Kendall County State’s Attorney Eric Weis was at the holiday party where the county circuit clerk is accused of committing battery by pushing one of her employees in the head.
Weis said he didn’t see what allegedly happened and knows of no conflict that would prevent his office from prosecuting the case.
The criminal charge against Kendall County Circuit Clerk Robyn Ingemunson stems from a complaint filed by one of her employees about an alleged incident at the Kendall County Association of Chiefs of Police Christmas party, according to emails obtained by The Beacon-News through a Freedom of Information Act request.
In addition to working under Ingemunson in the clerk’s office, the complainant is married to Ingemunson’s ex-husband.
Ingemunson is charged with battery making physical contact, a criminal misdemeanor, in connection with the alleged Dec. 21 incident at Lakeview Grille, a restaurant on the 600 block of West Veterans Parkway in Yorkville, according to police and court records. Ingemunson, 49, of the 2300 block of Iroquois Lane in Yorkville, has been out on $150 bond.
While attending the party, Ingemunson was talking with another woman and became upset, according to police reports. With an open hand, Ingemunson pushed the side of the other woman’s head once, according to police reports.
“I am not a witness to or party to anything that happened between the two of them,” Weis said. “Whatever happened.”
The conflict occurred after the party as scheduled had ended, said Yorkville police Deputy Chief Terry Klingel, the association’s vice president.
Ingemunson has not responded to requests for an interview.
While the state’s attorney’s office has a history of prosecuting county employees, as is its “duty and responsibility,” Weis can’t think of a case in which both the complainant and defendant were employed by the county, he said. Even more unusual is Ingemunson’s role as boss of the complainant in her case.
“I assume that Robyn (Ingemunson) has put procedures in place to accommodate that situation,” Weis said. “But she does still work for the elected official, which is Robyn.”
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Reached by The Beacon-News, the woman making the charges said she was on a paid leave of absence while the county conducted an investigation but returned to work last week, now reporting to the chief deputy clerk rather than to Ingemunson. The woman otherwise declined to comment on the case.
As the situation stands, Weis said, his office is handling Ingemunson’s case as it would any other. It’s assigned to the misdemeanor division, where cases are typically distributed in alphabetical order, but it’s also possible a courtroom supervisor would get the case, Weis said.
“She (Ingemunson) will be treated as anyone else that goes through the court system,” Weis said.
Going forward, if a conflict of interest were to arise, the appointment of a special prosecutor would be sought, Weis said.
Twitter @hannahmleone