'This Is A Big Black Eye On The City Of Joliet,' Jan Quillman Declares

JOLIET, IL — The Joliet City Council agreed not to censure fellow Councilman Pat Mudron for participating in a conspiracy that Joliet Inspector General Sean Connolly said was orchestrated by ex-Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner, ex-deputy police chief Marc Reid and former Councilmen Don "Duck" Dickinson and Jim McFarland against Mayor Bob O'Dekirk.

At Monday's special meeting, Councilman Joe Clement told everyone, "I can't support a censure at this time. I feel there is more information to come."

Soon-to-be retiring Councilwoman Bettye Gavin agreed with Clement's assessment.

"You're innocent until proven guilty," Gavin declared. "There is so much information ... I would not be in a position to judge this man, and this (Inspector General's) report is full of hearsay."

Before the meeting, Mudron distributed copies of a report prepared for him by Chicago attorney Ricardo Meza of Meza Law.

Meza also attended Monday's meeting on Mudron's behalf and offered his comments during the public comment section, where citizens can address the Council for up to four minutes.

"In summary, it is my opinion that the Joliet IG Report does not support the finding that you were a member of any 'cabal,' that you were a member of any 'conspiracy,' or even that you knew or should have known that Donald Dickinson's police report was false," Meza wrote. "Thus, there is no factual basis to support the Joliet IG's recommendation that you be reprimanded and or censured."

Councilwoman Sherri Reardon, who is one of Mudron's allies, told everyone that Joliet has spent about $60,000 for Connolly's work on the case.

That kind of money, Reardon said, could build a lot of city sidewalks.

Connolly, a lawyer in private practice in suburban Westmont, attended Monday's meeting to explain his report and answer questions from the Council. He has been Joliet's inspector general for slightly more than a year. He investigated allegations of intimidation by Mayor O'Dekirk against Dickinson.

In November 2020, Dickinson resigned from office three weeks after reading a prepared statement at a Council meeting accusing O'Dekirk of blackmailing him surrounding photos Dickinson had taken of his own genitals and sent to a woman.

Dickinson believed the photos got into the wrong hands. He was told by McFarland that O'Dekirk had the compromising photos because Councilman Clement had forwarded them to the mayor, according to Connolly's report.

Connolly's investigation found the whole story false, but it was orchestrated to damage O'Dekirk's reputation in the hopes of getting false criminal charges against him.

If O'Dekirk was unjustly charged and convicted of a Class 3 felony, Connolly said, O'Dekirk would be disbarred, lose his right to vote and his right to own a gun, among other things.

"He'd lose his ability to earn a living," Connolly told everyone.

As for Mudron's participation in the secret meeting at Roechner's house, "he should have stepped up and said this is wrong," Connolly announced Monday. "The city deserves better ... To this day, city of Joliet funds are being spent on what took place at that meeting (November 1, 2020). It's not appropriate behavior."

Connolly told everyone this "cabal" was working together. Reid produced a police report dated Nov. 2, 2020, identifying O'Dekirk as a criminal suspect for the offense of intimidation.

Roechner approached the FBI to investigate the case and to interview Dickinson, before turning to the Illinois State Police as his plan B, according to the inspector general's findings.

Connolly told everyone this was a phony criminal investigation orchestrated by Reid and Roechner, two men who had about 50 years of police experience between them.

"This doesn't come close to intimidation," Connolly explained Monday night. "This is just disputes between two different politicians."

Four-term City Councilwoman Jan Quillman remarked during Monday's meeting: "I'm just disappointed in the whole thing. This is too big for us to make a decision."

At another point, Quillman told everyone, "this is a big black eye on the city of Joliet."

Even though Connolly's March 1 report determined nobody in Joliet city government, notably O'Dekirk, ever had photos of Dickinson's genitals in their possession, "I believe he thought it was true," Reardon said of Dickinson.

Reardon said she knew first-hand how afraid of the mayor Dickinson was and how the mayor said things that made Dickinson upset or nervous.

Incidentally, Connolly said he identified Dickinson as the one person in the conspiracy against O'Dekirk who fully cooperated with him and his private investigator, Martin Walsh.

During Monday's meeting, Connolly revealed everyone in the conspiracy against the Joliet mayor who refused to cooperate with his investigation:

Roechner, Reid, Mudron, McFarland and Joseph Hosey, former managing editor of The Herald-News newspaper, who now works at a newspaper in Indiana.

Because of the lack of cooperation from them, there are conflicting stories, Connolly acknowledged.

For instance, Mudron revealed he attended the secret meeting at Chief Roechner's Joliet house on Nov. 1, 2020, along with Hosey and Dickinson; he came at Dickinson's suggestion. Mudron insisted Reid and McFarland were not there, but maybe they attended after Mudron left or before he arrived.

