Police Chief Strikes Back Against Angry Painter's Facebook Page

Dueling lawsuits between a Lake in the Hills man and a police chief each contend one has humiliated and ridiculed the other.

The Lake in the Hills man, Charles Casamento, is being sued for defamation by a McHenry County police chief who claims the man’s Facebook page features “malicious posts” about the Bull Valley police force.

Chief James Page filed the lawsuit on Dec. 23 and seeks $150,000 in damages from Casamento, reports the Northwest Herald, who operates Justice from Bull Valley Police Department on Facebook.

“As a direct and proximate cause of defendants’ false statements, (Page) has been deprived of sleep, suffered deterioration in his employment relationship with the village of Bull Valley, plaintiff’s employer, subject to public ridicule, experienced fear of safety and emotion distress,” the lawsuit reads.

Casavento started the Facebook page about 10 months ago and has posted statements alleging that the police chief has lied, violated civil rights, and committed crimes, according to the chief’s lawsuit. Page also claims Casamento pretended to be a female friend of the chief’s child in a ruse to obtain a photograph of Page and his wife which he then published on his Facebook page.

The Woodstock Independent reports that Page, a local painter, had earlier filed a million-dollar lawsuit against Bull Valley police over a summer traffic arrest, which was dismissed.

Casamento claims he was wrongfully arrested and handcuffed to a wall at the police department Casamento contends the arrest was retaliation for criticism of the village, and he claims “physical pain and mental anguish” as he was subjected “to public ridicule, was humiliated and grossly inconvenienced.”

Casamento is on a crusade, however, to gather the names of people who believe they were wrongly cited by Bull Valley’s police so he and his attorney can file a class-action against the village.

Here are a few of Casamento’s Facebook posts: