Car Seat Safety Instructor, Former Cop Charged With Setting Trash Can, Mailbox Fires

Photo credit: Robert Brasky Linkedin Page

By Amie Schaenzer (Patch Staff)

A traffic safety liason for the Illinois Department of Transportation -- whose responsibilities included instructing expectant parents on how to safely install car seats -- has been charged with setting a string of unsolved fires in Algonquin, the Northwest Herald is reporting.

Robert Brasky, 58, is accused of setting three trash can fires at Goodwill Industries, 1430 E. Algonquin Road, and one mailbox in the 800 block of Applewood Lane, which is near his home, according to the article. All of the fires were set between 8 and 10:30 p.m. between Aug. 27 and Oct. 25.

Brasky and his wife, Marsha, have lived in Algonquin for more than 30 years and Brasky is retired police officer from the Lake Zurich Police Department, according to the Chicago Tribune. Brasky pleaded not guilty Monday to two felony charges of arson and two misdemeanor counts of criminal damage to property.

Police said they connected Brasky to the fires after police identified him in a security video at the Goodwill in Algonquin. The charges come following a string of small, unsolved fires in Algonquin -- many of which involved a person setting a trash can or a pile of wood or leaves on fire, the Chicago Tribune reports.

In some of those cases, Brasky was questioned by police after he was seen walking his dog in the area of the fires.

Brasky has been suspended without pay from his work with IDOT until the legal proceedings are concluded, according to the Northwest Herald.

He has worked as a traffic liason for IDOT for seven years. Part of his responsibilities included teaching expectant parents child passenger safety at Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington and Rush-Copley Medical Center in Aurora, according to his LinkedIn profile page. Prior to that, he was traffic safety officer for the Lake Zurich Police Department for nearly 29 years.

He is a graduate of Fremd High School and received a Criminal Justice and Fire Science certificate from Harper College.