Joliet Pays $287,000 To Settle Revenge Porn Suit Involving Police Department

JOLIET — This week, Joliet Patch learned that Joliet Police Officer Cassie Socha has resolved her seven-year-long federal lawsuit against the city of Joliet. She and her attorney Hall Adams of Chicago will receive $287,000 from the Joliet taxpayers in exchange for bringing her revenge porn lawsuit to an end.

"I think it's important to note that there were no criminal charges ever brought against anyone that I'm aware of," Socha's lawyer Hall Adams told Joliet Patch during this week's interview. "What was done to Officer Socha was done to her by her fellow officers, and no one was ever disciplined."

Although the Will County State's Attorney's Office regularly files criminal charges at the courthouse against people accused of engaging in revenge porn schemes, not one member of the Joliet Police Department ever faced any charges for improperly circulating Officer Socha's nude videos from her private phone of her and her husband, fellow Officer Nick Crowley.

"Good for her!!! But the City of Joliet will never take responsibility for the actions of (Al) Roechner and (Marc) Reid as long as (Terry) D’Arcy is Mayor. That is why they really settle out of court so that they never have to testify against themselves in federal court," retired Joliet Police Sgt. Javier Esqueda posted on the Joliet Patch Facebook page. In December, the Joliet Police whistleblower had his four criminal charges dismissed on the day of his scheduled trial at the Kendall County Courthouse in Yorkville.

As for Socha, her August 2018 federal lawsuit named then-Joliet Police Sgt. Ed Grizzle and up to 20 members of the Joliet Police Department, who were only identified in federal court filings as John Does.

"A number of officers and other department personnel viewed these images and republished them," Adams told Joliet Patch in 2020. "They were showing them to other people, and this included some high-level people."

Current Mokena chief of police, Brian Benton, was the chief of police of Joliet at the time his own agency and Sgt. Grizzle obtained a search warrant for Socha's phone from Will County long-time Judge Sarah Jones which sought "evidence of the offense of harassment via electronic communications, intimidation."

Prior to Socha's federal civil rights lawsuit against Joliet, in the summer of 2017, Crowley reportedly fired his gun into the ceiling of their residence, awaking the sleeping couple who shared the adjacent townhouse. The couple also heard lots of screaming and thought they heard Socha's head being slammed, according to testimony in Crowley's trial. After hearing the special prosecution's evidence, Will County Judge Daniel Kennedy found Crowley not guilty of charges of reckless discharge of a gun.

Coinciding with Crowley's criminal trial, Joliet police supervisors conducted an illegal search of Socha's private cell phone to retrieve one text message the Joliet police already had in their possession, according to Socha's federal lawsuit.

Once Socha's phone was obtained by her department, members of her agency began making copies and sharing around nude photos and videos that Socha had of herself and Crowley.

As her case remained in litigation, the outside law firm representing Joliet managed to obtain a short-term victory: the federal judge agreed to dismiss Socha's lawsuit in 2023.

However, in 2024, Socha's lawyer obtained a partial victory of his own, by convincing a federal appeals court to reinstate her lawsuit against Joliet. The appeals court did not reinstate her claims against co-defendant, Sgt. Grizzle, the now-retired Joliet police supervisor responsible for obtaining the search warrant to seize Officer Socha's private cell phone.

"The appeals court concluded Detective Grizzle had violated her constitutional rights, but gave him a pass on what the law calls qualified immunity," Adams explained to Joliet Patch this week.

The Joliet Police Department has been one of the most scrutinized law enforcement agencies in all of Illinois in recent years. Last year, the Illinois Attorney General issued a lengthy report declaring that the Joliet police discriminate against black citizens and other minority groups and that the department has engaged in excessive force and the misuse of Tasers.

As for Socha, she remains in the patrol unit with the Joliet police.

For the past three years, the Joliet Police Department has been led by Chief Bill Evans, the department's first outside hire of a new police since the 1990s.

"I think she's relieved that it is concluded," Adams said of Socha's lawsuit. "She's a regular patrol officer and has always had gotten high performance marks. She's a good and dedicated police officer. That's all she's ever wanted to be."

At one point, in 2020, Patch reported that the Joliet City Council was in negotiations with Socha and her lawyer and the amount of money being sought by the plaintiffs was around $950,000.

This year's city of Joliet budget, approved by Mayor Terry D'Arcy and the City Council, included a property tax increase for the first time in several years. One of the major spending increases contained within the 2025 budget was the doubling of funds available for lawsuit settlements.

The city legal department's 2024 budget set aside $1 million for claims. The amount of money requested for the 2025 budget was $2 million.

As of this week, there's now $287,000 in funds less available now that Joliet has brought Socha's seven-year federal lawsuit to a close.

Related Joliet Patch coverage:

• Sex Videos Of 2 Joliet Cops Illegally Seized, Shared: Lawsuit
• Socha's Revenge Porn Lawsuit: Roechner Got Rid Of His Phone
• Socha's Revenge Porn Lawsuit: Joliet Police Lose Key Ruling
• Revenge Porn Joliet Police Lawsuit: JPD Depositions Underway
• Officer Crowley Gets Disciplined By Joliet PD