Misconduct charges dropped against Oak Brook officer

Are there any OB citizens interested in a class action suit against Gaik to get the $2MM back?

I'm in

You mean Mucha has been telling the truth all along? That means that the Chief's bad arrest of Mucha forced the $2,000,000.00 settlement. The Chief cost the Village 2 million and not Mucha.

Some criminals are paid to carry guns, but if you think that those cops are bad, you should check out the ones in Chicago!!

Oak Brook only makes news for this petty crap because of the money and snobs. The same crap in Summit or Waukegan is not worth reporting.

since mucha has been telling the truth, who is going to go after the chief's job?
don't you think the Chief should have to pay the $2,000,000 back to the village since it was his bad arrest.

Very Interesting il wrote:

since mucha has been telling the truth, who is going to go after the chief's job?
don't you think the Chief should have to pay the $2,000,000 back to the village since it was his bad arrest.

Yes he should or he should at least be let go for his involvement in this scandal. Working against his own police and working for the people who sue the village is so wrong.

Mucha filed a federal lawsuit charging Chief Sheahan with False Arrest, Malicious Prosecution, Slander and other counts. If everything claimed in the suit is true, Mucha deserves many more millions than the Gaiks got.

www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/west/chi-mu...

Fired cop sues Oak Brook - Federal suit also targets police chief

By Steve Brosinski - Special to the Tribune

6:59 PM CDT, September 25, 2007

Two months after being fired from the Oak Brook Police Department, a former sergeant has turned to federal court in an attempt to get his job back and to collect damages from his former boss.

In a lawsuit filed by attorney Jerome Marconi in U.S. District Court in Chicago, Randy Mucha alleged charges of false arrest, defamation, malicious prosecution and invasion of privacy against the Village of Oak Brook, Police Chief Thomas Sheahan and the local Police and Fire Commission.

The seven-count suit filed Friday also asks the court to review the police commission's decision to fire Mucha on July 23, calling the hearing a "sham." Mucha seeks back pay and benefits, job reinstatement and unspecified punitive damages against Sheahan.

According to the suit, Sheahan wrongly arrested Mucha last year on a charge that he used a police database to do an illegal background search on Frances Gaiks, who with her husband won a $2 million settlement last year after filing a harassment suit against the village.

In July, the DuPage County state's attorney's office dropped that misdemeanor charge against Mucha. The suit further alleged Sheahan was bent on prosecuting Mucha even after the prosecutor's office told him it was "duty-bound" to dismiss the charge.

Mucha's reputation was tarnished when Sheahan intentionally misled a reporter that child pornography was found on Mucha's computer, according to the suit. A forensic consultant hired by the village to examine Mucha's hard drive determined there was no evidence of porn on it, according to a memo to the village.

Mucha, a 20-year veteran member of the Oak Brook force, was found guilty of lying and conduct unbecoming an officer at the July hearing. Sheahan filed those charges after the commission denied his request to fire Mucha on different complaints in March.

Village Atty. Mark Sterk said the suit is baseless.

"It's errant nonsense—the whole thing start to finish," he said.

Sheahan said Mucha was treated fairly.

"We didn't violate anyone's rights," he said.
__________

Let's see what the Jurors think...

