Fox Lake Lt. Joseph Gliniewicz Committed Suicide: Illinois Police
by ERIK ORTIZ
The Illinois cop whose death sparked a massive manhunt in September fatally shot himself in a "carefully staged suicide" after committing "extensive criminal acts," police said Wednesday.
Fox Lake Lt. Joseph Gliniewicz's death came amid "increasing levels of personal stress" from scrutiny of how he was managing the local Explorers program, a mentoring group for aspiring cops, authorities revealed.
Gliniewicz, 52, was embezzling money through the program, funneling tens of thousands of dollars for personal purposes — including mortgage payments, travel expenses, gym memberships, adult websites and loans to associates, Lake County Major Crimes Task Force Commander George Filenko told reporters.
After pouring through emails and text messages looking for clues, police also determined Gliniewicz had been forging signatures and communicating about his alleged acts with at least two other people. The case remains ongoing.
Electronic communications show that the 30-year veteran knew village administrators were investigating his involvement with the Explorers and that he began to feel pressure about six months ago.
As part of the ruse, he left his pepper spray, baton and glasses strewn in strategically placed locations before shooting himself twice at the crime scene — a remote area of Fox Lake, Filenko said at a news conference.
Gliniewicz had experience mocking crime scenes through the Explorers program.
"Our investigation has determined conclusively that Gliniewicz initially left a staged trail of police equipment at the crime scene," Filenko said.
Authorities on Wednesday vigorously defended how they have handled the case after maintaining for more than two months that Gliniewicz's death appeared to be a homicide.
"The embarrassment comes to me personally that this is the first time in my career that I've felt ashamed by the acts of another police officer," Filenko said.
more:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/fox-lake-lt-joseph-gliniewicz-committed-suicide-illinois-police-n457231?cid=eml_nbn_20151104
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