Marking the halfway point of the decade, 2015 was a national news year for Lake County when Fox Lake police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz was believed to have been shot dead by a few suspicious people on the morning of Sept. 1 in a remote, marshy area of the village.
Known as “G.I. Joe” in the community, he was well liked for his work mentoring kids including running the Police Department’s Explorer Post for young adults interested in a career in law enforcement.
Hundreds turned out for his procession and funeral, including Gov. Bruce Rauner, but feelings turned bitter when the Lake County Major Crime Task Force announced two months later it believed he staged his suicide to look like a murder to cover up his own criminal activity.
Investigators said Gliniewicz, who had a troubled history in the department and had allegedly been stealing from the youth policing group he ran, tried to make his death appear to be a murder amid fears the thefts would come to light.
Not long after the announcement, some of the placards outside the police station honoring Gliniewicz as a hero had been defaced with words including “lied,” “stole” and “disgraced.”
“Joe Gliniewicz was a fantastic mentor to those kids,” said the mother of an explorer post member. “Now we all feel betrayed in a big way.”
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This also came at a time when days before Giniewicz’s death, the Fox Lake police chief stepped down after being placed on leave amid an internal investigation into an altercation between an officer and a man in police custody. Three officers were suspended in connection with the incident.
The Gliniewicz story continues to this day after his wife, Melodie, was charged with theft.
In May of this year, her case was headed back to the state appellate court over the issue of whether marital privilege protects certain texts between Melodie Gliniewicz and her late husband from being allowed as evidence at trial.
Assistant State’s Attorney Kenneth LaRue told Lake County Circuit Judge James Booras at a status hearing that the state was filing an appeal contesting Booras’ recent ruling that the texts in question cannot be used as evidence due to marital privilege protection.
Gliniewicz has pleaded not guilty to charges of misuse of charitable funds and money laundering in the case, which stems from an alleged series of thefts from funds belonging to the former Fox Lake Police Explorer unit run by her late husband.
The new filing is the second time the State’s Attorney’s Office has taken the issue to the 2nd District Appellate Court. Previously, when Booras ruled the texts could not be used and declined to hold a hearing on the privilege issue, the state appealed and eventually won, with the court ruling the hearing must be held.
Then Booras held the hearing, and despite claims from the prosecution that the texts the state wants to introduce as evidence “prove” the theft case against Gliniewicz, Booras again ruled in favor of the defense contention that the texts are off-limits.
As to the texts, Booras said in his ruling last month that because Melodie Gliniewicz had signed a consent to search her phone in October 2015, she had effectively waived marital privilege for her phone, but not the phone belonging to her late husband.
Because the texts were found on his phone but not hers, they will not be allowed at trial, Booras ruled.
Separately, she has also sought to receive his police pension, but that has been held up by a legal gag order that forbids anyone from releasing sensitive videos or information regarding her criminal case.
Other top stories of the year included Waukegan 17-year-old Justus Howell being shot to death on April 4 by a Zion police officer in a shooting Lake County authorities later ruled was a justified use of force following an investigation monitored by federal authorities.
It was also the year a tornado tore through Round Lake and Grayslake on Aug. 2 packing 90 to 100 mph winds and traveling 12 miles, Jason Strong was released after 15 years’ imprisonment in May when medical evidence contradicted his murder confession to Waukegan police, and police departments saved the lives of 45 people with the anti-overdose drug naloxone.