THE ILLINOIS POLICE OFFICER hailed as a heroic G.I. Joe when he was found dead in August committed suicide, according to investigators. Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz shot himself amid fears that the police department would uncover his alleged theft of department funds.
In September, Gliniewicz’s body was found in a wooded area after he radioed to his colleagues that he was pursuing three male suspects. It turns out there were no suspects. Gliniewicz killed himself, but not before staging an elaborate crime scene to make it appear as if he had been killed in the line of duty. Lake County Major Crimes Task Force Commander George Filenko, during a news conference this morning, said that Gliniewicz used his .40 caliber pistol to shoot himself in his protective vest, and then shot himself in the chest.
Before killing himself, Gliniewicz placed his pepper spray and glasses in strategic spots near his body to give the appearance of a struggle. Filenko said that Gliniewicz had ample experience staging mock crime scenes because of his work with a department-sponsored youth program.
The now-disgraced officer allegedly stole thousands of dollars from that program, which was aimed at teenagers interested in law enforcement. Gliniewicz, investigators said, spent the money on adult websites, his mortgage, and gym memberships. Authorities believe Gliniewicz was afraid that an upcoming department audit was going to expose his criminal activities.
“We have determined this staged suicide was the end result of extensive criminal acts that Gliniewicz had been committing. In fact he was under increasing levels of personal stress from scrutiny of his management of the Fox Lake Police Explorer program,” said Filenko.
A clue that something was amiss came in September when the county coroner, Thomas Rudd, said that suicide couldn’t be ruled out. Investigators, including Filenko, were outraged by Rudd’s public pronouncements and accused him of jeopardizing the investigation. The last update came from authorities a month ago when Filenko said there was evidence of a struggle, but today he admitted that there had been no struggle.
Gliniewicz’s suicide set off a large manhunt, with neighboring police departments and federal agencies scouring Fox Lake and surrounding communities in search of possible clues and suspects. According to local reports, more than $300,000 was spent during the search for Gliniewicz’s imaginary killers. Thousands of dollars were also donated to his widow and four children. His funeral drew police officers from around the country. And some foolish critics of Black Lives Matter used Gliniewicz’s death to criticize the movement, accusing activists of fomenting hatred of police.
But it was all a massive ruse constructed by a thief who stole money from a program meant to help children. “Gliniewicz,” Filenko said, “committed the ultimate betrayal.”
This does NOT make sense at all. Sounds more like the struggle was real, the dead give was going to expose the true thief and got shot and took the blame for it all. Why would you stage a suicide to look like a struggle. Why would a thief off himself before he was caught? It’s really hard to shoot yourself at all,especially in a bulletproof vest. This story is too strange to believe, look for more evidence and check out those making the claims of suicide/cover up theory…I smell a rat!?
Dafaq are you talking about? The paper trail appears clear enough, His house payments, gym payments, porn sites. He was trying to save face and die a hero.
That’s not a rat you smell….it’s your logic…it stinks like sh*t.
” a thief who stole money from a program meant to help children.”
help children?? A progam to indoctrinate teenagers (not children) about the goodness of the police?
LOL – The Intercept is an intellectual cesspool.
When the leadership is this bad–making threats, zero understanding of our constitutional right to speak (and criticize the cops)–what can we expect from the guys on the beat?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/police-union-quentin-tarantino-surprise_563bfddde4b0411d3070793c#comments
A practice in which corrupt cops are participating:
http://fightgangstalking.com/
I think what this officer did was beyond despicable. His actions hurt many people, most of all his family. To mention that his wife and children received thousands of dollars (donated by the public) was a little unfair. They are victims of this man also. Try to imagine how his wife and kids feel after he received a hero’s send-off to find out it was all a lie. I can’t imagine the shame and betrayal they must be experiencing. They will carry this for the remainder of their lives. They are not responsible for what their father/husband did.
Fox Lake is a few miles from where I live just on the WI side of the state line. The day after the “shooting” I was driving in IL and came across four law enforcement vehicles from four jurisdictions parked on the shoulder. Not monitoring speed or traffic, just hanging out and staring at the cars going by. It was chilling and I had no doubt the “perp” would not survive the arrest process.