From: http://www.pioneerlocal.com/oakbrook/news/582...
Cop files suit against village, police chief
October 1, 2007
By Alissa Raschke | STAFF REPORTER
Two months after being fired from the Oak Brook Police Department, former Sgt. Randy Mucha is on a mission to get his job back.
Mucha has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the village, Police Chief Thomas Sheahan and the Board of Fire and Police Commissioners.
The seven-count suit calls for the court to overturn the commission's decision to fire Mucha, and award him back pay, compensatory damages, and attorney's fees and costs. The suit also calls for unspecified punitive damages against Sheahan.
Filed Sept. 21, the suit alleges that Mucha was subjected to false arrest, defamation, malicious prosecution and invasion of privacy. It also alleges Sheahan falsely told The Doings Oak Brook reporter Alissa Raschke Mucha possessed child pornography. According to the suit, pornography was never found on Mucha's computer.
Mucha's attorney, Jerome Marconi, said there are a few things his client hopes to accomplish with the suit.
"One, by asking the court to overturn the board's decision, he's trying to get his job back," Marconi said. "The bigger goal is to try to rehabilitate his reputation. He's not a criminal, he's not a child molester and he's not a pornographer."
Marconi said the village has not yet responded to the suit.
Oak Brook village attorney Mark Sterk said there is no validity to Mucha's claims.
"I've read the complaint, and I'm convinced that the lawsuit is a lot of hooey," Sterk said. "This is a guy that was fired because he lied."
Sterk said the village is going to stand behind the decisions that have been made.
Mucha was fired by the Fire and Police Commission July 23. The commission ruled Mucha engaged in conduct unbecoming an officer and violated several department rules. The commission also ruled against him on nine disciplinary charges in April. He was issued a 30-day suspension after that hearing.
Mucha was a member of the Oak Brook Police Department for 20 years.
__________
I agree - let's see what 12 reasonable people have to say once they hear the facts.

Fired cop sues chief, village, commission

By Lane Kelley, lkelley@libertysuburban.com
Oak Brook Suburban Life

Former Oak Brook police Sgt. Randy Mucha has sued the village and police officials over his firing two months ago.

Mucha sued the village of Oak Brook, Police Chief Thomas Sheahan and the town’s Police and Fire Commission, which fired him July 23 for lying and unprofessional conduct.

In the suit filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, Mucha accuses village officials of false arrest, defamation, malicious prosecution and invasion of privacy.

Sheahan wanted to fire Mucha regarding charges of insubordination and conduct unbecoming an officer. But at the police review panel’s first hearing in April, Mucha drew a 30-day suspension after being found guilty of some charges and cleared on others.

However, the board agreed with Sheahan’s new charge in July alleging Mucha lied at the spring hearing. Village attorney Mark Sterk called the latest suit “nonsense” and said the allegations prove why the panel fired Mucha.

“He’s a liar,” Sterk said.“It just further demonstrates that this guy just has a problem with the truth.”

Mucha’s lawyer, Jerome Marconi, said the two hearings had a “predetermined result,” which was to fire Mucha.“There was no way Sheahan was going to allow him to return to work,” Marconi said.

Mucha was put on unpaid leave last September for doing what Sheahan considered an illegal background check on a resident, who later won a $2 million settlement in a federal lawsuit in which Mucha was one of the defendants.

But in July, the misdemeanor charge on the background check was dropped by the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office. Former Oak Brook police Sgt. Randy Mucha filed a lawsuit against the village and police officials over his firing two months ago.

http://www.chicagosuburbannews.com/oakbrook/n...

I wish him speedy justice in Federal Court. For the Chief to falsely arrest him just to force a 2 million dollar settlement for his friends is a gross abuse of power. Then to call him a pornographer to further ruin his reputation is disgusting.

So much for the campaign promises Craig made about "No more lawsuits".

OBR

Mayor Craig is not keeping his promise about transparent government either. Besides this suit there was another suit filed against the Village in County Court a few weeks ago. It has already had one hearing and is set for another hearing next week. There has been so much damage done by the Police Chief that I would anticipate that there will be more lawsuits still to come.

Mayor Craig is planning to combine Oakbrook Terrace into Oak Brook. He wants Chief Sheahan to lead the integration of the two police departments into one. Craig and Sheahan have a scenario all mapped out that hinges on the next Mayor of Oakbrook Terrace being elected and includes the subsequent dismissal or forced retirement of Oakbrook Terraces current Police Chief in 2009.
As an Oakbrook Terrace resident I don't want to see my Utopia destroyed by Mayor Craig. Does Mayor Craig have the Oak Brook Village Board's approval to be brokering this type of deal with Oakbrook Terrace's Mayoral hopefuls?
I don't want to see the slow and sure destruction of Oak Brook creep into Oakbrook Terrace. Leave Utopia alone.

I would not doubt that this is true. Oak Brook has been trying to steal Oakbrook Terraces revenue base for a long time but so far Oakbrook Terrace has been smart enough not to let them. This will be an interesting issue during the Oakbrook Terrace Mayoral race and the next race for Oak Brook Village Board seats.

