GI Faux: Hero Cop Committed the 'Ultimate Betrayal'

The beloved police lieutenant hailed as a hero after his death two months ago was really a thieving schemer who took his own life when his larcenous plans started to unravel.

Charles Joseph “G.I. Joe” Gliniewicz, 52, ripped off the youth police Explorer’s post he led, stealing thousands of dollars over the last seven years, said George Filenko, the commander of the Lake County Major Crimes Task Force.

Filenko led the investigation of Gliniewicz’s Sept. 1 shooting death and — until Wednesday — repeatedly insisted that detectives believed the 38-year Fox Lake police veteran was the victim of a homicide.

Filenko turned an abrupt about-face Wednesday and not only said Gliniewicz killed himself, but that he stole from his Explorer’s post to the tune of “five figures.”

“Gliniewicz committed the ultimate betrayal,” Filenko said.

Gliniewicz, whose salary in 2015 was $96,345.60, spent the stolen money on such things as travel expenses, mortgage payments, a gym membership, adult websites and loans to his friends, Filenko said.

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Others were involved with Gliniewicz in plundering the Explorer Post’s accounts, Filenko said. When asked if Gliniewicz’s wife, Melodie, was aware of or participated in the crime, Filenko would not answer. He also declined to talk about the status of the couple’s marriage.

“I’ll leave that question to Mrs. Gliniewicz,” he said.

Filenko did say she cooperated with investigators.

Late Tuesday, Fox Chicago reported that his wife and his son, D.J., are under criminal investigation in connection with the financial scheme.

• MORE » Wife and Son Targeted in Criminal Investigation

When word spread of Gliniewicz’s death, police from around northern Illinois flooded sleepy Fox Lake and launched a massive manhunt. The search was based off nothing more than the vague description of three men Gliniewicz reported he was going to confront just before his death.

Gliniewicz said only that two of the men were white and one was black.

Filenko said Gliniewicz may have driven past two white men and a black man as he headed for the remote, swampy area where he took his life. Three such men were captured on a resident’s surveillance video and were questioned by police, but turned out to have “rock-solid alibis,” he said.

GPS data showed that Gliniewicz was in the area about 20 minutes before he radioed in about the three suspicious men. Filenko said he spent the time staging an elaborate crime scene to disguise his suicide as a murder. Gliniewicz was well-versed in creating fake crime scenes, he said, as he often set them up to train his Explorer Scouts.

Gliniewicz spread his pepper spray, baton and eyeglasses in a trail leading to his body, Filenko said. He fired one shot into his bulletproof vest. The round did not penetrate the vest or the cellphone beneath it. He then stuck his pistol inside his vest and fired again, killing himself.

Filenko said investigators only determined Gliniewicz committed suicide in the last two weeks. Revelations that he had been stealing from the Explorer Scouts — and that Fox Lake Village Manager Anne Marrin was close to exposing him — bolstered the theory.

Police released text messages between Gliniewicz and at least three other unidentified people in which he voices his concerns about getting caught and at one point mulls over killing Marrin.

“She hates me and I’ve never said more than 3 sentences to her the year shes been here … hates the explorer program and is crawling up my ass and the program, chief wont sign off to move it to american legion and if she gets ahold of the old checking account, im pretty well f***ed,” one message said.

When the person he is texting expressed hope that Marrin gets arrested for driving under the influence, Gliniewicz wrote, “She does, but not around here and no one knows where. Trust me ive thougit through MANY SCENARIOS from planting things to the volo bog!!!”

• READ MORE » Gliniewicz Texts Reveal His Thefts and Thoughts About How to Handle Village Administrator

Filenko said local and federal agencies are still investigating the thievery and the others involved in it.

Filenko insisted that he and his investigators still believed Gliniewicz was the victim of a homicide while residents from the Fox Lake area held a massive memorial service, donations were raised in his name and hundreds of police officers receiving holiday pay participated in a lavish hero’s funeral on Labor Day.

“We did not know,” Filenko said. “Our intent was never to mislead the public.”

Filenko also said he feels no embarrassment about the way the investigation played out but added, “This is the first time, as a law enforcement officer, in my career, that I have been ashamed of the acts of another police officer.”

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