that such an activity has larger ramifications on the “power-control dynamic” that is vital to maintaining security in jail, and exposed the deputy to future criminality by ensuring he is compromised by a potential felony.
Nolen told the court the defendant wanted the coffee “presumably due to the caffeine amounts being insufficient” to whatever was served in the jail.
On Thursday Judith Disrud pleaded no contest — and a guilty plea was entered by the court on her behalf — to a single count of violating state/county institution laws and was sentenced to a fine and two days in the county jail. She was given credit for the time served following her arrest and won’t spend any time in jail.
Nolen told Circuit Judge Faun M. Phillipson that he supported the reduced charged after listening to related jail call transcripts between her and son, convicted felon Brandon Disrud, in which she was coerced. She was clearly heard hesitating and questioning her son about whether it was ok to deliver the coffee to the jail but “he convinced her,” and she “acquiesced,” said Nolen.
Prior to sentencing, Phillipson also cited the transcripts as revealing that, while talking to her son about the coffee, she was someone who would not knowingly break the law. The defendant, she added, has no criminal history.
Still, the judge added that there should be punishment for what she did end up doing, nonetheless. But two days in jail and the embarrassment she suffered were sufficient punishment
The rules, Phillipson said, “exist for a really serious reason.”
That sentiment was echoed by Kanable, whose department and detectives worked with Nolen to investigate and bring the charges in the coffee case.
“The integrity of the jail depends on our deputies’ ability to do the right thing all the time,” Kanable said Thursday, reacting to a sentencing in the ongoing case. “The public holds us to a higher standard and they should.”
Charged with felony Deliver Illegal Article to Inmate, Brandon Disrud is set for a preliminary hearing on the new charges January 27 in Green County Circuit Court.
Andrews had been employed with the Sheriff’s Office since October 7, 2024. He is scheduled to appear in circuit court on the matter on January 6. He is free on a $5,000 signature bond, court records indicate. The criminal complaint describes a review by investigators of Andrews’ activity after getting coffee out of his truck in a department parking lot.
“He returns to the jail office from the kitchen area,” said the complaint. “The coffee container is still in his right hand. He enters door 6 and immediately enters the linen/laundry/changing area. Andrews is in the linen/laundry/changing area for over 1 minute.”
According to court records Brandon Disrud is also charged with felony drug (methamphetamines) charges and felony fleeing and eluding in Lafayette County, for which he is scheduled for a plea/sentencing hearing for January 22. He also has a lengthy history of criminal convictions in Green County dating back to 2004, according to court records, including convictions for felony forgery in 2019 and 2020, felony burglary in 2013, and felony manufacture/deliver cocaine in 2010. According to Nolen, Brandon Disrud is in Dane County facing some type of charges there.
Andrews, meanwhile, is charged with seven felonies and a misdemeanor related to the case and could face years in prison if convicted.
