Officer Erin Zilka Paid $87,720 To Stay Home 11 Months: Exclusive

JOLIET, IL — Taxpayers across Joliet have shelled out nearly $88,000 since January to pay Joliet police officer Erin Zilka to stay away from the Joliet Police Station after her off-duty crash on Interstate 55 that killed her passenger, Joliet Patch has learned.

Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner put Zilka on paid leave from the force following Zilka's 6 a.m. crash on Sunday, Jan. 19, that claimed the life of 33-year-old Berwyn police officer Charles Schauer of Glen Ellyn.

A Freedom of Information Act request revealed that, as of Nov. 13, Zilka has received 22 regular paychecks of $3,655 each since the chief put her on indefinite paid leave. Zilka would have received another paycheck of $3,655 around Nov. 27 and is due to get another check this Friday, Dec. 11.

Following the fatal crash, the Illinois State Police filed a misdemeanor against Zilka charging her with driving under the influence of alcohol. She has not faced any additional charges in connection with the death of her passenger.

During an interview Tuesday afternoon, Zilka's criminal defense attorney, Jeff Tomczak of Tomczak Law Group, said he was not sure whether the special prosecutor assigned to the case will file additional charges.

"The matter is still under review by the Illinois Appellate prosecutor, and it is my understanding that the accident reconstruction report is nearing completion," Tomczak told Joliet Patch. "The misdemeanor DUI is still pending."

Patch previously reported that a Hino box truck driven by a Shorewood man had been involved in a previous crash and had come to rest in the right two lanes of traffic along I-55 near Plainfield.

The Dodge driven by Zilka approached the earlier crash scene, hitting the back of the box truck, according to state police.

Meanwhile, Roechner and his Internal Affairs unit has not issued any discipline against Zilka at any point this year, a separate FOIA request revealed.

As of Nov. 26, a total of eight Joliet police officers have received punishments ranging from written reprimands to unpaid suspensions from work lasting several days, but Zilka was not one of those officers singled out for discipline in 2020.

On Tuesday night, Joliet Patch left the chief a voicemail message seeking comment for this article, but Roechner did not call back.

The decision to pay Zilka to stay home from work these past 11 months comes at a time when Roechner is also paying officers Bill Busse and David Blackmore to stay away from work as well.

Roechner informed Blackmore that he was being fired last Dec. 27, and the chief notified Busse he was being fired around Feb. 28.

On Nov. 30, Joliet Patch published a public spending watchdog article headlined, "Police Chief's 2 'Firings' Have Cost Taxpayers $178,015 So Far."

At no point this year has Roechner presented his evidence to the city's independent police and fire board to outline why he chose to fire Busse and Blackmore for unrelated reasons.

Like Zilka, the two fellow officers who are challenging their terminations remain on the regular payroll. As a result, the city's human resources department is unable to fill their jobs until their terminations are upheld or the officers choose to resign.

The decision to continue paying Zilka, Busse and Blackmore for staying away from Joliet's police station comes at the same time Joliet's proposed 2021 budget calls for not filling 10 positions on the police force, six openings for police dispatchers and seven firefighter/paramedic openings at the Joliet Fire Department.

The city is proposing several budget cutbacks because Joliet's gambling revenues dropped this year by 50 percent from 2019. The coronavirus pandemic has kept Joliet's two casinos, Harrah's and Hollywood Casino, closed for several weeks at a time throughout the year, causing Joliet to lose several million dollars in gambling revenue.

At Monday night's meeting, city finance director Jim Ghedotte recommended the Joliet City Council keep Bicentennial Park closed next year, a move expected to save about $430,000.