Three Kewaunee Men Charged With Forging Document About Manure Spreading

Three men in Kewaunee County are being charged with conspiring to submit a forged report to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources after a large amount manure was spread on farm fields and then lying about the amount.

The complaint filed in Kewaunee County Court against Gregory Stodola and Stodola Ag. Transport, Johannes Wakker, and Benjamin Koss alleges that Wakker, owner of a concentrated animal feeding farm, needed to get rid of excess manure in late 2019 and hired Stodola to spread the manure on his land.

Stodola spread the manure on several fields, but the amount so far exceeded what Wakker’s permit allowed that it resulted in pollution discharges into tributaries leading to Lake Michigan with E. Coli bacteria readings as much as 100 times the amount that would result in the closure of a public beach, according to a statement from the Wisconsin Department of Justice.

Knowing it was far over the amount allowed to be spread, Stodola created a document that underreported the manure actually spread by over 1.9 million gallons.

Stodola then gave this document to Wakker, who in turn gave it to Koss, a consultant hired by Wakker to file the required report about the manure spreading with the DNR.

According to the complaint, Koss also manipulated the numbers even further so that the reported numbers would fit within DNR regulations before filing the report with the DNR.

The three men are scheduled to appear in Kewaunee County Court on Jan. 12.