FOX LAKE, Ill. – Fox Lake Lt. Joe Gliniewicz’s wife Melodie and son D.J. are under investigation for spending village funds on personal items, sources tell WGN News.
According to investigators, Gliniewicz and his wife vacationed in Hawaii where up to $9,000 of money from the police explorer’s fund was spent.
WGN News has obtained photos from that vacation:
Gliniewicz’s shooting this summer led to a large manhunt, but today the authorities say he carefully staged his own death after committing criminal acts. Authorities say Gliniewicz was stealing and laundering money from the Fox Lake Police Explorer Post for the past seven years. Thousands of dollars were used by Gliniewicz for personal purposes, travel expenses, mortgages, personal gym memberships, adult websites, facilitating personal loans and unaccounted cash withdrawals.
Sources tell @WGNNews the Individuals 1 & 2 in text messages from Lt. Gliniewicz are his widow and son D.J. Texts how fear about $$ misuse.
— MarkSuppelsa (@MarkSuppelsa) November 5, 2015
Investigators recovered electronic messages deleted from Gliniewicz’s personal and work cell phones, including incriminating statements that had been deleted prior to his suicide. In the release sent to the media, in which some of these message are included, an “Individual 1” and “Individual 2” are listed. Melodie and D.J. Gliniewicz are these “Individuals,” multiple sources say.
READ: Full law enforcement news release, including text and social media message sent by Gliniewicz
WGN News has also learned that more than a decade ago, Fox Lake and the police department faced a sexual harassment lawsuit centering around a complaint that Gliniewicz, who was a sergeant at the time, asked for sexual favors from another officer he supervised. The officer also worked under Gliniewicz`s supervision in the Explorer’s program. She says he talked about how much fun they’d have at camp after the kids went to bed.
She didn`t go on the trip and was later dismissed from the police force.
She filed a lawsuit which was ultimately dismissed.
However, Gliniewicz was suspended for 30 days as a result of her complaint.
Gliniewicz suspended 30 days in 2001 for sex harassment. @WGNInvestigates court docs: female cop sued town 4 ignoring complaints about Glin.
— MarkSuppelsa (@MarkSuppelsa) November 5, 2015
Sex harassment suit against Fox Lake dismissed b/c her atty failed to show in court. Police dept took action anyway, suspended Gliniewicz.
— MarkSuppelsa (@MarkSuppelsa) November 5, 2015
Additionally, WGN Investigates has found at least two cases where Melodie Gliniewicz was taken to court by Citibank and Chase for failure to pay thousands in credit card debt.