A top law-enforcement official in Palm Beach County, Florida is coming under fire for allegedly being a white nationalist, fantasizing and plotting the death of black citizens or Jews. Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Michael Gauger was exposed for his correspondence with other members of the now-defunct Stormfront White Supremacist web site, whose members were linked to as many one hundred hate-crime deaths.
According to a confidential police report leaked to DC Weekly, a user going by the name of Krieger was trying to recruit help from other Stormfront members to kidnap a black man or a Jew, rape them with a metal pipe, and kill them. One of the members whom Krieger contacted decided he needed to contact his local police department.
“Jokingly I said he was a suspected Storm Front member and I told him about the conversation I had with John Doe, and showed him the printed list of correspondence between “Krieger” and John Doe. Chief Deputy Gauger became extremely nervous, his mouth went dry and his completion became pale. I could see his jugular vein pulsing hard, like a person under enormous stress. He looked at me, ripped up the paper, and told me that I would not be filing a report on this incident. I was informed by Chief Deputy Gauger if I should report this incident or attempt to take any action, my career would be over and he would find a reason to put me in prison. “
An unnamed deputy from the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office and met with the confidential informant, who lived in the same county at Krieger. He provided Krieger’s correspondence to the deputy, which contained the address, as Krieger had planned on meeting the informant. The deputy drove by the home listed at the address and thought it was a mistake; the home belonged to Michael E. Gauger, the Chief Deputy of the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office. The deputy made contact with the Chief Deputy and explained he must had been there on hoax, however, when he showed the message correspondence between Krieger and the confidential informant, the deputy stated the Chief Deputy became pale and nervous before snatching the documents away and ripping them up.
According to the deputy, Chief Deputy Gauger threatened that if he told anyone about the incident, he would end the deputy’s career and find a way to send him to prison. The very next day, the deputy took his concerns to a trusted colleague in the Palm Beach County Corruption Unit within the Palm Beach State Attorney’s office. he was told in no uncertain terms that Chief Deputy Gauger has very powerful friends that would be in charge of any investigation, and that the investigation would only result in retaliation for coming forward.
From the deputy’s report:
“Out of fear for my livelihood and career, I did not proceed any further in my investigation, and I did not ask Chief Deputy Gauger if he was the author with the user name of Krieger, though he advised me it was nothing more than fantasy. Still, I advised Chief Deputy Gauger he might want to reconsider being a member of such a website and exchanging those types of messages. He told me not to worry, he ‘was going to delete [his] profile’ on Storm Front as soon as I left.”