WALKER — Cass County Sheriff Bryan Welk is accused of showing sexually explicit photographs of a naked woman and video of a nude man inside a jail cell to people who should not have seen them.
The accusations come in a complaint involving disclosure of internal investigation materials filed in January by Cass County Deputy Aaron Ammerman, who is now challenging the sheriff in the 2026 election.
Welk declined to comment on anything related to the complaint, other than maintaining he believes it was politically motivated to set Ammerman up for a run for sheriff.
KAXE has obtained a copy of the complaint, which was submitted Jan. 7 to County Administrator Josh Stevenson and sheriff's Lt. Chas Ratz. Ammerman complained of two separate incidents, which he reported he personally observed.
In the first, Ammerman said Welk showed him the naked photos, which were in his possession as part of an internal investigation.
“I had no role in the investigation and no job-related reason to view those images,” the complaint states. “I did not request to see them, and I was uncomfortable being shown the photographs under these circumstances. The disclosure was unnecessary and inconsistent with appropriate handling of sensitive investigative materials.”
The second incident, according to Ammerman, involved Cass County Jail footage shown to someone who did not work in the sheriff’s office.
“I observed Sheriff Welk play a jail video recording depicting a nude adult male for a member of the public who had no role in the matter and no job-related reason to view the video,” Ammerman wrote.
Ammerman confirmed the authenticity of the complaint to KAXE Sunday, Oct. 4.
"Beyond my initial report, I have no further comments — other than the fact that upholding professional standards and integrity within the Sheriff's Office is the core reason why I am running," Ammerman stated in an email.
In May, after declining to discuss the specifics because he'd been instructed to remain silent during the investigation, Ammerman said he thought the people of Cass County should know about what he witnessed.
“This is so unacceptable. If this had been anybody other than an elected official, they would have been fired in probably less than 48 hours," he said.
Welk, attorney respond
Welk and his legal representative, Attorney Imran Ali, participated in a phone interview Monday. Ali said the sheriff “cannot comment on this investigation at all.”
When asked directly whether Welk had shown the photos or video to people who did not have work-related reasons to see them, Ali stepped in to "stop the line of questioning."
"There are things that go in between what is — legally can be said right now, and things that can't be said right now," Ali said.
KAXE submitted two data requests to Cass County seeking to inspect the complaint and associated investigative report, based on the Minnesota law stating data about elected officials is presumed public.
Administrator Josh Stevenson confirmed the county “has concluded its investigation into this matter [the complaint against Welk],” in a Sept. 11 email. But officials will not publicly disclose anything further.
In May, the County Board agreed to consider Welk and other elected officials as "employees" in response to the data request. According to Minnesota statute, employees are treated differently, and details are only released if there are disciplinary actions.
Last month, after a candidate forum, Welk told KAXE that "to [his] knowledge, there's been no discipline."
Welk was asked Monday who in Cass County has the ability to discipline him.
"The voters," he replied.
Asked how there could be discipline from voters if the contents of the complaint remain private, Welk and Ali said they also have not been granted access to the complaint or the investigation report.
"We can't make public what we don't have," Ali said.
Ali is the CEO of a law enforcement training company and the former general counsel for the Minnesota Police and Peace Officers Association. He has also served in advisory and communications roles for other law enforcement organizations, including the Minnesota Sheriffs’ Association.
Accusations describing some of what's in Ammerman's complaint have been posted publicly on social media by multiple people. At least one of these people identified themselves as a family member of the woman in the photos.
"I can tell you there's a lot of people that are identifying them as different people, and that is not true," Welk said. "We've been fighting that every day."
Ali said seeing all the social media posts is infuriating.
"I think that's the goal of the campaign on the other side, is to rely on rumor and innuendo and not the facts and hopefully convince the voters one way or another," he said.
He said the "lies out there right now" were the reason he joined the phone interview with the sheriff.
"That's why I'm even on this call right now, is to ensure that ... any media related to this respects the integrity of the complaint process," Ali said. "No. 1, respects the integrity of the law and those guardrails that are up that the sheriff is unable to talk about."
