Trial Tuesday For Will Co. Deputy Charged With Disorderly Conduct

MOKENA, IL — A case involving a Will County Sheriff's deputy's is scheduled to proceed to trial starting at 9 a.m. Tuesday at the Will County Courthouse in Joliet.

Will County Sheriff's Deputy Edward Goewey has been charged with disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, following an altercation with school personnel Dec. 3, 2021, at St. Mary's Catholic School in Mokena.

Goewey has pleaded not guilty to the charge.

Goewey's three children were attending St. Mary's Catholic School in December when he learned of a threat of gun violence at the school. Goewey and another parent went to St. Mary's in Mokena to address the issue and requested the school remove the student from the class, according to previous reporting by Patch.

• Related: Will Co. Deputy's Disorderly Conduct Charge: Judge Won't Dismiss Case

Administrators at St. Mary's asked him to leave the premises and ultimately requested criminal charges, which were investigated by the Mokena Police Department.

"This is a case where Deputy Goewey had heard about threatened gun violence at his children's school, St. Mary's in Mokena," Goewey's attorney Bob Bodach told a crowd outside the Will County Courthouse in April. "He arrived at the school as a concerned parent, one who volunteers there many days a week, and he arrived there knowing three things: Law enforcement had not been notified, parents had not been notified, and that the student was not removed from the classroom, pending any evaluation."

Bodach's comments came following a Will County judge's April 11 denial of a motion to dismiss the case against Goewey.

Goewey was off duty at the time of the Dec. 3 incident. He had been an active volunteer at the school. He has since removed his children from the school.

Just days before the confrontation at St. Mary's, four students were killed and seven injured during a mass shooting at Oxford High School in Michigan.

“We look forward to presenting the facts of the case to the good citizens of Will County, and we are confident based on their good judgment that we will prevail,” Bodach said Friday in an emailed statement.

Goewey has received numerous accommodations and awards while a member of the Will County Sheriff’s Department, according to his attorney. He also has training in Special Weapons and Tactics, or S.W.A.T., which has included multiple active shooter trainings.