Gliniewicz widow receives 24 months special probation for role in husband’s financial misdeeds

A Lake County judge sentenced Melodie Gliniewicz to serve 24 months of second-chance probation for her felony plea in connection with the financial misdeeds of her late husband, disgraced Fox Lake police Lt. Joe Gliniewicz.

Second-chance probation is an option for some first-time offenders. If Gliniewicz successfully completes the requirements of the program the case against her essentially will be dismissed.

Additionally, Gliniewicz will have to perform 150 hours of community service, Lake County Judge James Booras ordered at a Tuesday morning sentencing hearing.

Prosecutors said before the hearing they would not seek prison time as punishment for Gliniewicz.

The felony count of deceptive practices Gliniewicz pleaded guilty to in February is punishable by a maximum three years in prison.

Gliniewicz admitted guilt as part of a plea deal to avoid a trial. Lake County prosecutors dismissed 10 other charges against her, including felony counts of disbursing charitable funds without authority for personal use and money laundering.

The judge’s ruling brings six years of legal proceedings against Gliniewicz to a close.

Authorities say her former husband staged his own death on Sept. 1, 2015, to appear as if he’d been gunned down in the line of duty. They believe Joe Gliniewicz was attempting to head off revelations that he’d been stealing money from a police youth program.

John Schmid, an FBI forensic accountant, testified Tuesday morning offering more details of the financial misdeeds perpetrated by Joe Gliniewicz. According to bank documents, Joe Gliniewicz was the sole signatory on the Fox Lake Police Explorer Post 300′s checking account from around 2009 to April 2015.

It was from this account that the majority of questionable spending occurred, including a trip to Hawaii that cost around $8,000, more than $1,000 in checks signed by Joe Gliniewicz made out to his family members, and payments to pornographic and adult dating websites.

Joe Gliniewicz had the village pay a portion of his police department salary directly into the first Fox Lake Explorer post checking account, an amount eventually totaling $26,800. He also worked out a deal under which the village deposited $32,000 into the Explorer account as a loan that he would use and then pay back in $606.82 monthly installments. Shortly after the village deposited the money, Joe Gliniewicz used the Explorer account to pay around $15,000 worth of student loan debt, financial documents show.

In April 2015, the first checking account was closed and a second Fox Lake Explorer’s checking account at a different bank was opened, this one with both Joe Gliniewicz and Melodie Gliniewicz as signatories.

During questioning from Melodie Gliniewicz’s legal team, Schmid said he found no evidence that any of the spending from either of the two Fox Lake Explorer accounts was done by Melodie Gliniewicz or that she ever possessed a debit card or checkbook associated with them.

In interviews with police after her husband’s death, Gliniewicz said they “borrowed” from the Explorer post but repaid what they took, according to court documents.

The trial had been postponed for years by legal battles over the admissibility of text messages between the spouses. According to court documents, police asked Gliniewicz about texts between them found on her husband’s phone making reference to “hiding money.”

“We were very confident that Judge Booras would be able to see this as it is, which is an excellent candidate for second-chance probation,” Gliniewicz’s attorney Don Morrison said. “She is somebody that doesn’t deserve to be saddled with this conviction for the rest of her life.”

https://www.dailyherald.com/news/20220412/gliniewicz-widow-receives-24-months-special-probation-for-role-in-husbands-financial-misdeeds