On the other hand, Dickinson told the inspector general Reid and McFarland were present at Roechner's house, and that was where the discussion originated involving Dickinson filing a Joliet police report accusing the mayor of intimidation.

"James McFarland, he didn't ever cooperate with Illinois State Police," Connolly told everyone at Monday's meeting.

Connolly rejected Reardon's suggestion that Dickinson believed the mayor's conduct toward him in 2020 amounted to intimidation. After all, Dickinson later told Mudron that he did not want to go to jail over this, Connolly pointed out.

"Everyone has different degrees of sensitivity, and if he can't deal with political discourse, he should never have run," Connolly said of Dickinson. "He never should have got involved in politics, and that (Joliet police) report had double and triple hearsay. It was a joke."

Three-term Councilman Larry Hug asked if Connolly has heard back from Attorney General Kwame Raoul since the report was released March 1. Connolly's report has asked Raoul to bring several criminal charges against Reid and Roechner and to initiate efforts to revoke Reid's Illinois law enforcement credentials. Reid is the second-highest ranking person at Elwood Police Department after retiring from Joliet in April 2021.

"I have not forwarded the report to them," Connolly said.

"We're really here for one purpose and that's to address your recommendation for a censure against Councilman Mudron," Hug reminded Connolly. "First to clarify, for those that may or may not be aware of what a censure is, that is about the strongest thing a Council can do, which is the equivalent to a slap on the wrist. There is no penalties for it, it is a shaking of the finger saying, 'We don't like what you do, don't do it again. Let's call a spade a spade."

Hug told Connolly "that you did use the term 'cabal.' And of course, I understand the term and Councilman Mudron's attorney was kind enough to define it. Did you label these group of individuals, Mr. Connolly, a cabal at the beginning, during the investigation or at your conclusion?"

"After reviewing all the evidence, interviewing witnesses, I came to that determination," Connolly told Hug. "And after reviewing everything, and after I realized what had happened."

"So the term 'cabal' was used to describe your analysis of the event, once you had completed the investigation?" Hug inquired.

"Correct," Connolly said.

Monday night's public comment section of the meeting several high-profile citizens and retired Joliet police officers. Among the people who addressed the council were:

• Lionel Allen, who recently settled his racial discrimination lawsuit against Reid and former Chief Brian Benton, for a sum of $200,000. Roechner tried to fire Allen in 2019, after 30 years of service on the Joliet Police Department.
• Gabriella Shanahan, former Kendall County Board candidate, who is the wife of attorney Marty Shanahan, Joliet's former two-time interim city manager and corporation counsel. In December 2020, Joliet settled Marty Shanahan's wrongful termination lawsuit for about $200,000. Both Shanahans attended Monday's Council meeting.
• Nicole Lurry, the widow of Joliet resident Eric Lurry, who died in Joliet police custody.
• Jerry Hervey, who was interviewed for the Inspector General's report. The month before Dickinson accused O'Dekirk of blackmail, Hervey addressed the Council, saying, "Don, you got caught in a really nasty situation, so I don't think you need to wait until April to resign. You need to resign now. You've been caught up in some really nasty text messages. Racially insensitive and sexually insensitive."
• Retired Joliet police sergeant Javier Esqueda, who still faces several criminal charges of official misconduct, following a criminal investigation led by Chief Roechner and his administration, in 2020. Months earlier, Esqueda alerted the public to details of the death of Eric Lurry in Joliet police custody.

"I'm here to speak on behalf of the fact that this investigation came out, and it's telling the truth about two major people, Al Roechner and Reid, no integrity," Esqueda told the Council. "I don't hate these individuals for what they did to me, because they lied, the same way, on a written report, to have me indicted," Esqueda told the Council.

"I am very strong with God. And with that said, I pray every day for the truth to come out. And it's coming out. Several Council members I have heard what they have said up here, and it disgusts me that they still look at these people as friends; $60,000 wasted in an investigation versus sidewalks? $60,000 to get the truth.

"So, with that said, all the time that I've prayed, for the truth to come out, something came out. And, part of that was, I always prayed for Eric Lurry, and I'm going to say that because that man was unjustifiably harmed and murdered by officers on the police department.

"In my prayers, I came up with something, and it is, there's no such thing as black or white in any people in this country, yet alone, Joliet. We're all shades of God. That's something to think about when you look at the truth about what should be coming out, and shame on anybody that doesn't look at this as the truth. And shame on anybody for lying about what's going on. Justice for Eric Lurry."

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

'Wrongly Accused' Joe Clement Blasts Ex-Joliet Chief, Deputy Chief

Ex-Chief, Ex-Deputy Chief Conspired To Damage Mayor: IL State Police

Mudron: Dickinson Wanted To Get Ahead Of Private Parts Photo Scandal

Marty Shanahan Settles 6-Figure Lawsuit With City Of Joliet

$200,000 Settlement In Black Joliet Officer's Discrimination Lawsuit