When KAXE revealed it had seen the complaint and verified its contents match the claims in online posts, Ali ended the phone call shortly after.
"I took this as talking to somebody in the media to be transparent with the voters out there, but it looks as if you exactly know the spin on your story, what you're going to do, and I don't appreciate that," Ali said.
“ ... Never in my 25 years of doing this, and I’ve spoken with the media several times, have I ever seen anything more disingenuous than this conversation right now. Sheriff, I am done, and I am requesting you be done, too.”
Advice of a former supervisor
The complaint has loomed large from the beginning in a contentious campaign season for the sheriff candidates, both longtime employees of the sheriff's office who've worked in a variety of roles over the decades.
Welk, 50, has worked in the office for 28 years. He began as a dispatcher, later serving as a deputy, sergeant, lieutenant and chief deputy for former Sheriff Tom Burch. Ammerman, 48, has been a Cass County deputy for 22 years. He has worked in the boat and water division, emergency response unit, road patrol and court security.
The two have known one another for more than 35 years, attending high school in Remer and law enforcement training together.
But much has transpired since the days late last year when Ammerman claimed he witnessed the actions that ultimately led him to file a complaint and run against someone he once described as a close friend. This includes multiple instances of alleged retaliation against Ammerman, no substantive action taken on the complaint and attempts by high-level officials to keep its contents out of public view.
Rick Wolske is the former assistant jail administrator for Cass County and was Ammerman's direct supervisor before leaving the office in 2019. In an interview, he said Ammerman approached him shortly after the October 2025 incidents, seeking advice.
Wolske said Ammerman also described seeing other employees gathered around the sheriff's desk, viewing the same photos on Welk's computer screen, a day after Ammerman saw them. He also learned the incarcerated person in the alleged video footage suffered from mental illness and was in the jail after an arrest for which he was never charged, awaiting an open bed in a psychiatric facility.
"[Ammerman's] call to me was, 'What should I do?'" Wolske said. "He knew what he should do, but he just wanted assurance. ... I said, 'That's not right, of course.'"
Wolske is another former longtime friend of Welk, and he supported Welk in the 2022 election upon Sheriff Tom Burch's retirement. He and his wife donated $1,200 to Welk's campaign that year. This year, they donated the same amount to Ammerman, as of the latest campaign finance report.
Wolske noted he learned the details of the incidents from Ammerman before any prohibition on discussing the matter was instituted by the sheriff's office, and he was never interviewed as part of the investigation.
Wolske said his frustration with how the county handled Ammerman's complaint — as an internal personnel matter, rather than handing it off to another county to investigate it — was the reason for his willingness to come forward and speak on the record. He said he also couldn't understand why it took so long to finish the probe.
"We're all innocent till proven guilty, you know what I mean? But with — Aaron's not lying, and I know that," Wolske said. " ... I could honestly tell you, if one of his [Welk's] employees did this, and he didn't reprimand that employee or at least demote or fire, I would say he shouldn't run for sheriff again.
"He doesn't fit the parameters on a moral compass to be sitting in the chair, if he's going to allow stuff like that to fly."
Low morale, deep divisions
Welk said sheriff elections between an employee and a seated sheriff are always tough on everybody. He said he believed people in his office were stressed but handling it well. As for how it makes him feel that some in his office are supporting Ammerman, he indicated he is supportive of all viewpoints.
"Well, I think that's part of our constitution is part of our process and free democracy,” Welk said. "So I support all that."
Several employees who spoke to KAXE on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution described a much different environment. They say the office is experiencing the lowest morale and deepest divisions they've ever felt.
"I do think that was one of the things that helped rally this agency — everybody knows how close they [Ammerman and Welk] were," one employee said. " ... And everybody knows that Aaron's always been honest to a fault."
Those who spoke with KAXE said while they believe the public should know about the actions alleged in the complaint, they also know it may undermine confidence in the department.
"I want to know that when I call the sheriff's office and I get a deputy or whoever, you know, whoever shows up, I can trust that person to do their job and do it correctly and not spread my photos all over," one of the employees said.
