The Hernia Check: Bare Hearsay and Foundationless Assertions Paperback – March 9, 2026

What do you do when a Nebraska State trooper accuses you of sexual assault?Brienne Splittgerber dreamed of following in her father's footsteps and becoming a criminal investigator for the Nebraska State Patrol. In the fall of 2014, at the age of thirty-four, the married mother of two finally got her chance when she was selected to join the Nebraska State Patrol's fifty-sixth recruitment camp.One week into training, the aspiring investigator told five members in her chain of command about the boot camp physical examination she experienced six weeks earlier. A male physician, contracted by the patrol, asked her to expose her genitals and anus during the examination. There was no physical contact. She found it "weird." Splittgerber expected a criminal investigation to be started, but her supervisor, Captain Mark Williams, swept the whole thing under the rug. He knew how she was. And like everyone said, if there was a female chaperone present, then you're okay. Angry and embarrassed, Splittgerber stayed at boot camp and waited, but she wasn't the type to let things go.A year later, in the fall of 2015, five days after Captain Mark William's funeral, Trooper Brienne Splittgerber set into motion a chain of events that would ultimately sabotage her own dream and wreak havoc on the lives of others. Read more