Ciolino: Phil Flores Forced Out At Crest Hill PD

CREST HILL, IL — A prominent Chicago private investigator who has a weekly show on WLS-AM 890 called The PoPo Report told Patch he's certain that troubled Crest Hill Police Office Felipe "Phil" Flores did not resign on his own free will.

For the past several months, Paul Ciolino has served as the spokesman for the parents of 911 dispatcher Samantha Harer. The 23-year-old WESCOM dispatcher was fatally shot in the side of her head and Flores was inside her apartment in Channahon at the time of her shooting.

"My best guess is that I'm sure that somebody in the Crest Hill hierarchy finally came to their senses and told him he was going to be forced out" or he could sign a letter that indicated his resignation was his own decision, Ciolino said.

Flores is named as the central defendant in a federal lawsuit that was recently revived in Chicago's U.S. District Court by noted New York civil rights lawyer Jennifer Bonjean. The lawsuit against Flores, the Channahon Police Department and the Crest Hill Police Department was reinstated by a federal judge about two weeks ago.

Joliet Patch has previously reported that Flores chose not to attend Harer's funeral services at the Fred C. Dames Funeral Home in Joliet even though the two had dated for more than eight months. Flores also ducked numerous attempts to be interviewed by Patch to give his account of the shooting. Flores has also had no contact with Harer's parents since the shooting, even though he met her parents at least a dozen times while he was dating their daughter.

Ciolino said that Flores' resignation on Friday afternoon should not be viewed as a shock given the black cloud hanging over him.

"I think Flores is a potential menace," Ciolino told Patch. "There is just no way that this guy should ever be hired as a police officer. He definitely does not need a badge and a gun."

On Monday morning, Joliet Patch reported that the Crest Hill Police officer who has been paid more than $90,000 to stay away from the Crest Hill Police Department the past 14 months, is no longer a member of the Will County law enforcement community.

Flores has resigned from the department. He was the estranged boyfriend of Samantha Harer, the 911 dispatcher for WESCOM who died of a gunshot to her head on Feb. 13, 2018.

Flores was in her Channahon apartment and had gunshot residue on his body and his clothes, but Channahon's Police Department chose to treat her death as a suicide, according to federal court records. On Monday morning, Crest Hill Police Chief Ed Clark notified Joliet Patch that Flores was no longer working at his agency.

"In the midst of an internal investigation into Officer Phil Flores' conduct following his clearance in the death investigation of Samantha Harer, Officer Flores tendered his resignation," a statement from Chief Clark reads.

"As of 2:30 p.m. Friday, I received written notice from Officer Flores of his intent to resign from the department. We accept his resignation which is effective immediately."

Ciolino told Patch there's probably about 10 cases he knows of involving suspected dirty cops who were allowed to resign, but their resignations were forced.

Bonjean, the New York lawyer, has accused Channahon Police of intentionally covering up the true facts of Harer's death. At the center of the death investigation were Channahon Detective Andrew McClellan, Deputy Chief Adam Bogart and Chief Shane Casey.

Harer was completely naked at the time of her death, and no gunshot residue was found on her body, Illinois State Police crime lab reports show. Back in 2016, Flores was investigated by the Crest Hill Police and Illinois State Police in connection with allegations that he raped a sleeping woman at her house in Crest Hill, after a night of heavy drinking at a Joliet bar. Flores was not charged in that incident, but he did get a 30-day unpaid suspension over the matter.

Ciolino said that the City of Crest Hill will have an enormous liability in the federal lawsuit due to the fact that the police department chose not to fire Flores when he faced a credible and legitimate rape allegation in 2016, instead choosing to keep him on the force.

Then, exactly two years later, a young woman who he was dating died during a heated domestic argument and Flores is suspected of staging the scene inside her apartment, including her electronics, to portray her shooting as a self-inflicted gunshot wound, according to Ciolino.

Ciolino pointed out that a high-ranking Joliet Police official went to the Crest Hill Police Station to provide emotional support for the woman accusing Flores of raping her in 2016, but, in the end, no criminal charges were brought against Flores, and he kept his job.

"There is no way that any FOP (Fraternal Order of Police) wants a guy like this around," Ciolino said of Flores. "You have a woman making an allegation who was supported by a Joliet Police sergeant. This is a red flag when you had a rape allegation that was substantiated. This woman was credible."

Crest Hill indicated that the patrol officer vacancy created by Flores' departure will now be filled from a list of eligible candidates created through the civil service testing process.

Regarding the federal lawsuit, Ciolino said the resignation of Flores does not have much of an impact. His resignation does not help the merits of the Harer family's lawsuit, nor does it hurt their case either, he explained.

One thing is for sure, Ciolino said, whatever support or benefit of the doubt that others in the police profession gave Flores, because of his seven years of experience as a Crest Hill officer, are over. If the plaintiff's side strings together additional evidence showing Flores killed Harer, others in the local police profession will no longer go to bat for Flores, he added.

For example, one recently retired Lockport Police detective has written this Joliet Patch editor suggesting that Patch back off writing articles about Officer Flores.

On Jan. 7, the former Lockport Police official wrote, "John, I have to stop reading what you print regarding Samantha Harer's death investigation because I just cannot believe you or heck anyone else would think that the Channahon PD would back an officer from Crest Hill PD for no other reason than he is a police officer. Phil Flores is not worth another police officer's job, so why would anyone back him, it makes no sense to me whatsoever."

The former Lockport Police official continued in his correspondence to Patch further explaining, "Death investigation cases are those which you do not want to make mistakes so you put your best guys on … it as was done in this case.

"John, if all you want to do is keep stirring the pot, then go ahead no one can stop you but in this case, you are so wrong to keep this family believing that law enforcement has dropped the ball just because another police officer was an involved person. EVIDENCE my friend you need EVIDENCE."

On Monday night, Patch asked Ciolino whether a dark cloud will hang over Flores regarding the violent death of his 2018 girlfriend, as well as the 2016 rape allegation that did not lead to a criminal prosecution by the Office of Will County State's Attorney Jim Glasgow, who faces re-election in 2020.

"He's no longer in the club," Ciolino said of Flores. "But, maybe Channahon will hire him."