Investigators: Gliniewicz committed 'ultimate betrayal' [Fox Lake cop suicide]

DailyHerald.com ^ | 11/04/2015 | Lee Filas

[GIdget2004]

Lake County officials who eulogized Fox Lake Police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz as a hero in the days after he died from a fatal gunshot wound, said Wednesday evidence now shows he staged his death as an apparent homicide to cover years of financial exploitation of the police Explorers post he oversaw.

George Filenko, commander of the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force, called Gliniewicz's actions the "ultimate betrayal" that included intentionally leaving a staged trail of police equipment at the crime scene in an attempt to mislead police to believe his death was a homicide.

Filenko made the comments during an exclusive Daily Herald interview before a news conference to announce the investigation's findings that Gliniewicz took a large sum of money from Fox Lake Explorer Post 300. Thousands of dollars was used by Gliniewicz for personal purchases, including travel expenses, mortgage payments, gym memberships, adult websites, facilitating personal loans and unaccounted cash withdrawals, Filenko said.

"There are no winners here," Filenko said. "Gliniewicz committed the ultimate betrayal to the citizens he served and the entire law enforcement community. The facts of his actions prove he behaved for years in a manner completely contrary to the image he portrayed.

Filenko said Gliniewicz was using the Explorer fund "as his personal bank account." He added that $250,000 flowed through the account over seven years, and investigators estimated Gliniewicz took about "five figures."

Electronic messages deleted from Gliniewicz's personal and work cellphones helped investigators crack the case, Filenko said.

Filenko said Gliniewicz elaborately staged a conflict with three unknown offenders because he wanted to go out "a hero." Gliniewicz took his .40-caliber weapon, pointed it at his chest and pulled the trigger in a swampy area at the east end of Honing Road in Fox Lake.

[ilovesarah2012]

Listening to the press conference now on CNN. Just wow.

[cloudmountain]

My guess is that their particular department didn’t have a very rigorous psychological exam before accepting him into the force.

[AlaskaErik]

When someone wants to show how corrupt the police are, this is one of the examples they will use. Thanks a lot, you dirtbag. You're no better then the criminals you arrested. You have shamed and dishonored your profession. And now your family will have to live with the knowledge that you have betrayed them.

[ButThreeLeftsDo]

Don’t know if they even did psych evals 30 years ago...

[Don Hernando de Las Casas]

for later.

[NEMDF]

Plus, he insulted their intelligence and wasted resources by staging the “crime”. He should have just offed himself without all of the extra drama, it seems.

[cloudmountain]

Don’t know if they even did psych evals 30 years ago...

Yes, they did. Personal experience. Don't ask! :o)

[PghBaldy]

I hope they got this right. I always thought the story about the supposed perps seemed odd, but hoped this was not a suicide.

[kcvl]

The latest was 52-year-old Lieutenant Charles Joseph Gliniewicz of the Fox Lake Police Department in Illinois, who had radioed that he was engaging in a foot pursuit in response to suspicious activity just before 8 a.m. Tuesday.

Gliniewicz had then fallen out of radio and cellphone contact. He was found mortally wounded in a marshy area, stripped of his gun and equipment. He was a gung-ho SWAT instructor and Army veteran known as "GI Joe" to many, just "Joe" to his family. He left a wife and four sons, the youngest still in school.

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

I don’t buy this. I think Muslims or blacks shot him and the Feds/state cooked up this suicide story.

[kcvl]

Indeed, when Gliniewicz of Fox Lake recently applied to become the new chief of police, he had spoken about the importance of improving relations between the police and the populace.

“Just received the ‘Thanks but No Thanks’ letter,’ he posted on July 25 after someone else was chosen. “I wish whomever they selected the best of luck as they take command of a REALLY GOOD POLICE DEPARTMENT in my home town community. Perhaps those that conducted the interview will take some of the community policing ideas and use them.”

He added: “feeling optimistic.”

[kcvl]

The officer had been stealing and laundering money from a police department program that mentored young people hoping to become law enforcement officers, Filenko said. Gliniewicz, a leader in that program, had been stealing money for at least seven years, he said.

The initial assumptions shifted when investigators “didn’t see anything to indicate there was a struggle physically” in the officer’s death, Filenko said.

Investigators then found that the village of Fox Lake, north of Chicago, had started “a thorough internal audit of all of their assets” that Gliniewicz was concerned might unearth proof of his illicit financial activities, Filenko said.

The investigation indicates at least two others were involved in criminal activity, though that inquiry is ongoing, and police are not commenting further for now, he said.

Gliniewicz was wearing a bulletproof vest at the time he was shot, according to two law enforcement officials briefed on the investigation. One of the officials said two shots hit Gliniewicz — one stopped by his bulletproof vest, and another entered his torso at a downward angle.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/11/04/us/fox-lake-illinois-police-officer-joe-gliniewicz/

[Timpanagos1]

“I don’t buy this. I think Muslims or blacks shot him and the Feds/state cooked up this suicide story.”

Did you buy the story from the start when police were on the manhunt for two white men and one black man who they claimed were responsible for the shooting?

Or do you believe even that scenero is not possible?

[dragnet2]

When someone wants to show how corrupt the police are, this is one of the examples they will use. Thanks a lot, you dirtbag. You're no better then the criminals you arrested.

They'd fool a lot of people, but not all of us. Law enforcement back there was flat out lying about their investigation only because they knew this whole thing reeks from the beginning.

[dragnet2]

Just who ya want for a rural, smallish town cop. I think his nickname was, "GI Joe".

[dragnet2]

Btw, that appears to be a “Selfie” shot above.

Anyone surprised?

[Timpanagos1]

Now we learn that the War on Cops was not a war on cops at all, but this corrupt cop killing himself in order to bankroll his family.

[dragnet2]

He didn’t care a whit about his family. This guy was a slime-ball coward. His jig was up and he knew it. These cops knew it too and were simply delaying as long as they could to reveal the facts. They were hoping most would simply forget.