New sergeant sworn in

Weyauwega police chief remarks on lockdown

By James Card

At the city council meeting on Dec. 20, new recruit Bryan Strobusch took his oath of office as the new police sergeant and was sworn in by city clerk Becky Loehrke.

Strobusch has much experience in local and regional law enforcement. Originally from Waupaca, he went to UW-Oshkosh, earning a bachelor’s of science in criminal justice in 2010. After a stint at the Waupaca Foundry when there were not many police jobs open, he worked for the Langlade County Sheriff’s Department.

From there he landed back in Waupaca and worked at the Sheriff’s Department part-time from 2009 to 2013. He was a full-time patrol office from 2013 to 2016. Then he joined the Central Wisconsin Drug Task Force and from 2013 to 2019, he worked narcotics cases and did some undercover investigations.

After that, we worked on patrol with the Waupaca Sheriff’s Department before joining the Weyauwega Police Department.

At the ceremony were his 18 month-old son, Nash, and his girlfriend Gabby Van Gompel who presented him with his new badge.

Also an face-to-face encounter with Sgt. Strobusch could result in a case of mistaken identity. He has an identical twin brother who also works in law enforcement. He is a detective with the Waushara County Sheriff’s Department.

Kudos from the chief

At the meeting Police Chief Brandon Leschke addressed the city council about the recent Dec. 8 lockdown of Weyauwega-Fremont schools.

Students discovered a note with threatening firearm images and there was a copycat situation of a student sending Snapchats online with an image of an air-soft gun with more threatening commentary.

“I just want to tell you guys and gals because you don’t know or hear it often, but we had multiple agencies – from health and human services from across two counties, the sheriff’s department, the police department, the circuit court judge, the F.B.I. was involved to a degree, the district attorneys’ office. I don’t remember a time when we worked that well together. Everybody was onboard with the same goal in mind. We had a few hiccups but right from the get-go, the thought process and where we wanted to be at the end goal was seamless. It worked out extremely well and I was super impressed by the way everyone worked together,” said Leschke.