Timothy Russell pleads not guilty to embezzlement charges

MILWAUKEE (AP) — A former aide to Gov. Scott Walker when Walker was the Milwaukee County executive has pleaded not guilty to embezzlement charges.

Timothy Russell is alleged to have embezzled more than $21,000 in 2010 from a veterans-support organization account to which Walker had entrusted him.

Russell is also accused of siphoning lesser sums from campaign accounts of two Milwaukee County Board candidates, and prosecutors say he also helped set up a shadow Internet system that other Walker aides used to perform campaign work on county time.

Russell’s lawyer asked Friday to move the trial to another county because of media attention, but the judge denied the request.

Russell is one of five of Walker’s former close aides or associates charged in a secret investigation.