By Jim Stevens
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
WAUKESHA, Wis. — An East Troy man accused of trying to hire a hit man to kill a Walworth County assistant district attorney, a Town of East Troy police officer and a Village of East Troy police clerk was charged in Waukesha County Circuit Court and is being held on $200,000 bail in Waukesha County Jail.
John K. Gorman, 51, of W1340 Beach Road, was charged with three counts of solicitation of first-degree intentional homicide and three counts of felony bail jumping.
Gorman was charged with plotting to kill Assistant District Attorney Diane Donohoo, Police Officer Kevin Weber and the clerk.
Last March, Gorman allegedly began harassing the clerk, who informed police. Police then warned Gorman to stop, but he did not and was charged in May with stalking, said Donohoo after the hearing.
At the time Gorman was arrested, Weber saw weapons in Gorman’s house.
As part of his release on a $10,000 signature bond, Gorman was not to possess any weapons.
A short time later, police executed a search warrant at his house and found numerous guns, mostly handguns, and three switchblades, Donohoo said.
Gorman was arrested again, and then allegedly began harassing Weber, Donohoo said.
Gorman is charged with three felony counts of stalking, 15 counts of bail-jumping, three counts of possession of a switchblade and three counts of disorderly conduct in Walworth County.
According to the criminal complaint, Gorman was in Walworth County Jail in late December and told an inmate that he was looking for someone to hire to kill three people.
The inmate informed authorities, who had an undercover agent meet with Gorman in the Village of Mukwonago on Jan. 8. Gorman told the agent he needed “some work done.”
Gorman called the three individuals derogatory names, and the agent asked Gorman what exactly he wanted and Gorman replied, “Put it this way, disappearing,” the complaint said. Gorman went on further to say there were a couple of people who were a “pain in the a-"and that some “Dumpster” service was needed, the complaint said.
The agent was given a map that showed where Weber and the clerk lived.
Gorman said he did not know where Donohoo lived.
Gorman told the agent he did not have any money but was willing to do some work to rehabilitate some buildings the agent claimed he owned, the complaint said.
The agent asked Gorman whether he wanted the three people dead and Gorman “shook his head up and down to indicate affirmatively,” the complaint said.
Gorman told the agent he needed a “good heads up” from him so he could travel to Florida to visit his mother in order to have an alibi, the complaint said.
As a prosecutor, Donohoo thought “this is great evidence.” But after reflecting on the matter, she said it was “unnerving.”
“And then I went home and realized this could have been ugly,” Donohoo said. “It seems clear Mr. Gorman wanted us gone.”
After the plot was revealed, police in the community she lives in provided extra patrol, she said.
Gorman was scheduled to appear in court Jan. 15, and after he had cleared security screening at the Walworth County Courthouse he was arrested.
Donohoo said he was taken into custody then in order to avoid a “shootout.”
“His efforts to have the three individuals killed were all based on his desire to have retaliation against court officials and law-enforcement officers for their having brought charges against him,” prosecutor Lindsey Hirt said during Gorman’s initial court appearance Jan. 19.
Gorman is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 3 for a preliminary hearing.
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