ALBANY — A young Albany firefighter has been charged with felony misconduct in office, forgery, and other charges for allegedly submitting a fake certificate for basic firefighter training to local officials.
Karl M. Schoenhard, 24, is facing the charges in Green County Circuit Court, according to court records. Those include forgery, party to a crime, a Class H Felony; Misconduct/Office-Act/Excess Authority, a Class I Felony; and uttering a forgery, party to a crime, a class H Felony.
According to a criminal complaint: “This forged certificate was presented by the Albany Fire Department Chief Justin Mueller to the Albany Village Board President Kim Blumer and Police, Fire & License Committee Chair D. Fred Johnson on June 19, 2024 in the Village of Albany, according to Blumer & Johnson.”
Investigators discovered at the Wisconsin Technical College System for Fire Education that the number given to Albany as proof of his 96-hour Firefighter 1 training certification belonged to a different person. What’s more, the date on the certificate didn’t check out, either, according to the criminal complaint.
Records at Blackhawk Technical College, where Schoenhard had attended, show that Schoenhard had taken the Fire Fighter 1 course in the Fall of 2023 and did not pass his examination. His three scores in subsequent attempts to pass never rose above his top mark of 65 earned on May 22, 2024, according to the criminal complaint.
Yet despite such marks and the forged certificate, he started work in Albany. There, “…between December 3, 2023 and January 15, 2025, the Defendant, as an employee of the Village of Albany Fire Department responded to numerous calls that required him to possess the Fire Fighter 1 certification under MABAS Standards.”
The forged documents came from a family member according to the complaint. That relative, also living in Albany, has not been charged in connection with the case, according to court records that show no other arrests.
But that relative apparently went to work, authorities allege, producing a “Fire Fighter 1 certificate and a hazardous materials operations certificate, where [redacted] agrees and produces the aforementioned forged Fire Fighter 1 Certificate Number A51498 dated December 2, 2023 and a Hazardous Materials Operations Certificate,” said the complaint.
In addition, other forged documents were in play, according to investigators. Said the criminal complaint: “…your complainant observed numerous other requests from Karl E. Schoenhard to [redacted] for altered documents, which she prepared, including altered pay stubs, sick leave documentation, and other documentation.”
The defendant appeared by video on Monday, March 10 for an initial appearance. During that appearance, bond was set at $5,000 (personal appearance). A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. March 28 in circuit court in Monroe.