Wis. Police Chief Enters Plea Deal for Signing Up Local Tea Party Leader for Gay Dating Site

Upset with the local tea party’s antics, the police chief of Campbell, Wis., took action into his own hands in a rather unorthodox way: He signed up the group’s leader for a gay dating website.

Police chief Tim Kelemen has since been charged with one misdemeanor count of unlawful use of a computerized communications system after signing Greg Luce up for the dating site. The Associated Press reports Kelemen also used Luce’s name, address, phone number, e-mail address, and other personal information to register him on pornographic sites as well as on HealthCare.gov.

Kelemen’s bizarre act of vengeance stems from an incident last year when Luce and other tea-party members held signs over an interstate overpass, according to WXOW. The police department demanded that they stop because of safety concerns, but the activists argued that those orders violated their free-speech rights. Kelemen claims he later signed Luce up for the various websites after a flood of phone calls and e-mails from tea-party supporters; prosecutors found no evidence of e-mails from Luce.

Over the weekend, Kelemen pleaded no contest and entered a plea deal that will require him to complete 40 hours of community service, as well as seek mental-health counseling; he remains on paid leave. Luce called the plea deal a “slap on the wrists.”