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Lansing mayor Andy Schor lets dirty cop off easy

October 18, 2026

There had been rumors that Lieutenant Ryan Wilcox had been mowing lawns while on the City of Lansing payroll going back 15 years, but it wasn’t until May 30, 2024 - in response to an internal complaint - that he was put on paid leave and a criminal referral was made to the Michigan State Police. In February 2025 he was charged with a felony - false pretenses between $1,000 and $20,000 - in 55th District Court in Mason. He faced up to five years in prison if convicted and loss of his pension.

That did not happen.

On March 13, 2025 he pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of embezzlement by an agent or trustee between $200 and $1,000. He was sentenced to 10 months of probation, but will serve no jail time. He will lose his law enforcement certification and will have to pay restitution of $18,500.

Wilcox was on paid leave from May 30, 2024 to February 25, 2025 while the MSP investigated. That’s nine months of full pay for doing nothing. He also earned service credit toward his pension during those nine months.

Little of this is my own reporting. It comes from series of stories in the Lansing State Journal, mostly by reporter Matt Mencarini. A list of the original stories is at the end of this story, but there are also links to them within my narrative.

Here’s how Wilcox stole from the people of Lansing. There has been no estimate of the total, but it is likely a lot more than the $18,500 restitution he paid.

Wilcox

  

·         He owned a lawn mowing company and mowed lawns while he was on payroll. There had been rumors for about 15 years about Wilcox mowing lawns while on the clock for the city.

·         He stored his lawn mowing equipment at the LPD’s shooting range off Airport Road in DeWitt Township.

·         From December 2021 through May 2024, Wilcox made about 370 purchases with his city credit card — around 13 each month — for more than $105,000.

·         He made personal trips with his city-owned vehicle, filling up using his city-paid gas card.

·         He claimed overtime hours he never worked. That unearned overtime pay likely increased his pension.

·         He worked for Ergometrics, also known as the National Testing Network, a private company that helps police departments with hiring and promotions. Wilcox sat on interview panels and sometimes did so while on the job for the city, including 264 hours across 33 days that State Police documented, estimating more than $12,000 in city wages for work he didn't do. 

To avoid possible conflict of interest, the Jackson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office handled the case and it was that office that secured the plea agreement, letting Wilcox off with a misdemeanor rather than a felony.  Kelsey Guernsey, the Jackson County prosecuting attorney, explained her action as follows:

 

Our two main goals in resolving this case were to ensure that the victim, the police department, was made whole and that Defendant Wilcox was never able to be an officer again. With those goals in mind, we ensured that Defendant will not challenge the amount requested by the department and will agree to pay that amount in full and Defendant will relinquish his police officers license to ensure he is not a licensed officer moving forward. These were the primary factors we considered in resolution of the file.

 
Jackson County Prosecutor Kelsey Guernsey

What about the goal of punishment? Most folks who get caught stealing - especially when the amount could be well over $100,000 - expect some jail time. And in this case, it was someone who swore an oath to uphold the law.

It is interesting that Guernsey thought the victim was the Lansing Police Department, not the people of Lansing. It wasn’t the LPD’s money he stole.

Here’s how I think this plea agreement came about. The Jackson prosecutor called Andy Schor and asked him what he wanted to happen. Schor had been told by Wilcox’ lawyer that since Wilcox knew where all the bodies were buried, they’d better go easy on him. He’d worked for the police force for 23 years, so he knew about all the moonlighting and side hustles and other police shenanigans.

One of the moonlighters was Ellery Sosebee, the chief of police at the time the Wilcox was put on leave. He had his own lawn mowing business - called Seasons Lawn and Snow LLC - for at least a decade. He retired in July 2024 at age 48 and now works for MSU. How many other cops followed his example is unknown, but one morning a couple years ago while jogging in my neighborhood, I stopped to talk with a guy who was mowing lawns. He said he was with the LPD. I bet there are a lot of people in Lansing whose lawn is being mowed by a cop.

The officer who made the complaint that triggered the investigation told the MSP that Wilcox was friends with high-ranking people in the department and that was why his moonlighting on city time wasn't discovered earlier.

Lansing Mayor Andy Schor

 

Schor didn’t want the scandal that would result from more revelations. Also, he was getting pressure from the Capital City Labor Program, the LPD union. They are obligated to go to bat for their members, no matter how corrupt they are. So Schor agreed to charge Wilcox with a misdemeanor rather than a felony, which allowed him to keep his pension.

On March 13, 2025 Wilcox pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of embezzlement by an agent or trustee between $200 and $1,000. He was sentenced to 10 months of probation, but will serve no jail time. He will get his pension – along with the generous health insurance for life that comes with it – but will lose his law enforcement certification and will have to pay restitution of $18,500. His annual pension is $108,837.73, but $20,570.64 of that has to go to his ex-wife, leaving him $88,267.09. That is $7,355.59 per month.

He was also ordered to serve 80 hours of community service. 54A District Court Judge Cynthia Ward told Wilcox "The court wants your community service hours, in some way, to repair the community that has been harmed by your actions.” I don’t think 80 hours will do it.

The $18,500 restitution he paid is likely much less than he stole. Who says crime doesn’t pay? And he still has his lawn mowing business.

Following are links to the stories on the Wilcox case that appeared in the Lansing State Journal. This is what great reporting looks like:

Send comments, questions, and tips to stevenrharry@gmail.com or call or text me at 517-730-2638. If you'd like to be notified by email when I post a new story, let me know.

 

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