Shanahan Ousted After Trying To Fix Joliet Police Dept: Sources

JOLIET, IL — Before the Pat Mudron Five voted last week to fire Marty Shanahan as Joliet's interim city manager after eight months at the post, councilwoman Jan Quillman asked for a show of hands of people in the audience who were in support of Marty Shanahan. Several dozen hands went up. Then, Quillman asked for a show of hands of those who wanted Shanahan gone.

Four hands in the back of the council chambers lifted into the air. According to the city, the four people who raised their hands were off-duty Joliet Police sergeants: Larry Collins, Tom Grutzias, Dave Harris and Patrick Cardwell.

The four made between $127,421 and $150,204 in 2018, according to city salary records. But the question remains, what motivated four veteran Joliet Police sergeants to show up together at a City Council meeting, off-duty, and raise their hands at a public meeting letting everyone know that they wanted Shanahan out of his job as the top decision-maker running City Hall.

Until last week, Shanahan had the power to provide administrative oversight for their police department.

Patch visited the Joliet police station last week and asked to interview Cardwell, who serves as the president of the police department's supervisors union, regarding the council meeting. He didn't call back.

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Since Shanahan's ouster last Tuesday, Patch has interviewed multiple sources who believe the Mudron Five chose to get rid of Shanahan because he had informed them, during the past six weeks, that several changes were needed at the Joliet Police Department, which is led by Chief Al Roechner, and that Shanahan was serious about making those changes.

Over the past several months, the sources indicated that the Joliet Police Department has had one problem after another under Roechner's tenure.

Several, but not necessarily all, of the problems have been widely reported in the press including the controversy involving a number of Joliet police officers who supposedly tested positive for performing-enhancing drugs.

The Joliet Police Department's Fraternal Order of Police has apparently filed a grievance with the city over the legality of the performance-enhancing drug testing that was done. Last week, Patch filed a new Freedom of Information Act request with the city seeking access to any grievances filed by the FOP and any legal opinions issued by the city of Joliet concerning the testing.

Patch was also told that Shanahan informed the council in May that, as city manager, he had the responsibility to implement any changes he felt were necessary in order to shake up the administration under Roechner.

Over the past several months, Joliet's police department has continued to find itself in the news for all the wrong reasons.

For the past six months, the drama concerning Roechner's attempt to fire officers Lionel Allen and Brian Nagra for completely separate reasons has been the subject of numerous articles in the Joliet Patch and The Joliet Herald-News.

Both officers continue to collect a regular paycheck while their terminations are on appeal.

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Since March, Patch has also reported about three other veteran members of the Joliet Police Department in connection with allegations of criminal activity. Two are being prosecuted at the Will County Courthouse for domestic violence.

Detective Dave Jackson has been accused of leaving his long-time mistress bloodied after the two returned to her place in Crest Hill after being out drinking at a Joliet bar and playing video gambling machines, according to police reports.

Another Joliet Police officer, Bill Busse, got arrested in May by the New Lenox Police Department after allegedly attacking his ex-wife at her place in New Lenox. The ex-wife stated in court documents that Busse "has now beat me twice since our divorce in June 2018" and that "I fear for my life and I don't think I can ever move on."

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In May, Joliet Patch obtained police reports regarding the arrest in March of Detective David Jackson. Those documents indicate Jackson's long-time mistress feared for her life as well and told her adult son that, 'You know if anything ever happens to me, that I didn't do it to myself."

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In another criminal case, Lt. Dennis McWherter was allegedly caught stealing hydrocodone in October out of the Joliet police substation drug drop off box on Caton Farm Road in Kendall County.

Sources told Patch that the Joliet Police Department got a search warrant to recover evidence within McWherter's personal automobile and, several days afterward, McWherter was allowed to retire from active duty and then start collecting his annual police pension.

Then, five months later, the Kendall County State's Attorney's Office filed six criminal charges against McWherter, including several counts of official misconduct.

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Additionally, more people are regularly contacting the Joliet Patch to air complaints about the Joliet Police Department, often complaining that the officers are rude or that the police department is inconsiderate and unresponsive to their concerns or issues.

On June 9, one reader used the Joliet Patch's new Quickpost feature and commented, "Is it just me or do a lot of Joliet police officers act like bullies? or as if they can do whatever they want when they want? The new attitude displayed by our men and women in blue makes me think of the kid in school who was bullied and didn't get hugged enough, but now has a badge and gun."

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The sources explained that Shanahan planned to demote one of Roechner's picks for deputy chief of police, John Perona, and return him to sergeant. A meeting involving Shanahan, Perona and the city's human resources staff took place to discuss the topic.

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According to sources, Perona subsequently informed city officials that he intends to retire later this year anyway; Perona was afforded the opportunity to retire as a deputy chief of police, rather than as a sergeant.

Back in December, the Joliet City Council named Roechner as its new permanent chief of police, bypassing the need to do a regional or national hiring search after giving him four months in the position as the acting chief. The rest of his administration consists of four deputy chiefs:

• John Perona, administration
• Darrell Gavin, investigations
• Marc Reid, operations
• Mike Batis, technical services

However, there was also a strong possibility that other changes were still in the works at the police department.

One of the other deputy chiefs who may have been reshuffled was Darrell Gavin. He is a relative of Bettye Gavin, the recently re-elected City Councilwoman from the Forest Park area. The sources indicated that the mayor of Joliet as well as the city council, per ordinance, aren't allowed to get involved in the personnel decisions of city employees, which would include the deputy chiefs.

At any rate, the sources said, before Shanahan was able to implement any further changes within the police command staff, on the evening of Wednesday, June 12, Joliet's interim city manager was sent five emails out of the blue, from the five members of the Mudron Five: Gavin, Mudron, Don "Duck" Dickinson, Sheri Reardon and Mike Turk.

The five all sent identical emails to Shanahan requesting he put an item on the council agenda for June 17 meeting. They each asked that the full council take a vote on Shanahan's removal as interim city manager. Besides having served eight months on the job, Shanahan was also chosen by the same city council to serve as their interim city manager from May 2017 until November 2017, following the retirement of Jim Hock as city manager.

Regarding the ouster of Shanahan, "I think this was all in the works for the last couple months and the shakeup at the police department either scared them or gave them cover to do what they were already planning to do," one source told Patch.

There is a special meeting for the city council at 5:30 p.m. today, Monday, June 24, regarding discussion of bringing Jim Hock out of retirement to return to Joliet as the city's latest interim city manager. Hock told Patch last week that he now lives in Michigan and that Mudron had been the only council member he had talked with regarding the idea of returning to Joliet.

During his interview with Patch late last week, Hock seemed up to speed on most of the key projects and issues facing Joliet. Hock indicated he is a strong advocate of Joliet's efforts to turn the Old Joliet Prison into a world-wide tourism attraction. He's also happy with the city's ongoing downtown revitalization projects. Third, Hock said, he has also been pleased with the progress and improvements at the Rialto Square Theatre since he left in 2017.