"There's not much difference between people in jail and people out of jail," another source said. " ... I would really hope if I ever had ended up in jail, that people would have treated me at least with the respect that anyone deserves."
Sources said shortly after the filing of Ammerman's complaint, Welk lost his cellphone, which raised more suspicion. No one who spoke with KAXE reported they saw the nude photos on Welk's phone, but they did describe seeing other materials from the same internal investigation.
KAXE filed a data request and received vendor invoices for the county-owned cellphones used by sheriff's office employees. On Jan. 12 — five days after Ammerman’s complaint — a $379.99 equipment purchase appears on the bill for Welk's phone number. County Administrator Stevenson confirmed this purchase was an iPhone 17.
'Never hit the trigger point’
The complaint's existence first became public in May, when County Attorney Ben Lindstrom asked the County Board to require Ammerman to take a leave of absence for the duration of the campaign. He argued Ammerman violated county policy by failing to notify the Board of his intention to run for office. The Board unanimously declined to order Ammerman’s leave.
Lindstrom also made public a personnel complaint he made against Ammerman in January for “unbecoming conduct,” for which no disciplinary action or investigation occurred. Communications between Welk and Law Enforcement Labor Services, the union representing Cass County deputies, were included in the Board's agenda packet and described Ammerman's complaint as a possible motivation for Lindstrom's actions.
At this same County Board meeting, Administrator Stevenson added an agenda item to request the Board designate elected officials as employees for the purpose of public data. Commissioners approved the designation 4-0.
After learning the county considered the complaint investigation complete, KAXE sought assistance in interpreting the law from the state's Data Practices Office in August. A senior research analyst referred KAXE to an existing advisory opinion supporting KAXE’s position that the data is public — the very document Stevenson handed to commissioners when seeking the employee designation.
"An entity cannot rely on past practices or similar arguments to determine that an elected official is an employee in order to classify data about the official as private ... upon receiving a data request," the opinion states. Minnesota statute also states the classification of data applies "at the time a request for access to the data is made."
Stevenson again declined to provide any further data to a second data request after being advised of this nonbinding guidance.
Cass County's personnel policy repeatedly makes the distinction between the elected officials and employees and which parts of the policy apply to each, including in an appendix listing "elected officials and at-will employees."
Stevenson also provided no response to questions posed by phone and again in writing: Is it even possible for elected officials like the sheriff to be disciplined by anyone else within county government?
The answer is no, according to Attorney Mark Anfinson, who specializes in First Amendment and information law and lobbies for open government at the state Capitol. Anfinson also represents numerous media organizations in the state, including the Minnesota Broadcasters Association, of which KAXE is a member.
"If you can't ever impose any discipline on an employee or on the government worker, you never hit the trigger point for disclosure of the information about the complaint," he said. "And that's kind of the situation you have here."
A County Board may censure a sheriff, as the Hennepin County Board did in 2022 to former Sheriff David Hutchinson over violations of workplace discrimination and bullying policies. But this is a mostly symbolic gesture of disapproval and does not lead to any additional actions.
Unionized staff within a sheriff's office may cast a vote of "no confidence" in a sheriff. A majority of deputies in the Crow Wing County Sheriff's Office voted this way in 2010 against former Sheriff Todd Dahl, citing physical intimidation and verbal abuse by the sheriff and his supervisors. But again, this is a mostly symbolic gesture. Dahl was reelected and served two more terms through 2018.
"You need public access to government to make good judgments about government. That's the bottom line."Attorney Mark Anfinson
The only governmental body capable of disciplining a sheriff aside from a court is the Minnesota Board of Peace Officer Standards and Training, or the POST Board. If it determines a peace officer has committed misconduct, it can suspend or revoke a license.
KAXE submitted a data request to the POST Board asking whether Welk was under investigation. But all information regarding those complaints — even whether one exists — remains private unless and until there is final disciplinary or corrective action taken.
Anfinson said ultimately, the democratic process depends on transparency, so leaders can be held accountable by voters.
"You need public access to government to make good judgments about government," he said. "That's the bottom line."
Michael Nolan and Seraphina Harris-Feron from MuckRock’s Sunlight Research Desk provided research and data analysis for this story.
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