RACINE - He was in charge of investigating cases for child protective services in Racine County, but Todd O'Brien has been accused of falsifying documents that could have put hundreds of children at risk.
O'Brien pleaded not guilty in a Racine County courtroom to six charges of falsifying documents.
His former employer, the Racine County Human Services Department, is in the middle of reviewing his entire case load.
The trust O'Brien allegedly fabricated may take years to repair.
"This is a combination of a white collar matter and a typical criminal investigation," said District Attorney Michael Nieskes.
O'Brien, who is 37 and from Franklin, was in charge of investigating child abuse and neglect cases.
But instead of investigating, he allegedly marked the cases as "unsubstantiated."
He has since been fired, and Racine County Human Services is reviewing about 250 of O'Brien's cases.
Neither O'Brien nor the people he was with in court would talk to us.
Officials with Human Services would not comment about the internal investigation or what specifically they're doing to make sure this doesn't happen again, but they say they're taking this situation very seriously.
So are prosecutors.
"Our fear is that someone will continue to be victimized or was victimized further," said Nieskes.
O'Brien is scheduled to return to court next month.
