Officer Fired After Leaving Threatening Voicemails On Teen's Cell: APD

AURORA, IL — An Aurora police officer has been fired, a year after a resident visited the police department to report threatening voicemails he said were left on his teenager's cell phone. It's the second time Officer Jonathan Olsen has been terminated from the department for misconduct, but in 2017 he was able to get his firing overturned and reduced to a 60-day suspension.

This time around, Olsen's employment with APD was terminated after a criminal and internal Office of Professional Standards Investigation revealed he left voicemails that threatened "the life and well-being of the intended recipient."

The teenager's father reported the voicemails to police on April 24, 2021. An initial investigation determined the phone number was Olsen's personal number, officials said.

The victim and their family returned to the police department a few days later to sign an official complaint with the Office of Professional Standards against Olsen, who was "immediately" placed on administrative leave, police said.

In addition to the criminal case, the office also opened an international administrative investigation where witnesses were interviewed and evidence was collected before officials sustained the complaint, according to an APD news release.

Olsen's case was one of the first reviewed by the city's newly formed Civilian Review Board, which concurred with the findings and recommended termination, officials said.

Chief of Police Keith Cross reviewed the case and recommended Olsen be terminated.

"It is crystal clear that Jonathan Olsen violated the law and traumatized several people with his actions," Aurora Police Chief Keith Cross said in a statement. "Our officers are held to a very high standard and must be held accountable for their actions. His conduct was detrimental to the department as a whole and his credibility as a police officer."

But no criminal charges were brought against Olsen, police said. The DuPage County State's Attorney's Office reviewed the case and did not pursue further actions given "the minor's parents' satisfaction with the disciplinary actions imposed upon Jonathan Olsen," State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in a statement.

It's not the first time Olsen faced formal discipline. In 2017, he was accused of posting a picture of a female, "along with a message calling her a derogatory sexual slur," to his Instagram account, Patch reported.

After an Office of Professional Standards investigation, Olsen's employment was terminated by former Chief Kristen Ziman. But he appealed his termination to an arbitrator, who found that the city had proven its allegations against him, but still reduced Olsen's punishment to a 60-day suspension before he was reinstated, according to police.