I watched the OB council meeting on TV the other night. They were approving bills to be paid. Most of them were for LAWYERS. I must be getting Alzheimers..... Craig's campaign said no more lawsuits. No wonder OB wants Oak Brook Terrace's tax base... OB is spending all their money on lawers...

That is because Craig has had three different law firms representing him and the Village in his short tenure. It is hard to keep a lwayer on the payroll that will ALWAYS tell you what you want to hear rather than advise you on what the law says.

http://www.pioneerlocal.com/elmhurst/news/618...

George and Adie Dobson had a home built on Hodges Road in October 1950. They are two of only a handful of residents who have been there to see the formation of Utopia, its renaming to Oakbrook Terrace, the construction of Oakbrook Center Mall and the building of the Oakbrook Terrace Tower.
While time has moved, they have not. They still live in the same home built on once-vast countryside and now surrounded by millions of square feet of office and commercial development.
Married in Toronto in 1945, they are among the most well-known people in town.
George, 82, and Adie, 83, moved to the area after living in Chicago's Humboldt Park neighborhood. On hot summer nights, they would grab a blanket and sleep in the park, something no one would dare do now.
They longed for wide open spaces.
"We wanted to get out into the country," George said. "Well, it was country back then."
The Oakbrook Terrace area, yet to be incorporated and sparsely populated, was exactly what they were looking for.
"I don't think it was much more than 50 homes," George said.
"Right there," he said, pointing at a home outside his living room window, "that was one of the originals. Everything was pretty well scattered, only a handful of residents."
When the city incorporated in 1951 under the name Utopia, George was one of the six original aldermen. Being involved in the government of a new city was a difficult task, as everybody had to try their best to work together to build the community.
"There was a lot of, you know, squabbling at the meetings," he said. "A lot has to go into a new town. The biggest problem was the roads."
"Yeah," Adie chimed in, "There weren't any."
George served as aldermen for 12 years while working as a window maker, which he did for more than 50 years. Adie worked at Northern Bank and Trust and wrote for the Utopian, the town's original weekly newsletter, during the 1950s. She would later write a column for the Daily Herald, simply called, Utopia.
The city name Utopia didn't stick, however, because as George says, "nobody really liked it."
"I just didn't see the name Utopia for a city," he said. "So I decided to carry a petition to get a new name."
Receiving strong support from residents, Utopia was officially renamed Oakbrook Terrace in the summer of 1958.
After stepping away from his alderman post, George and Adie stayed in the city and raised their three children, Dianne, Glenn and Doug. Through the years they have seen the city change before their eyes, but not without some growing pains.
"We've had our share of rough years," George said of the government. "We would have meetings that would just last forever. Just hours of not accomplishing much of anything."
Problems have smoothed out over the decades, they said, and neither George nor Adie can find anything that warrants any kind of complaint.
"This town has made a lot of progress. The development has moved right along," he said. "We have a good mayor, good aldermen."
After Adie suffered a stroke in 2000, the town rallied around the longtime residents. Last summer, neighbors built a ramp in front of their home to help Adie, who is confined to a wheelchair. The good samaritans covered all the cost and labor, working during their free time on nights and weekends.
"This is a good community," George said. "We have a friendly bunch of neighbors. Everybody helps each other out."
"We old fooeys stick together," Adie said.
While the Dobsons don't get out as much as they used to because of Adie's condition, they remain active members of the Oakbrook Terrace Lions Club and participate in the city as much as possible.
While the city has transformed over the decades, as George looks at a picture of he and his wife taken on their wedding day, he seems pleased that some things never change.

Good for the Dobson's. I hope they can continue to enjoy Utopia.

Lawyers, lawyers everywhere... what the heck is going on in Oak Brook? What ever happened to having one Lawyer to represent the village? There seems to be a lot people trying to cover their a***es by getting different Lawyers all the time. By the way ...does anyone know what the Gaiks actually got the $2 million for? It didn't seem clear as to what the Village admitted guilt to that warranted $2 mil. Maybe I just didn't see all the news articles.