Revenge Porn Suit: Officer Crowley Doesn't Regret Filming Sex Videos

JOLIET, IL — Cassie Socha's federal lawsuit should warrant a judgment in her favor of about $1.5 million, based on the illegal acts and civil rights violations orchestrated by fellow members of the Joliet Police Department, according to testimony from her husband, fellow Joliet Police Officer Nick Crowley.

"Well, when the lawsuit was initially filed, I believe there was like a ... hundred thousand dollars or something like per count. And when you added them up it was like close to $1.5 million," Crowley testified.

Joliet's lawyer inquired if Crowley believed his wife's lawsuit could potentially be worth $1.5 million if Socha is successful.

"Yes," Crowley agreed.

During his June 2021 deposition that was just made public as part of the federal lawsuit filings, Crowley testified he and Socha are now married and have two little boys.

Prior to Socha's federal civil rights lawsuit against the Joliet Police Department, in the summer of 2017, Crowley fired his gun into the ceiling of their residence, awaking the sleeping couple who shared the adjacent townhouse. The couple also heard lots of screaming and thought they heard Socha's head being slammed, according to testimony in Crowley's trial. After hearing the special prosecution's evidence, Will County Judge Daniel Kennedy found Crowley not guilty of charges of reckless discharge of a gun.

Coinciding with Crowley's criminal trial, Joliet police supervisors conducted an illegal search of Socha's private cell phone to retrieve one text message the Joliet police already had in their possession, according to Socha's federal lawsuit.

According to Socha's lawsuit, several Joliet police officials are accused of obtaining thumb drives of the sexually explicit contents of Socha's phone — three or four sex videos of Socha and Crowley, plus more than 10 nude photos of Socha and Crowley.

Crowley's Police Career

After high school in Grant Park, Crowley served in the Marine Corps for four years at Camp Pendleton. He obtained his associate's degree in Kankakee and worked as a bartender at the TGI Fridays in Bradley. From there, he became a police officer for Grant Park. After six months, he joined the Bourbonnais Police Department, where he stayed nearly eight years.

Crowley joined the Joliet Police Department in February 2013, the same year of his divorce with his first wife. In 2014, Crowley and Socha began dating and in 2015, he moved into the town home Socha owned. Socha and Crowley got married on April 19, 2019, before a judge in DuPage County.

"Other than internal paperwork, did you share the fact that you and Cassandra had married in 2019 with any of your fellow officers or friends?" asked attorney Darcy Proctor of Tressler, LLP., the Bolingbrook law firm defending the city of Joliet in Socha's federal lawsuit.

"I know I told my friend, Bill," Crowley replied.

"Is that Bill Busse?" the lawyer followed up.

"Yes. I believe I told Phil Empf. I can't really remember who else I told."

Crowley was then asked if Officers Busse and Empf were his closest friends.

"Yes," he testified.

"Okay," Joliet's lawyer responded. "Now Officer Crowley, you're aware that this lawsuit involves allegations that certain images from Cassandra's cell phone were shared with members of the Joliet Police Department. Do you understand that?"

"Yes," Crowley answered.

"What is your understanding of the allegations in Cassandra's lawsuit?"

"It's my understanding that there was a search warrant that was served on Cassandra's cell phone," Crowley testified. "That the entire cell phone contents were downloaded to a computer in investigations and that there was officers that accessed that computer, viewed private images and videos that were on that cell phone.

"I also understand that there were copies that were made of the contents of her phone and were distributed amongst other police officers in the police department."

The lawyer representing Joliet asked Crowley if he disputes there were nude photos and sex videos on Socha's cell phone?

"I was the one that took some of those photographs and took the videos from the cell phone," Crowley testified.

Crowley Describes The Content Of 'Intimate' Videos

"Let's put the photographs aside for a moment," Joliet's attorney remarked. "I just want to focus on the video. To your knowledge, was this more than one sex video on Cassandra's cell phone?"

"Yes," Crowley replied.

"Did you and Cassandra engage in recording your sexual activities on more than one occasion?"

"Yes," Crowley testified.

"Is that something that you do frequently?"

"No."

"Do you have a rough estimate on the number of sex videos that may have been made on Cassandra's cell phone?"

"I would say no more than three, no more than four," Crowley told the lawyer.

"Because it is the subject of this lawsuit, Officer Crowley, I hope you understand why I have to ask you these questions. It's not something I relish, but I'm doing my job. I hope you understand that."

"I understand," Crowley replied. "I appreciate that."

