Joliet Patch Appeals Sheriff's FOIA Denials In 3 Police Shootings

JOLIET, IL — Joliet Patch has taken its Freedom of Information Act dispute with Will County Sheriff Mike Kelley surrounding three separate Joliet area deadly shootings by police to the Illinois Attorney General's Office of Kwame Raoul for resolution.

On Monday, Joliet Patch received a confirmation email from Christopher Boggs, supervising attorney with the Public Access Bureau of the Office of the Illinois Attorney General, regarding Patch's two separate FOIA appeals involving the Will County Sheriff's Office.

"I confirm receipt of your two Requests for Review concerning the responses to your FOIA requests by the Will County Sheriff’s Office —those matters have been demarcated as 2022 PAC 74275 and 2022 PAC 74276 and are assigned to Christina Lucente-McCullough," Boggs wrote Joliet Patch's editor.

On Nov. 11, Patch notified the Attorney General's Office it "is filing this appeal to the Public Access Counselor ... in what Joliet Patch believes is a flagrant violation of the Illinois Freedom of Information Act by the Office of Will County Sheriff Mike Kelley on Laraway Road in Joliet."

At that time, Joliet Patch informed the Public Access Counselor staff that on Oct. 27, Patch re-submitted its previous Freedom of Information Act request seeking access to the body camera footage of Will County Sheriff's employees Nick Binnendyk and Desmond "Dez" Warren in connection with the domestic disturbance call around 4 p.m. in the 300 block of Middletree Road in Joliet Township on Nov. 6, 2021.

Nearly an entire year later, on Nov. 2, 2022, Patch received notice from Sheriff Kelley's staff that they denied Patch's Freedom of Information Act request for access to the two sheriff's deputies' body cameras.

"As Joliet Patch has previously reported, the Will County State's Attorney's Office informed the Will County Sheriff's Office way back in July that no criminal charges would be brought against the two Will County Sheriff's deputies who fatally shot a 70-year-old grandfather and his 21-year-old grandson inside their house following a 911 call on the afternoon of Nov. 6, 2021 in Joliet Township," Joliet Patch wrote the Public Access Counselor on Nov. 11. "Since this FOIA involves a high-profile case of great importance and the case has garnered significant news media coverage from both the Joliet Patch and CBS Chicago Channel 2 reporter Dave Savini, it is my sincere hope that the Public Access Counselor can expedite Joliet Patch's FOIA appeal involving the Will County Sheriff's Office and give it a very high priority in the coming days."

Joliet Patch's second FOIA appeal concerns Sheriff Kelley's decision to deny Patch access to the police reports involving the deaths of Eldred Wells, 70, and his 21-year-old grandson Jabbar Muhammad, as well as deadly police shootings in Crest Hill and Shorewood that happened within hours of one another on March 14-15.

Both of those shootings were investigated by the Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force, which is overseen by Will County Sheriff's Office Chief Deputy Sheriff Dan Jungles.

The controversial March 14 killing of 30-year-old Crest Hill resident Matthew Parks at his Pioneer Road apartment complex by Crest Hill Police Sgt. Terry Fenoglio is one of the other deadly police shootings that Will County Sheriff Kelley has wanted to continue to keep under wraps, now more than eight months later.

"During the confrontation, Parks stabbed a Crest Hill Police Officer in the leg, with a knife," the Will County Sheriff's Office incorrectly announced in March. "It is believed that the knife cut the femoral artery of this responding officer’s leg ... A Sergeant with the Crest Hill Police Department shot the suspect several times in defense of the injured officer’s life. This Sergeant has been with the Crest Hill Police Department since September of 2004. Responding officers performed life-saving measures on Parks, but he succumbed to his injuries on scene."

On July 21 — more than four months ago - the State's Attorney's Office notifed Jungles that "there is no basis to prosecute the law enforcement officer involved in the officer-involved death."

On Nov. 11, Joliet Patch's correspondence to the Public Access Counselor stated: "In the Crest Hill police shooting from March 14, as Joliet Patch has previously reported, Major Crimes Task Force Chairman Dan Jungles issued a false press release immediately after the deadly shooting, falsely claiming the shooting victim, Matthew Parks, 30, had stabbed one of the Crest Hill police officers in the officer's leg when no such stabbing had ever occurred."

The third case where the Will County Sheriff's Office has denied Patch access to the Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force's police reports concerns Shorewood Police Officer Alan Criscione's deadly shooting of Oswego resident Jose DeJesus-Hernandez, 39.

During the overnight hours of March 15, Shorewood Police Chief Phil Arnold told Joliet Patch that the Oswego man who died had fired his gun first at one of the police officers responding to the 911 call at the new La Quinta Inn & Suites near the Interstate 55 exit for Joliet and Shorewood.

"Based on everything at this point in time, it appears to be justified," Arnold said of the Shorewood officer's use of deadly force.

By late July, the Will County State's Attorney's Office agreed, notifying Jungles on July 25 that no charges would be brought against Officer Criscione.

"Based on a thorough review of WGMCTF-89, there is no basis to prosecute the law enforcement officer involved in the officer-involved death," Glasgow's letter stated.

Today, even though more than an entire year has passed since the Preston Heights shootings of Wells and Muhammad and more than eight months have passed since the fatal police shootings in Crest Hill and Shorewood, Sheriff Kelley has refused to make any of the Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force police reports available to the press and the public.

In its Nov. 11 FOIA appeal to the Public Access Counselor, Patch wrote: "Even though the Will County State's Attorney's Office has issued written reports for all three police officer involved deadly shooting cases, informing the Will County Sheriff's Office that no criminal charges will be brought against any of the police officers involved with these deadly shootings: 11/6/21 in Joliet Township, 3-14-22 in Crest Hill and 3-15-22 in Shorewood, the Will County Sheriff's Office still denied Joliet Patch's Sept. 22 FOIA request seeking access to the Will-Grundy Major Crimes Task Force's police reports for three of these cases."

Patch's FOIA did not seek access to any body camera footage from the Crest Hill police's killing of Parks or the Shorewood police's deadly shooting at the LaQuinta Hotel because officers at those respective police departments are still not equipped with body cameras at this time.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

• Police 'Didn't Need To Use Excessive Force,' Crest Hill Mom Says
• Sheriff Rejects FOIA For Body Camera Video In Grandfather's Killing
• Will County Fails To Disclose It Shot 70-Year-Old Man: FOIA Lawsuit
• Wrongful Death Suit Filed In Controversial Will Co. Police Shooting
• Friendly Fire Injured Crest Hill Cop, Suspect Never Stabbed Him: Ferak