SUTTONS BAY (AP) -- Leelanau County Sheriff's Deputies will get a $625,000 settlement stemming from accusations the then-sheriff and undersheriff eavesdropped on private conversations.
Court documents show that Leelanau County's board of commissioners agreed to settle the federal lawsuit. The agreement came as the suit against Sheriff Mike Oltersdorf and Undersheriff Scott Wooters was set to go to trial.
The board in the northwestern Lower Peninsula county approved the deal in October but didn't reveal its terms. The amount of the payment was listed in a newly released settlement agreement.
The deputies say Oltersdorf and Wooters listened to conversations on what employees believed were private phone lines beginning in 2006. They say Oltersdorf used recordings of conversations critical of him to intimidate and discipline officers.
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