Retired Joliet Cop No Longer A Convicted Felon: Ettinger

JOLIET, IL — Two years ago this week, retired Joliet police officer Brian Nagra appeared before a Yorkville judge and pleaded guilty to one count of official misconduct and one count of theft, both felonies. This week, Nagra and his criminal defense lawyer Mike Ettinger were successful in convincing the judge to vacate Nagra's felony convictions and end Nagra's court probation six months earlier than expected.

During Friday's interview, Ettinger told Joliet Patch that vacating Nagra's criminal convictions was hardly any surprise. It was always anticipated, going back to the September 2021 sentencing, that Nagra's convictions would be vacated in the event that Nagra completed T.A.C. probation, which stands for Treatment Alternative Court.

Ettinger said that Nagra got enrolled in the TAC program and he was a success. For anyone to suggest that Nagra convictions were vacated because of favoritism or because he was a 20-year member of the Joliet Police Department is ridiculous, his attorney explained.

"It's vacated. Absolutely, he has a right, anyone has a right, to request TAC probation and you've got to get evaluated," Ettinger said. "He went into the treatment, and they found he had a drinking problem issue and he completed it successfully."

Ettinger said that Nagra was originally sentenced to 30 months of probation, and during this week's hearing, the judge in Kendall County agreed to Ettinger's request to end Nagra's probation after 24 months.

Ettinger said he will probably wait six months before filing a motion with the court seeking to expunge Nagra's convictions from his permanent record.

In 2019, Officer Nagra was charged with three counts of official misconduct and two counts of theft of between $10,000 and $100,000. Two years later, Nagra pleaded guilty to one count of official misconduct and one count of theft, both felonies. Three other felony charges were dismissed under the plea bargain. Nagra was sentenced by a Kendall County judge to 30 months of probation and 100 community service hours.

Nagra was involved with falsifying his payroll records to give himself more overtime compensation than he really earned.

In January 2019, Police Chief Al Roechner announced the termination of Nagra. However, Nagra remained on the city payroll until July 2019, when Nagra announced his retirement.

Nagra had appealed the grounds of his termination, forcing Joliet to keep him on the payroll. He stayed on the payroll long enough to mark his 20th anniversary with the city, which allowed him to qualify for his Joliet police pension.

Nagra officially retired in July 2019.

Incidentally, if you're wondering why the name of Nagra's lawyer, Michael Ettinger, might be familiar to you, that's because Ettinger is the high-profile Chicago suburban lawyer who filed a RICO federal lawsuit in July on behalf of Joliet's now-former Mayor Bob O'Dekirk.

O'Dekirk retained Ettinger's Palos Heights law firm to file a federal RICO lawsuit against former Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner, Roechner's wife, Nancy, current Elwood Police Commander Marc Reid and a host of others including Shaw Media, the newspaper company that publishes The Herald-News in Joliet.

The federal lawsuit also names former Joliet Herald-News editor Joseph Hosey, who also previously worked for Patch, plus current Joliet City Councilman Pat Mudron and former City Councilman Jim McFarland as defendants.

The lawsuit contends all the defendants acted as an enterprise "to further deliberate illegal conduct against O'Dekirk."

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

Joliet Officer Brian Nagra Faces 5 Criminal Charges

Ex-Joliet Mayor Files Federal Suit: Roechner, Reid Among 8 Defendants