MONROE — A former Monroe man has been fined in Green County Circuit Court for a “slightly disturbing” email he sent the mayor of Monroe.
Russell Anthony Kershaw, 33, now of Austin, Texas, appeared in court without an attorney Jan. 7 and pleaded no contest to the misdemeanor charge of sending a computer message to threaten injury or harm. He was fined $100 plus court costs, or $579.
A bench warrant had been issued for Kershaw since 2017. In November he turned himself in.
The case stems from an email he sent Mayor Louis Armstrong on Nov. 10, 2016 with the subject line, “Hey it’s me Russell Kershaw.”
“Sir, seems the power is all mine these days,” the email begins. Kershaw then accused Monroe police officers of being “three-year-olds with a badge constantly throwing fits.”
“I’m not trying to be rude, but in one of their tantrums they had me removed from two gyms in the city,” he wrote. “I think it’s the decent thing to do to warn the owners their degenerate subordinates just got them killed (and) I’ll have their gym for them acting out of turn.”
The mayor forwarded the email to Chief of Police Fred Kelley, with a note that it was “slightly disturbing and not sure what to do except share with you.”
Reflecting back now, Kelley said his officers had “numerous contacts with (Kershaw) during this time period in 2016” and tried everything they could not to have to arrest him.
Kershaw was asked to leave the public library and a local gym on many occasions for agitated, angry outbursts, Kelley said.
The email to the mayor “was just a sidebar” to Kershaw’s public disturbances, Kelley said, but it ended up being the action that led to a criminal charge in court.
As city attorney at the time, District Attorney Craig Nolen was already familiar with Kershaw.
“We had a lot of issues with Russell. ... He flew off the handle a fair amount,” Nolen said.
In the intervening years, Kershaw “got some mental health treatment, which was the prevailing issue,” Nolen said. At his recent plea and sentencing hearing, Kershaw apologized, mentioned being on medication and seemed “pretty well balanced.”
Kershaw has no prior criminal record in Wisconsin. Last July, he pleaded guilty in a local court in El Paso County, Colorado, to felony charges of menacing and assault. He was sentenced to two years on probation with conditions that he consume no alcohol or drugs, submit to random drug testing, continue taking medication as prescribed and complete a mental health evaluation through Veterans Affairs.