chicagotribune | Two months and three days after Fox Lake police Lt. Charles Joseph
Gliniewicz's death, authorities announced Wednesday they believe the
veteran officer took his own life in a carefully staged suicide designed
to cover up extensive criminal acts.
Investigators say they believe two others were involved in criminal activity and that investigation remains ongoing.
Though the announcement answers a key question about his death,
authorities continue to look into related matters. Lake County State’s
Attorney Mike Nerheim said the results of the investigation have been
turned over to his office, as well as to the FBI, for investigation and
potential prosecution of alleged crimes that are not related to his
shooting but were uncovered during the investigation into it. Nerheim
declined to go into further detail.
Gliniewicz was under
increasing levels of stress from scrutiny of his management of the Fox
Lake Police Explorers program, George Filenko, commander of the Lake
County Major Crimes Task Force, said Wednesday.
Gliniewicz had been stealing and laundering money from
the Explorers post, spending the money on travel, mortgage payments,
adult websites and unaccounted cash withdrawals, Filenko said.
The
announcement that Gliniewicz’s death was a suicide marks the completion
of a 180-degree turn for an investigation that began with hundreds of
officers, as well as dogs and helicopters, searching for suspects who
apparently never existed. In the weeks that followed, Lake County,
Illinois authorities downplayed the possibility that Gliniewicz had
committed suicide while they followed leads and reviewed forensic test
results.
