Shaw Media Dropped, 7 Defendants Remain In Mayor O'Dekirk's Lawsuit

JOLIET, IL — The Palos Heights law firm of Michael Ettinger & Associates has chosen to drop Shaw Media, publishers of Joliet's newspaper, The Herald-News, from its federal RICO lawsuit filed on behalf of former two-term Joliet Mayor Bob O'Dekirk.

As a result of this month's decision to remove Shaw Media, Ettinger and his law firm just refiled their 17-page complaint in Chicago's federal court. The seven remaining lawsuit defendants are: Joseph Hosey, former managing editor at The Herald-News; retired Joliet Police Chief Al Roechner and his wife, Nancy; retired Joliet police Lt. Marc Reid, now commander with Elwood's police department; Joliet City Councilman Pat Mudron and former Joliet Councilman Jim McFarland.

The city of Joliet is also listed as one of the remaining defendants in the case.

The new complaint makes the following accusations against the seven defendants:

• On or about November 1, 2020, Defendants, Roechner, Nancy, Reid, Mudron, McFarland and Hosey met with then-City Councilman Donald Dickinson at the Roechner family home in Joliet for a meeting.
• "The Association in Fact had a purpose to devise a plan or strategy in which Roechner, Nancy, Reid, Mudron, McFarland and Hosey could create a public political backlash against O'Dekirk with the goal of him losing his position as mayor of Joliet and being charged criminally."
• "Roechner, Nancy, Reid, Mudron, McFarland and Hosey all disliked or hated O'Dekirk and throughout O'Dekirk's time as mayor, routinely opposed O'Dekirk on votes, goals, and interests of the city in the course of O'Dekirk carrying out his duties as mayor."

• Roechner, Nancy, Reid, Mudron, McFarland and Hosey "each had an ongoing relationship with each other wherein they had begun planning O'Dekirk's demise since the summer of 2019. The Association in fact carried out their purpose through the predicate acts described below."
• "Knowing or believing that Dickinson was the sort of individual who could easily be manipulated, Roechner, Nancy, Reid, Mudron, McFarland and Hosey used Dickinson as their puppet to hatch their conspiracy and further their scheme. During the Meeting, Roechner, Nancy, Reid, Mudron, McFarland and Hosey had a lengthy discussion. During such conversation the five of them each agreed and conspired to fabricate false claims against Plaintiff, O'Dekirk, with the sole intention of having O'Dekirk charged with a crime in order to damage his political standing and reputation in the community of Joliet."

The lawsuit goes on to allege that:

• "Dickinson had sent photos of his genitals to an individual with whom he had been romantically involved with. Roechner, Nancy, Reid, Mudron, McFarland and Hosey came into possession of these photos."
• "Specifically, Roechner, Nancy, Reid, Mudron, McFarland and Hosey threatened to reveal the photographs of Dickinson to ruin his political career in Joliet and Will County, Illinois."
• "Dickinson, feeling compelled under threat of these photos being released and the threat of false criminal charges being brought against him by the other attendees of the meeting, made a ‘report’ to Reid falsely claiming O'Dekirk intimidated him."
• "The ‘statements’ Dickinson made to Reid alleged in summary that O'Dekirk had come into possession of photos of Dickinson’s genitals. Dickinson’s statement was that O'Dekirk threatened him to publicly release the nude photographs of Dickinson to ruin Dickinson’s career."
• "O'Dekirk in reality never had possession of Dickinson’s nude photos, nor did he even know of their existence until this scheme became public. Reid created a police report based on Dickinson’s false statements."

Now that Shaw Media has been dropped from the lawsuit, the plaintiff's new complaint "pleads the Herald News as an alternative enterprise," as part of their federal court filing.

Under that section of the federal lawsuit, Ettinger's case informs the federal judge that: "Hosey, who was also part of the discussions and agreement at the meeting to fabricate these false charges against O'Dekirk, used his position as managing editor at the Herald News to print an article on November 2, 2020 detailing the allegations in Reid's phony report.

"Hosey facilitated the printing of the article in the Herald News knowing that the contents of the report were false. The article was published with the sole intent and purpose of damaging O'Dekirk's public image. The goal of publishing the article was to either get O'Dekirk removed as mayor or to lose the next election ... Hosey has published a number of articles criticizing O'Dekirk over the years in the Herald News."

Nowadays, Hosey has a job working in Indiana.