Dickinson Driven To Self-Harm By Ex-Joliet Chief, Deputy Chief: Suit

JOLIET, IL — Former Joliet City Councilman Don "Duck" Dickinson has filed a civil lawsuit at the Will County Courthouse seeking in excess of $75,000 from ex-Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner, ex-deputy chief of police Marc Reid and the City of Joliet.

The lawsuit, filed by longtime downtown Joliet attorney Frank Andreano, accuses Reid and Roechner of conspiracy to inflict emotional distress. The city of Joliet is being sued for malicious prosecution because of Reid and Roechner's role in soliciting Dickinson to make a police report.

"Reid and Roechner, as police officers and policy makers for the city of Joliet, solicited Dickinson to make a police report and then forwarded such report to the Illinois State Police for the purpose of criminal prosecution, and which resulted in the actual criminal prosecution of Dickinson for an offense which he Dickinson did not commit," Andreano's lawsuit outlined.

According to Dickinson's lawsuit:

He was a graduate of Joliet West and worked 23 years as a tool-and-die maker, followed by employment as a maintenance worker at Joliet's Park District. Dickinson is also a single father of three now-adult children, "dedicated to his own children and to youth sports and activities."

He won a seat on the Joliet City Council in April 2017 and resigned in November 2020.

"Dickinson and Roechner were close social acquaintances, and Roechner was a person in whom Dickinson reposed faith and trust ... Reid was a person in whom Dickinson reposed faith and trust. Both Roechner and Reid enjoyed lengthy and successful careers as law enforcement officers."

The lawsuit noted that Bob O'Dekirk was a Joliet police patrolman who "gained a reputation as a tough and aggressive officer who was often assigned to high crime areas in the city of Joliet ... Upon his election as mayor, he, O'Dekirk, became a polarizing figure in city of Joliet politics, with a brash and aggressive manner which did not sit well with other Council members or department heads."

Dickinson's lawsuit outlined how O'Dekirk's election led to two factions on the Council: one viewed as pro-Mayor and the other anti-Mayor, known as the "Mudron Five," headed by Patrick Mudron, a longtime councilman and member of Joliet's business community.

Dickinson "was aligned with the Mudron Five, Dickinson opposed many of Mayor O'Dekirk's reforms and became a target of O'Dekirk's enmity which included harsh statements and taunts by O'Dekirk during both open and closed sessions of the City Council meetings ... Further, like many small towns, the city of Joliet has its own rumor mill where unkind and untrue allegations are spread by gadflys and malcontents."

The lawsuit says that Dickinson, who is white, was dating an African-American woman, "which relationship had become grist for the Joliet rumor mill. One of the many rumors about Dickinson was that he had exchanged private photos with his aforementioned female companion, and that such photos had entered the public domain."

According to Dickinson's lawsuit:

Chief Roechner convinced Dickinson "that the mayor's taunts were proof that the mayor had obtained compromising personal photos of Dickinson and his female companion. In reality, no such photos existed in the public domain, but Roechner and Reid nonetheless urged Dickinson that the mayor was in possession of such private materials."

Roechner notified Dickinson that the mayor's possession of such private photos was a crime, and Roechner used his position as chief of police to arrange for Dickinson to meet with the FBI, "which Dickinson did."

Special agents at the FBI office in Tinley Park asked Dickinson to record O'Dekirk "by wearing a wire, which request Dickinson refused" and the FBI agents informed Dickinson there was nothing they could do.

Dickinson called Roechner while driving home from the FBI office, and Roechner asked to meet with him at Roechner's house.

On Nov. 1, 2020, Dickinson visited Roechner's house to talk about the mayor and the mayor's conduct. Roechner "implored Dickinson to make an official complaint with the city of Joliet Police Department ... Dickinson reluctantly agreed to follow Roechner's advice as he, Dickinson, trusted the judgment and advice of Roechner as a friend and the city of Joliet's chief of police."

According to Andreano, "both Roechner and Reid were aware that no crime had been committed by the mayor, and both were aware that neither harsh words nor hard-nosed politics is illegal. Both Roechner and Reid nonetheless urged Dickinson to make an official complaint, despite their actual knowledge that no crime had been committed by the mayor, for the specific purpose of embarrassing and politically weakening the mayor."

Dickinson did not know that Reid and Roechner agreed that they would immediately release the police report to the local press, "which they in fact did."

"Upon the release of the police report, Dickinson became front-page news with tabloid-style reporting about Dickinson's relationship with the aforementioned female and the couple's supposed exchange of private photos," the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit argues that those events "held Dickinson up to ridicule, taunts and caused him to suffer severe mental distress, anxiety, depression, thoughts of self-harm and the undertaking of actions toward self-harm, which ultimately led to Dickinson's resignation from the City Council, involuntary and subsequent mental health hospitalizations."

Ultimately, Dickinson was charged in Will County with the crime of attempting to make a false police report, and the charges against Dickinson were dismissed on Nov. 15, 2022.

Afterward, Joliet had its inspector general Sean Connolly investigate Roechner, Reid and the allegations of misconduct "leveled at the mayor." The March report revealed "a conspiracy between Reid and Roechner to use Dickinson and their official offices as high ranking members of the city of Joliet to politically harm the mayor, using Dickinson as a tool to their conspiracy."