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FOX LAKE – Months before his staged suicide, Fox Lake Police Lt. Joseph Gliniewicz requested a meeting with a motorcycle gang member to "put a hit" on the village administrator he feared would discover his years of embezzling, an investigator said Thursday.
Lake County Sheriff's Detective Chris Covelli said Gliniewicz in April asked someone to set up a meeting with the high-ranking gang member with the intended target being Village Administrator Anne Marrin. The messages, which were later deleted, came shortly after officials said Marrin had started auditing the city's assets and finances, including those of Fox Lake Police Explorer Post 300 program.
The unnamed person told police in an interview Gliniewicz made the request for a hit on Marrin in conversation, not over text or other messages, Covelli said. The gang member, who Covelli also would not name, denied talking to Gliniewicz.
Covelli said Marrin was unaware of Gliniewicz's plot as it unfolded.
"She didn't know any of this until he was dead," Covelli said.
Gliniewicz, 52, was shot and killed Sept. 1 after he radioed he was investigating three suspicious men. His death sparked a massive manhunt and left the community in mourning over the revered officer affectionately known as "G.I. Joe."Gliniewicz decided to carefully stage his suicide to look like a homicide after months of pressure that his "extensive crimes" would be discovered, investigators said.
Covelli said investigators also found a small amount of cocaine in Gliniewicz's desk drawer when they searched it the week of his death. The cocaine was not associated with any cases investigators could find, Covelli said.
In messages sent to a separate unnamed person in May, Gliniewicz also had talked about setting Marrin up. In one message released Wednesday, Gliniewicz wrote, "MANY SCENARIOS from planting things volo bog!!" [sic].
"Was he going to use the cocaine to do that," Covelli said, "we don't know."
Marrin during a news conference Wednesday spoke briefly after investigators revealed the circumstances surrounding Gliniewicz's death. She mentioned the threatening statements, but stood strong behind the inquiries that apparently had angered Gliniewicz.
"When I heard that he was concerned that I was asking tough questions about the Explorer program, it only confirmed to me that asking the tough questions was absolutely right," Marrin said.
[ Complete coverage as Fox Lake Police Lt. Joseph Gliniewicz's hero image shattered ]
Gliniewicz had bilked the Fox Lake Police Explorer program of thousands of dollars over the course of seven years, Lake County Major Crimes Task Force Cmdr. George Filenko said. Officials said Gliniewicz had discretion over finances for the group.
Gliniewicz also forged documents to obtain federal surplus equipment for the program, Covelli said.
The day before his death, Gliniewicz sent a message to former Police Chief Michael Behan lamenting the imminent review, messages revealed Wednesday show. Behan had resigned days earlier after an unrelated investigation into his and another officer's actions in December.
"She now has demanded a complete inventory of exploder [sic] central and a financial report...FML."
Authorities also are investigating his wife, Melodie, and one of his sons, D.J., as well, an official said Thursday. Melodie Gliniewicz helped her husband run the Fox Lake Police Explorer Post.
The official, who was briefed on the investigation, spoke with the Associated Press on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.
Covelli refused to identify anyone involved in the investigation other than Gliniewicz.
The Lake County Sheriff's Department and the Lake County state's attorney is reviewing the case. The FBI also is investigating another component of the case, Covelli said.
• The Associated Press contributed to this report.