"Well, of those three or four sex videos, can you describe the content with any particularity of those videos?"

"Yes. We were engaged in oral sex," Crowley testified. "We were engaged in intercourse. I think that's it."

"And how did you record those activities?"

"With her cell phone," Crowley responded.

"Is your face visible on any of those videos?"

"No, they are not. I don't believe so," Crowley testified.

"Is Cassandra's face visible on any of those videos?"

"Yes."

"Do you know, of the three or four videos, how many of those her face is visible on?"

"I believe just one," Crowley told the city's lawyer. "When she is performing oral sex on me."

"Let's focus on the oral sex video, if I could. Why did you video that?"

"You know, we were young," Crowley testified. "It was a private intimate moment that we were consensually sharing with each other. That's my answer."

"Did Cassandra consent to you videoing that activities?"

"Yes."

"Did you record any sexual activity between you and Cassandra on any other device, other than her cell phone, as you just described?"

"No."

"Did you share the sex videos that you've just described with anyone other than Cassandra?"

"No."

"To your knowledge, did Cassandra share any of those sex videos with you on any of your devices?"

"No."

Crowley Questioned About Nude Photographs

"Let's talk about the nude photographs. How many nude photographs, to your knowledge, were on Cassandra's cell phone in May 2018?"

"I couldn't give you a number, but I mean, more than 10," Crowley testified. "Nude images of her. Nude images of myself. There was pictures of us having sex, there was pictures of her naked, pictures of me naked. I took some and she took some."

"Do you regret having taken those photographs?"

"No," Crowley answered. "Cassandra doesn't have any regrets. I don't think so, no."

"Would you do it again?"

"Yes," Crowley replied.

"Have you done it since the allegations in this lawsuit have come to light?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Probably not a good idea right about now," Crowley testified. "I certainly don't think she would be OK with that. I don't think I would, either. Well, I just don't think that we both would want to do that right now, given the set of circumstances that are currently going on ... this lawsuit that's out there. We also have children in the house now, so that probably wouldn't work out very well. Probably not in the stars for us right now."

Dave Jackson Approaches Crowley At Police Station

As the deposition continued, Crowley was asked about the Joliet Black Police Officers Association, of which he's been a member for a couple of years.

"It's purpose is to kind of gather community partnership," Crowley replied. "It's to gather police officers, not just minority police officers, but anybody can be a member there. It just kind of bridges the gap between the community and the police department ... You just sign up for it. It's a volunteer thing."

Joliet Police Detective David Jackson serves as the organization's president, Crowley testified.

In March 2020, Jackson approached Crowley at the police station and "he asked me if he could speak to me privately for a minute and so we went into an office and that's where we spoke," Crowley recalled. "He told me he had some information regarding Cassandra's lawsuit and I asked him what that was and he told me."

Crowley testified Jackson gave him the name of a Joliet police sergeant who supposedly entered the first-floor watch commander's office at the police station and told two lieutenants and one other on-duty sergeant that he now knows why Crowley is with Socha — because she performs oral sex "like a porn star."

"What else did he tell you?" Joliet's attorney inquired.

"He told me that Al Roechner had videos on his personal laptop," Crowley testified. "He told me ... that Al Roechner had approached Phil Bergner, who was like the I.T. officer at the time ... to issue him a new cell phone or erase his current cell phone, and that Phil Bergner was uncomfortable with that and that he approached another officer .... a female officer named Shawn (Stachelski) ... But he approached her and that he was uncomfortable with that and he wanted advice as to what to do."

Crowley Testified He Took Detective Jackson To Be Credible

According to Crowley's testimony, Jackson told him there were several copies of the sex videos and images that were made from a computer software machine that Joliet police detectives use to download cell phone data.

"They made copies and that those copies were given to Al Roechner and that Al Roechner asked for all the copies and kept them in his personal office, and that none of these ever made it into evidence," Crowley testified.

"Do you recall anything else about your conversation with Jackson that we've been discussing?" Joliet's lawyer inquired.

"Yes, he told me specifically with Al Roechner's laptop that Al Roechner told him specifically that these videos were on his personal laptop," Crowley testified.

"Did he tell you when Al Roechner allegedly told him that?"

"No," Crowley replied.

"Do you know how Jackson came about any of this information?"

"I don't know specifically, but I know that Detective Jackson is a detective," Crowley replied. "That everyone involved in this case was either a detective or, you know, a detective sergeant, a commander of the investigations unit at the time. So I took him to be credible because he works in the office with everyone that you mentioned, outside of Phil Bergner."

