By Matt Sepic

Hennepin County Sheriff David Hutchinson has demoted a deputy from major to lieutenant after authorities found a county-owned vehicle stuck in a ditch near a western Wisconsin tavern.

According to the incident report made public Thursday, the unmarked Chevrolet Tahoe SUV had been driven by Robert Staupe, 48, a Hennepin County Sheriff’s deputy.

Greg Chafer, a deputy with the Burnett County Sheriff’s Office, spotted the vehicle late Saturday in a ditch outside Northwinds Bar near Spooner, Wisconsin, about 100 miles northeast of the Twin Cities.

Chafer wrote in his report that bar patrons refused to tell him who had been driving the Tahoe, so he called for a tow truck. He said a woman in the bar swore at him, but eventually the bar owner told him that the driver of the SUV worked in law enforcement.

As he was waiting for the tow truck, Chafer saw a white Dodge Charger leave the bar with a man and two women inside. The car returned a short time later without the two passengers.

Just after the tow truck operator began pulling the vehicle from the ditch, an operator from another tow company arrived and said the SUV’s driver had requested help. The operator gave Chafer a phone number for Staupe’s wife, Susan.

Chafer reported that when he spoke with Susan Staupe, she was “argumentative,” had slurred speech, and asked why the sheriff’s office was towing the SUV. Staupe admitted that she and her husband had left in the Charger with the bar owner’s wife.

Early Sunday, Staupe called Burnett County Deputy Travis Thiex to ask about retrieving the Tahoe from the impound lot. Thiex reported that Staupe admitted drinking, but “not that much” before driving the SUV into the ditch.

After contacting the Hennepin County Sheriff’s Office, Thiex told Staupe that he could not release the vehicle because someone from Hennepin County would be coming to get it.

Minnesota court records show that Robert Staupe pleaded guilty to drunk driving in 1997 and was sentenced to community service and probation.

Messages MPR News left at numbers listed for Robert and Susan Staupe were not returned.

Sheriff Hutchinson said in a statement Thursday that he has launched an “internal employment investigation” and could not provide further comment on the incident.