Probe Into Will Co. Deputy's Actions At Mokena School Not Yet Complete

MOKENA, IL — An internal investigation by the Will County Sheriff’s Office into the actions of an off-duty deputy who was convicted of disturbing the peace at a Mokena Catholic school in 2021 may not be completed for some time until the officer returns to work from a lengthy absence.

Edward Goewey was sentenced to one year of court supervision and fined in October, nearly two years after school officials said he entered St. Mary’s Catholic School to address a situation involving a student who reportedly threatened another student.

Goewey was found guilty of the misdemeanor charge last August, but police officials said on Wednesday that due to the Collective Bargaining Agreement in the deputies’ contract, investigators cannot complete their probe into the deputy’s actions until he returns to work.

Dan Jungles, who oversees the Special Operations and Investigations Unit for the Will/Grundy County Major Crimes Task Force, said that due to the CBA in the contract, disciplinary action must be handed down within 30 days of a hearing involving the deputy.

Goewey has not worked since Oct. 8, 2020, and has been on leave due to a work-related injury, Jungles said.

Jungles said that Goewey has been interviewed by investigators about his actions in December 2021, when school officials said that the deputy arrived at St. Mary’s Catholic School following the report of the incident. The officer’s three children attended school there at the time and were at the school when a “gun incident” was reported.

Goewey's attorney said that his client, who was an active volunteer at the school, arrived at the school that day as a concerned parent and was there to make sure students remained safe.

The criminal charge against Goewey arose from his concern for the safety of the students after a gun threat at St. Mary’s Catholic School, according to his lawyer, who had pushed for the criminal charge against his client to be dismissed because of the officer’s role as a sheriff’s deputy.

Goewey pulled his children from the school following the incident.

School officials said that they were made aware of a student who made a statement to another student that could be construed as threatening. However, after speaking with the student, a school counselor determined that the statement was not threatening and allowed the student to return to class.

Goewey and another parent went to St. Mary's in Mokena to address the issue and requested they remove the student from the class. School officials said that Goewey became verbally aggressive and began to head to the classroom, where the student who had made the statement had returned.

Rather than listening to the concerned parent and decorated Will County Sheriff's deputy, the administrators of St. Mary’s chose to ask him to leave the premises and ultimately requested criminal charges, which led to Goewey being found guilty last fall.

Jungles told Patch in an email on Wednesday that he has not been informed of any set date on which Goewey is scheduled to return to work from his medical leave.