Law Could Strip Pension Benefits from Gliniewicz Family

A law sponsored by state Rep. Elaine Nekritz could strip the Gliniewicz family of pension benefits, the Daily Herald reports. The law, which was passed last year, gives the attorney general the right to go to court and stop pension benefits for employees who committed crimes while on the job and the law also applies to their survivors.

This could mean pension benefits could be pulled from the the family of Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz in the wake of news that he staged his own murder after he’d been stealing from the department’s Explorers unit for years.

The 30-year veteran of the Fox Lake Police Department, who earned a salary of $93,000, was eligible for an annual pension of $69,750, according to the Daily Herald.

The Fox Lake Police Pension Board is soon expected to soon rule on whether Gliniewicz died in a ”line of duty death,” according to a Chicago Tribune column. According to the Illinois Pension Code, pension benefits should be denied to those convicted of any felony while serving as a police officer.

But, since Gliniewicz was never convicted, James L. Dobrovolny, deputy counsel for the Illinois Public Pension Fund Association, said his family is entitled to the pension benefits --- and they are even entitled to that pension if Gliniewicz’s wife and sons were involved in the embezzlement scheme, according to the Chicago Tribune.

“I can’t remember this ever coming up before,” Dobrovolny told the Chicago Tribune. “But I have to assume that even if his wife is convicted of a felony related to his police work, she’ll get to keep the pension.”

Read more on the Daily Herald and the Chicago Tribune

PAST COVERAGE ON PATCH

• Fox Lake Board to Decide Pension Benefits for Gliniewicz Family
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