AP:
“Illinois Cop Who Killed Himself Allegedly Tried To Set Up Hit On Local Official”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/illinois-cop-hit_563ba681e4b0b24aee4953db
“An official says an Illinois police officer who killed himself tried to arrange for a gang member “to put a hit” on a village administrator because he feared she would discover he had been embezzling money.
Lake County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Christopher Covelli also said Thursday that investigators found packets of cocaine in Fox Lake Police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz’s desk after his Sept. 1 death.
Covelli says investigators recovered deleted text messages in which Gliniewicz mentioned the possibility of planting something on the administrator, Anne Marrin, although he says they don’t know if that’s why he had the cocaine.
Covelli says Gliniewicz sent the text about arranging the hit to a woman last April, asking for help arranging a meeting with a high-ranking gang member. He declined to give her name.”
Juan,
This is a bogus claim.
With that being said, I’d politely ask that you remove noted advocacy as a means to authenticate your article.
Much appreciated,
the dong`
There is a long list of articles and commentaries making that link of the supposed murder of that cop to BLM and the movement in general against police brutality and murder by police. Here is just one by Charles Blow:
They are the people who from the beginning went further than any evidence would support in trying to link Gliniewicz’s death to so-called anti-police rhetoric and presidential politics.
Unhinged maniac, Sheriff David Clarke on Fox News:
Classic blaming and shaming from a reporter, John Kass, of Chicago about the “murdered” cop who turned out to be the crooked cop who thieved hundreds of thousands and then staged his own suicide. This guy, Kass, tries to shut everyone up who doesn’t love, praise and sympathize with everything that police do.
His death not about Black lives MATTER. It is all about COPS LIES MATTER
Noted. (.. and appreciated)
But that ‘list’ wouldn’t include the *video that Juan provided to validate his claim with.
I’m referring to the ‘foolish critics’ (kevin jackson & friends) that he referenced. They never “used Gliniewicz’s death to criticize the movement”.
This in turn would require him to remove said erroneous snippet. Period.
Safe travels,
the dong`
Commentary: Fox Lake case proves #FactsMatter
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/huppke/ct-fox-lake-huppke-20151104-story.html
Excerpt:
When the news broke and the facts were few, there were ample opinions on the death of Fox Lake police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz.
He was a hero cop gunned down in the line of duty. He was the latest victim in a war on police fomented by the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Blue lives matter!” was the cry, as Gliniewicz’s story — in the absence of facts about his death — slid neatly into a narrative that was never grounded in facts. (The conservative American Enterprise Institute recently looked at data from the “Officer Down Memorial Page” and found that “2015 will likely be one of the safest years in history for police.”)
On Wednesday, Lake County Major Crime Task Force commander George Filenko, as he revealed that Gliniewicz was a lying crook who staged his own suicide, said: “We don’t jump to conclusions, we work on facts.” …
The reaction to any police officer being shot is now similar — instant finger-pointing toward the Black Lives Matter movement. And here’s how that winds up: Those who swiftly lumped Gliniewicz’s death in with the popular “war on cops” narrative now find themselves in the position of being mocked or asked to apologize.
I don’t expect many apologies will be forthcoming. But I hope people draw a lesson from Fox Lake.
Facts won’t always fall in line with the things that matter to you. They won’t follow your timeline and they can’t be bent to fit or blown off as trivial details. They’re the difference between reality and fiction.
Gliniewicz as hero and victim of anti-cop sentiment was a fiction. He was stealing money from a youth group. He staged his own suicide and, as task force commander Filenko described it, “committed the ultimate betrayal.” That’s the reality.
Another reality is this: Facts matter. And if you really care about something, the facts should matter more than anything else.
rhuppke@tribpub.com
Check out FightGangStalking dot com, if you want to know what corrupt cops are doing, from coast-to-coast. It’s wicked. And you’d never want it to happen to you or a loved one.
No basic accounting system or routine financial auditing procedures in place? What was in place to prevent such behavior?
