Current Tony Events

Our Tribute to Tony Cardiel

A Website Created and Maintained by Family, Friends, & Supporters

Tony's "Not a Blog" News of the Day - Where we attempt to keep visitors up-to-date with regard to Tony's fight for vindication

A Nightmare Begins

On December 10, 2007 Tony was telephoned by the Sheboygan County Sheriff’s Department and asked to visit the office, ostensibly to retrieve computers which had been confiscated 14 months earlier in an investigation concerning the activities of one of Tony’s three sons. Once at the office, Tony was subjected to hours of questioning without the benefit of legal counsel and without being given any clear indication of purpose. He was detained in Sheboygan County facilities overnight and was given the opportunity to make only a single 1-minute call, which he used to allay his wife's concerns about his whereabouts.

The next day Tony was questioned further, and was finally informed that, after 14 months of searching through content on five computers and in videotapes, detectives had recovered a small amount of material which they believed fit the bill as being illegal. After another day of detention, with no opportunity to contact family or to obtain legal counsel, Tony was criminally charged. The allegations were released to the press along with select inflammatory excerpts from comments he had made to detectives prior to being informed of the reason for his interview.

Thus began the nightmare whose full extent is yet to be revealed.

His Own Xanadu

Tony has returned home to enjoy, with renewed appreciation, a peaceful country solitude shared by the family he loves.

His revised lifestyle includes searching for the means of replacing lost income without the use of his computer, renewing his home improvement efforts, and shoveling mounds of snow. At least with regards to the latter, normalcy seems right around the corner.

Tony and his family reach out to all in wishing them a

Happy Springtime!

A Belated Defense

Tony's family secured legal representation for Tony in time for his December 17, 2007 court appearance. He had remained jailed through that date, with the opportunity for just one family visit. With the help of Tony's lawyer bail was reduced from the prohibitive and outrageous sum of $10,000 (cash required) to a reasonable $500. The next day Tony was freed, after having spent eight uncomfortable nights in Sheboygan County jails for what was to be a quick trip to pick up household belongings.

Three months and three hearings later Tony and his family continue to fight all charges and to expose them for the sham that they are. The only real weapon Tony's persecutors have in their arsenal is that of fear. They have done everything in their power to use that weapon most effectively. They have threatened Tony with incarceration and financial ruin. They have threatened him with the loss of his teaching certificate. They have threatened him with loss of his retirement and Social Security. They have threatened him with the branding of a sexual predator. They have, by all of these threats, shaken Tony's family to its core. They have done all this despite Tony's innocence, and the consequent lack of substantial evidence of guilt, because he is the outspoken father of a self-confessed offender. Theirs is a blind political agenda intent on achieving its objectives by breaking the will of its victims. Still, despite the strain, uncertainty, and disruption of their lives, Tony and his family remain firm in their resolve to fight this senseless injustice.

"Conviction" in this case is a double-edged sword--with menacing authority on one side, but the other tempered with our righteous courage. The spirits of Tony's family, friends, and supporters are buoyed by their belief that the latter will prevail. Please...do not hesitate to extend to Tony your belief in his character and in his innocence. The power of public opinion can help dissuade Tony's persecutors from continuing in their wrongful pursuits. As easily as this travesty has befallen the Cardiel family, it could happen to any family in Sheboygan County, in the state of Wisconsin, or even in America.