A Kankakee County judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by a former Joliet mayor who claims that he was the victim of a conspiracy in 2020 to subject him to criminal charges.

The ruling on Wednesday represented a second defeat for former Mayor Bob O’Dekirk, who first filed the lawsuit in 2023 in federal court. When the case was dismissed there, O’Dekirk moved the case to Will County. The case then was transferred to Kankakee County.

Kankakee County Judge Linda Parkhurst ruled that O’Dekirk’s claims are barred by the statute of limitations, which expired several years ago.

“The court finds a dismissal with prejudice of federal claims, followed by relinquishment of jurisdiction over the state claims, does not revive the state claims already time-barred before the federal action commenced,” according Parkhurst’s ruling.

Parkhurst granted the dismissal of O’Dekirk’s claims in state court with prejudice, which means he cannot file them again. However, according to a court order, her ruling is “appealable.”

O’Dekirk’s lawsuit was filed July 19, 2023, in federal court, about three months after Joliet Mayor Terry D’Arcy defeated him in a landslide election.

The lawsuit listed the following defendants:

• former Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner

• Roechner’s wife, Nancy Griparis

• former Joliet Deputy Police Chief Marc Reid

• Joseph Hosey, former executive editor of Shaw Media, which publishes The Herald-News

• Joliet City Council member Pat Mudron

• former Joliet City Council member Jim McFarland

• the city of Joliet

O’Dekirk’s lawsuit claimed that Roechner and the other defendants formed a “cabal” to manufacture political backlash to destroy his mayoralty and subject him to a criminal charge.

The lawsuit claims that the “cabal” used Don Dickinson, a former Joliet City Council member, as a “puppet” to make a false claim that O’Dekirk was going to ruin Dickinson’s political career by publicly releasing intimate photos of him.

McFarland denied attending a 2020 meeting at Roechner’s residence, where the alleged conspiracy was supposedly hatched. Dickinson acknowledged that McFarland was not at the meeting in his own lawsuit against Roechner and Reid.

Parkhurst ruled that O’Dekirk’s lawsuit does not “allege any specific facts to establish McFarland was present at the alleged conspiratorial meeting.”

O’Dekirk’s lawsuit was largely based on a 2023 report from former Joliet Inspector General Sean Connolly, which was issued about four weeks before the mayoral election.

Connolly’s report was the first to allege that Roechner, Reid and several others were part of a “cabal” that conspired against O’Dekirk.

Martin Walsh, Connolly’s colleague, had interviewed Dickinson and retired Illinois State Police Lt. Samuel Thomas, the latter of whom was part of state police unit that investigated the claims against O’Deirk.

The state police investigation led to an attempted disorderly conduct charge against Dickinson, which was later dismissed.

Dickinson then initiated an ongoing lawsuit against Roechner and Reid based on claims of malicious prosecution and conspiracy to intentionally inflict emotional distress.

In a Jan. 16 court filing in Dickinson’s case, Reid’s attorneys contended that Connolly’s 2023 report is “wildly false” based on depositions from Dickinson and Thomas.

Connolly’s report cited a purported claim from Thomas that a handwritten report taken by Reid regarding Dickinson’s claims against O’Dekirk was forged and fabricated.

In Thomas’ 2025 deposition, he acknowledged that he was referring to Dickinson’s statements, and he was not aware of any information that Reid forged or that he did anything dishonest with the report, court records show.

In Dickinson’s 2024 deposition, he denied several statements that he was purported to have said to Walsh, including that McFarland was at Roechner’s house, court records show.

Dickinson denied going to Roechner’s house to conspire and falsely allege that O’Dekirk committed a crime, court records show.