A nicely written article, indeed. Kudos to the coroner, Thomas Rudd, for keeping the dishonest honest.
So true. Rudd knew something was fucked up.
http://fightgangstalking.com/
…to understand just how truly fucked up.
Someone better break the story. A little investigative journalism, anyone?
Why are we surprised? Police corruption has been around forever. If you hire murderous, corrupt people, you get murder and corruption. DUH
Lastest installment of The Least Surprising Comment Possible. Speak for yourself, “DUH.”
It’s all the bad apples that give the other 5% a bad name.
Wolf Blitzer would be very upset if he hears about there being more than .1% of cops being “bad apples.”
In a sense this is a positive development … it shows a crooked cop actually being afraid of consequences, rather than assuming he can pay somebody off or counting on the Thin Blue Line to kick him upstairs and keep what happened quiet. For a very long time people have bitterly protested about cops who would never turn on their own no matter what they did, but the past year that hasn’t always been true.
I sincerely doubt that the Blue Wall of Silence threw out a rotten apple. Rather the MEDIA in Chicago smelt blood and went for the kill – and rightfully so. The police were only taking credit for “appearing” to be forthcoming. I would hedge my bet had this event happened say, in New Orleans, NYC, Texas, the outcome would’ve been different. Perfect example: Eric Garner.
interesting point. Though I know we don’t always agree, Wnt
“Filenko said that Gliniewicz had ample experience staging mock crime scenes because of his work with a department-sponsored youth program.”
What exactly are they teaching kids in this youth program?
The program is like a dry run for teens who want to be cops. It teaches them about the training that officers must go through.
Gliniewicz had ample experience staging mock crime scenes because that’s what cops do at real crime scenes.
Very witty.
What, you don’t agree?
That’s ironic–“the ultimate betrayal” is stealing money from kids? I’d think the “ultimate betrayal” by a cop is more along the lines of executing a 12 year old boy (ironically that the executing officers are sworn to “protect” and “serve”) all within 2 to 5 seconds after encountering him playing with a toy gun, and all because the policemen were too cowardly to spend a minute assessing the situation before snuffing out the life of a 12 year old boy. That’s would seem to me to be the “ultimate betrayal” by a person paid with the citizens’ tax dollars.
Swiping “thousands of dollars” from a “program for kids interested in law enforcement” would seem to be way down the list of “ultimate betrayals” in my humble opinion.
And why if being a police officer is such a noble and honorable pursuit do we have to have “programs” geared toward enticing youngsters to become “interested in a career in law enforcement” in the first instance? I mean is there actually anybody in America, of any age, that doesn’t know exactly what police officers do or who they are?
I mean do we have tax payer funded “programs” to entice youngsters to become US Postal Service employees or DMV employees? Of course we don’t.
I always find it incredibly telling that the US government (and individual states) has to spend presumably billions of dollars to “entice” (via advertising and “programs”) young people to become soldiers or police officers.
The police commander further stated, “Personally, this is the first time as a police officer that I’m ashamed by the actions of a member of law enforcement.”
Apparently the police can do no wrong – until now. unfucking real.
I saw just a couple of days ago the video of a South Carolina cop shooting and killing a teenager who bought some weed for a first date. It was a sting and they blew the kid away as he tried to drive off. For weed.
This country is broken.
You ain’t lying.
That statement from that cop commander immediately stood out to me because it was so god damned revealing of his myopic to even blind mindset. He is in the authoritative position of overseeing, yet, here he is admitting that he’s almost never seen anything worth bothering to blink an eye about, much less oversee. Is he aware of, for example, of this: Hundreds of officers lose licenses over sex misconduct, or has he had his head — to put it politely — in the clouds?
And that cop was not in uniform ! All that teen saw was a grown man with a gun running toward him.
This is interesting–
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kbc6BJAiaZ4
You’re right on that betrayal line.
I’m going to claim that 90-95% of local police officers nation wide are criminals the same way this guy is.
The guy we used to buy coke from, when we lived in Brooklyn, was a cop.
He died as he lived, stealing government funds.
C’est vrai.