FOX LAKE, Ill. — An Illinois police officer who staged his suicide to make it look like he was murdered had a troubled job history, ranging from numerous suspensions to sexual harassment allegations to complaints that he intimidated an emergency dispatcher with guns, according to his personnel records.
Despite a reputation as a respected youth mentor, Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz also had problems off the job. In one incident, an officer took Gliniewicz home after he was found passed out in his truck, and Gliniewicz reported his truck stolen the next day.
The records were released by the Village of Fox Lake in response to a Freedom of Information request, after a day in which officials said Gliniewicz had sought out a hit man to kill a village administrator he feared would expose him as a thief and may have planned to plant cocaine on the administrator to discredit her as a criminal.
The image of Gliniewicz that has emerged in recent days stands in stark contrast to the hero’s funeral and outpouring of community support after his death in September.
Dubbed “G.I. Joe,” Gliniewicz was a well-known figure in the bedroom community of 10,000 people 50 miles north of Chicago. His death, moments after he radioed that he was chasing three suspicious men, prompted an intense manhunt involving hundreds of officers and raised fears of cop-killers on the loose.
The huge outpouring of grief has now been replaced by a sense of betrayal after investigators revealed Wednesday that he elaborately planned his own killing after stealing and laundering money from a police youth program.
