Judge's Son Made $35 At New Courthouse Job Before His Arrest For Allegedly Beating Girlfriend

The son of Judge Carla Alessio Policandriotes made $35 at his new courthouse job before his county career was cut short by an arrest for allegedly battering his girlfriend.

Louis Goode, 29, overcame his criminal history as a felon still on probation and was hired to work as an office assistant at the same courthouse where his mother holds a seat on the judiciary.

On the first day of Goode’s new job, Judge Alessio Policandriotes stopped by the Joliet home where he was living with his girlfriend, Tanya Brandolino, her parents and their child to take him to work, police said. When the judge got there, Goode had allegedly just finished battering Brandolino and knocking her to the ground.

Goode had also beaten Brandolino the night before and locked her in the trunk of their car, police said.

In a petition for a protective court order, Brandolino, 28, accused the judge of looking on as her son threatened to kill her.

“She got out of the car and said Lou get in the car,” Brandolino said in her petition. “He then threw the phone into the garage (and) he said in front of his mother I’m going to kill you you’ll never get custody of your son better get a good lawyer.”

Judge Alessio Policandriotes then drove her son to his new job at the courthouse. Detectives from the Will County Sheriff’s Department found him there, took him in for questioning and arrested him.

Goode reportedly got about three hours in before he was taken away by the cops Oct. 6. That was good enough to make him $35, according to county records. Goode had to pay $2.17 of it into social security and another 51 cents for Medicare.

Chief Judge Richard Schoenstedt wrote up Goode’s termination letter the day after he was arrested. The county released a copy of the letter but did not show where Judge Schoenstedt sent it.

Goode was first locked up in the Will County jail. Soon after Goode’s arrest, Judge Robert Livas ordered that he be transferred to the Grundy County jail out of concerns for his safety. Goode was still locked up there Wednesday, according to Grundy County jail staff.

Brandolino’s petition for the protective order did not specify whether she was still on the ground when the judge pulled up in her car, and it is unclear what Alession Policandriotes may or may not have seen. Detectives with the sheriff’s department were in no hurry to find out either, as they neglected to question the judge for weeks after her son’s arrest.

Lame-duck Sheriff Paul Kaupas said last month that detectives made “one, maybe two” attempts to talk to Judge Alessio Policandriotes about the case.

“All I do know is they made one or two requests and it didn’t happen,” Kaupas said.

Alessio Policandriotes’ husband, Tony Policandriotes, who is a detective with the sheriff’s department, said Kaupas was completely wrong.

“One of the supervisors in my unit called her, left a message,” Policandriotes said. “She called him shortly thereafter and had a conversation. They set up a date” to meet.

Undersheriff Jerome Nudera has refused to release reports about Goode’s arrest or the alleged attack on Brandolino. Nudera claimed, among other things, that releasing the reports will “obstruct an ongoing criminal investigation” and possibly deprive Goode of a fair trial.

A month after Goode’s arrest, Kaupas’ cousin, Ken Kaupas, narrowly squeezed past Democratic candidate Mike Kelley to replace the retiring sheriff, according to initial election results. Judge Alessio Policandriotes also did well on Election Day, retaining her seat with 70.07 percent of the vote.

Alessio Policandriotes was the lowest vote-getter of seven Will County judges running for retention but was still more than 10 percent above the minimum requirement to keep her job.

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