Crowley was also asked about an anonymous letter that appeared in Officer Socha's work mailbox at the Joliet police station shortly after she filed her federal lawsuit in August 2018.

"Our shift started at either 6 or 7 p.m. that night, so it was shortly thereafter," Crowley recalled. "She just told me she got this weird letter in her mailbox and she read it to me."

Crowley testified he does not know who wrote the letter and that nobody at the Joliet Police Department ever told him who wrote it.

"The letter, it was typed and it just said ... there's detectives and supervisors that watched a sex video. And then it gave a specificity of the actions that were occuring and that these were being passed around by members of the investigations division and that we needed to do something about it."

Socha Decides Not Make Report With Internal Affairs

Switching topics, Joliet's lawyer returned her questions to Crowley's membership in the Joliet Black Police Officers Association.

"Like I said, every year they put something out or every couple years or something like that they put a flyer in everybody's mailbox asking if they want to join, so I decided to join," Crowley answered. "I support what they do. I support their work. I support the officers that are a part of that organization and I just wanted to be a part of that."

"Do you know whether or not David Jackson has a reputation for trustworthiness within the Joliet Police Department?" attorney Proctor asked.

"I trust him, yeah," Crowley answered. "I don't have a reason not to trust him."

"Well, what do you base the trust on?"

"I mean, his reputation in the police department, as far as I know, he's a detective. He's solved several high-profile homicides in the city. He's held several different positions in undercover work. So I just based it off of that."

"Did Cassandra report any of these issues that came to her attention to the office of internal affairs within the Joliet Police Department?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because the information that she was provided in her letter indicated officers that were part of the internal affairs investigation and officers that had high-ranking authority in the Joliet Police Department," Crowley answered. "And we both agreed that it would not be a good idea to report that because if this is true, they are directly involved in this and they're not going to properly investigate that."

"And high-ranking people in authority that you mentioned a reason for not reporting this internally were who?"

"Al Roechner, Tab Jensen, Brian Benton, Marc Reid," Crowley testified.

"Is that it?"

"Yes."

Crowley Testified That Officer Socha Feelex Objectified

"Did you consider reporting it ... outside the department to, for example, the State Police, the Department of Justice, FBI, some other agency outside the city of Joliet? Was that considered?"

"Yes."

"And why didn't you do that?"

"Well, we decided that it would be best to just consult with an attorney as to what our options would be," Crowley answered. "I mean ... it just seemed like, you know, the right way to go, I guess."

Joliet's lawyer asked if Crowley would like to be a co-plaintiff in Socha's lawsuit.

"No police officer wants to be involved in anything other than what we already have to be involved with," he testified. "So, you know, this is her lawsuit and I'm just here to support her.

"You know, this incident has taken a toll on her ... which has essentially taken a roll on us," Crowley continued. "You know, our intimacy, I have to talk her through a lot of things sometimes, when it comes to this. I've seen a dramatic change in her motivation, in her character, in her trustworthy of where we work and who we work for. I have seen a lack of motivation for her, you know, in this career. I've seen just a change, in a negative way."

Joliet's attorney asked Crowley to be more specific.

"She's a female officer in a male dominated profession," Crowley testified. "She's objectified now and she has to take orders from these individuals. When we became pregrant, she had to report directly to (a deputy chief) and inform him she's pregnant and that she requested light duty. She just was a mess. She'd cry and she didn't want to do that. She regularly had to have contact with him about, you know, her status as being pregnant. And I cannot imagine what that must have been like for her."

"Okay. Well, you also said later that she is objectified now," Joliet's lawyer advised. "Can you explain what you mean by that?"

"She believes that this happened, and so do I, and now she has to be at work with these male co-workers, superiors, that order her around, that she has to take orders from, that seen her in a private, intimate, sexual moment with me.

"It takes away her ability to do her job the right way. She feels objectified.· She feels that these individuals that seen her pictures and videos, that's what they see of her now.· Not a female police officer trying to do her job effectively but as, you know, how they seen her in the videos and pictures."

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

• Sex Videos Of 2 Joliet Cops Illegally Seized, Shared: Lawsuit
• Socha's Revenge Porn Lawsuit: Roechner Got Rid Of His Phone
• Socha's Revenge Porn Lawsuit: Joliet Police Lose Key Ruling
• Revenge Porn Joliet Police Lawsuit: JPD Depositions Underway
• Officer Crowley Gets Disciplined By Joliet PD