Former LITH Cop In Prison For Sex Assault Will Keep $84K Pension

LAKE IN THE HILLS, IL – A former Lake in the Hills deputy police chief who was sentenced in February to 4.5 years in prison for sexually assaulting a teenage girl will still receive his $84,000 per year pension, the Chicago Tribune reports. Pension board attorney Richard Reimer told board members last week they had no legal rights to revoke the $7,000 per month pension for Alan Bokowski, 61 of Crystal Lake. Bokowksi, who retired from his LITH job in 2006, was arrested and charged in December 2016, according to the Chicago Tribune.

In February, he pleaded guilty to criminal sexual assault of a child between the age of 13 and 17. The Chicago Tribune reports Bokowski was not accused of any wrongdoing during his 26 years with the village of Lake in the Hills, officials have said.

“My opinion is that, while I don’t condone the behavior of Mr. Bokowski, I don’t believe you can use the felony pension divestiture law in this case,” Reimer told the board.

The rape of the 16-year-old girl happened in 2015, authorities said. Bokowski, family members said in victim-impact statements, was a longtime family friend, and the girl had been helping Bokowski care for his ailing mother when the assault occurred, the Northwest Herald reports.

The girl's stepmother first started going with the teenage girl to help Bokowski with his mother but eventually, the girl started to go by herself. The Northwest Herald reports the family knew Bokowski for more than 20 years and considered him a part of their extended family: "Since I'd known Al for a long time, I trusted him with her," the stepmother wrote in her statement.

Authorities first launched an investigation into the former cop on Nov. 29, 2016, when the victim's concerned parents met with police. They told them their juvenile daughter was sexually assaulted while at a residence in Crystal Lake, according to a news release from the Crystal Lake Police Department. Following an investigation, an arrest warrant was issued for Bokowski, of the 1300 block of Dolo Rosa Vista in Crystal Lake.

Bokowski was also later charged with weapons violations for possessing several shotguns, firearm ammunition, pistol and rifle round without a firearm owner's identification card and accused of touching a woman inappropriately in 2016, according to the Northwest Herald. Those misdemeanor weapons and battery charges have since been dismissed.

Photo via McHenry County

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