Crooked Cop Sentenced for Stealing Firearms from P.D., Dealing Drugs: Prosecutors

A former police sergeant for the village of Hebron has been sentenced to four years in prison for stealing firearms from the police department’s evidence vault and for dealing marijuana while on duty and in police uniform, prosecutors said Tuesday. He is also accused of soliciting pain pills from elderly residents in McHenry County.

Ryszard Kopacz, 32, of Wonder Lake, entered a guilty plea Monday to a charge of official misconduct before the sentence was handed down in the McHenry County court case, McHenry County State’s Attorney Louis Bianchi said in a news release. During a bench trial in August, Kopacz was found guilty on a charge of aggravated possession of stolen firearms.

Kopacz, a former police sergeant in Hebron, a small town north of Woodstock and near the Wisconsin-Illinois border, was terminated for budgetary reasons. After he was let go, the Illinois State Police executed a search warrant on his home.

During the search they discovered three firearms that were stolen from the Hebron Police Department’s evidence vault, Bianchi said. He was then interviewed by the F.B.I. and admitted to stealing the firearms. Kopacz oversaw the evidence room at the Hebron Police Department, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Shortly after being terminated from his post in Hebron, he was hired by the Richmond Police Department but was soon let go again for failing to report for duty, Bianchi said. Following his termination, Richmond Police Chief Cetrangolo was contacted by several senior citizens who said Kopacz had come to their home and complained of a toothache and asked them for pain medication.

“The citizens were alarmed by the behavior and concerned for their safety,” Bianchi said.

This lead to another investigation into Kopacz by the FBI. Prosecutors said during that investigation, a confidential informant learned Kopacz had been delivering marijuana while on duty and in uniform while working for the Hebron Police Department.