Court agrees to bail modifications for Thomas Justice, former West Bend administrator now out of a job



WAUKESHA -- The former city administrator of West Bend, accused of trying to pay for sex with a teenage girl, was in court on Monday, May 2nd for a hearing. 49-year-old Thomas Justice has been out on bond, but as of Friday, April 29th, he's also out of a job.

Thomas Justice faces one count of child enticement -- prostitution and one count of soliciting a child for prostitution.

Thomas Justice



Justice has resigned from his position as West Bend city administrator.

In court on Monday, his attorney asked for some bail modifications related to his new job search -- and FOX6 News asked whether there was anything he would like to say to West Bend residents.

Justice is accused of trying to entice a 16-year-old girl through a series of text messages dating back to May of 2015.

Court documents indicate Justice found the teenager through the dating website "OK Cupid."

West Bend City Hall



During the summer of 2015, the girl's mother found explicit messages and used her daughter's phone to text Justice that she was only 16. Justice would persist, allegedly texting: "Your age is a turn on. Accept that and let's figure this out babe."

A condition of Justice's $5,000 bond is that he cannot use the internet unless it's for work.

Thomas Justice



On Monday, his attorney asked for a modification since Justice is without a job.

The request worried the prosecutor.

"Obviously, if he`s in the workplace, his workplace can monitor that. If it`s outside the workplace, they have no ability to monitor that," Lesli Boese, Waukesha County deputy district attorney said.

The court commissioner granted the new exception.

"Defendant is not to access the internet for any purpose other than a work search," Thomas Pieper said.

Justice had served West Bend in a dual role as city administrator -- managing the city's daily operations -- as well as director of development. According to the 2016 city budget, each position had an allotted salary of $48,896. That would give Justice a total salary of $97,792.

Justice resigned on Friday, April 29th. The assistant city administrator is filling in for now.

When asked whether Justice has anything he would like to say to the people of West Bend, his attorney, Steve Kohn told FOX6 News: "I`m sure there are a lot of things (Justice) would like to say and I have advised him that this is not the appropriate time to do that."

The West Bend Common Council was set to meet on Monday evening, May 2nd and, according to the agenda, officials would be going into closed session to discuss the city administrator position.

West Bend Mayor Kraig Sadownikow spoke with FOX6 News after the meeting. He said the accusations against Justice came as a shock to many at City Hall.

"We're all asking ourselves those same questions. Why didn't we see this coming? How did we let this get past us? What in the world were we thinking, hiring him in the first place? There are a lot of areas where we can point blame. We're all looking for questions to be answered and we all want to know whose fault this is," Sadownikow said.

Justice will next be in court on May 20th. If convicted on both charges, he faces a maximum sentence of 50 years in prison. The case is being adjudicated in Waukesha County as Justice was arrested in Muskego, where police arranged the meeting with Justice on April 21.