County's Chief of Detectives Says He Is Not 'Complicit' In Whether Judge Gets Questioned About Her Son's Domestic Battery Case

A cousin of the Will County Sheriff appointed to lead the department’s detectives said he’s not “complicit” in whether or not his investigators question a judge about her son’s domestic battery case.

Ken Kaupas, who was hired onto the department by his cousin, Sheriff Paul Kaupas, is running to take the sheriff’s job for himself. Paul Kaupas is retiring and supporting his cousin in Tuesday’s election.

Ken Kaupas failed to respond to questions last week about whether Tuesday’s election factored into detectives failing to question Will County Judge Carla Alessio Policandriotes about what she may have witnessed the morning her son allegedly beat his girlfriend.

Paul Kaupas was quoted in a local newspaper saying Judge Alessio Policandriotes will not be questioned until Wednesday, one day after his cousin’s election. Alessio Policandriotes is also on the ballot Tuesday. She is running to retain her seat on the bench.

Ken Kaupas sent a text message Friday calling a recent Patch post about detectives neglecting to question Alessio Policandriotes “completely unfair.”

“To suggest that I am complicit some how with whether a witness is interviewed or not in any investigation is bordering on slander on your part,” the text said. “My inability to return your call is due to my campaign schedule.”

The text referred future questions about the investigation to special prosecutor Chuck Colburn, who failed to respond to a phone message Monday. So did Ken Kaupas, who was left messages about his text and the timing of Judge Alessio Policandriotes’ scheduled meeting with detectives. Paul Kaupas also failed to return calls for comment on why Judge Alessio Policandriotes was not to be questioned until Wednesday, a full 29 days after the arrest of her son, Louis Goode.

Goode, 29, allegedly attacked his girlfriend and the mother of his child, 28-year-old Tanya Brandolino, battering and harassing her the night of Oct. 5 and into the following morning.

Goode was hired to work as an office assistant at the Will County courthouse even though he is a felon and still on parole. He was to start his new job the morning he allegedly beat Brandolino. His mother stopped by on her way to the courthouse to give him a ride to work, police said. The judge reportedly arrived just as the attack ended.

In a petition for a protective court order, Brandolino accused the judge of looking on as her son threatened to kill her.

“She got out of the car and said Lou get in the car,” Brandolino said in her petition. “He then threw the phone into the garage (and) he said in front of his mother I’m going to kill you you’ll never get custody of your son better get a good lawyer.”

Judge Alessio Policandriotes then drove her son to his new job at the courthouse. Detectives from the Will County Sheriff’s Department found him there, took him in for questioning and arrested him.

Brandolino’s petition did not specify whether she was still on the ground when the judge pulled up in her car.

Last week, Paul Kaupas said detectives made “one, maybe two” attempts to talk to Judge Alessio Policandriotes about the case.

“All I do know is they made one or two requests and it didn’t happen,” Kaupas said.

Alessio Policandriotes’ husband, Tony Policandriotes, a detective with the sheriff’s department, said Paul Kaupas was completely wrong.

“One of the supervisors in my unit called her, left a message,” Policandriotes said. “She called him shortly thereafter and had a conversation. They set up a date” to meet.

Ken Kaupas, a Republican, will face off against Democrat Mike Kelley on Tuesday. Policandriotes was a staunch supporter of Ken Kaupas’ opponent in the primary, Nick Ficarello. Policandriotes last week declined to discuss whether there were any political implications to his stepson’s case.

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