Fox Lake Cop's Widow Pleads Not Guilty To Money Laundering
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The widow of disgraced Fox Lake Police Lt. Joe Gliniewicz has pleaded not guilty to money laundering charges.
Melodie Gliniewicz, 51, was indicted last week, accused of using funds from the Fox Lake Police Explorers Post to pay for a number of personal expenses.
At a hearing Wednesday morning in Waukegan, her attorney entered a not guilty plea on her behalf for six felony counts. She has been charged with three counts of disbursing charitable funds without authority and for personal benefit (class 2 felony), one count of disbursing charitable funds without authority and for personal benefit (class 3 felony), one count of money laundering (class 2 felony), and one count of money laundering (class 3 felony).
The indictment alleges Melodie and Joe Gliniewicz knowingly used money from the Fox Lake Police Explorers Post for several personal expenses – including a trip to Hawaii and more than 400 restaurant charges – and then covered up their misuse of charitable funds.
Lake County prosecutors allege Melodie Gliniewicz embezzled between $10,000 and $100,000 from the Explorers program from 2008-14.
Her attorneys did not answer questions as they left the courthouse on Wednesday. Melodie Gliniewicz uttered an expletive as she walked past reporters and photographers, in apparent frustration at the media attention.
If convicted, she faces a maximum sentence of 7 years in prison for each Class 2 felony charge, and 5 years for each Class 3 felony charge.
She was due back in court on Feb. 26.
In September of last year, Joe Gliniewicz killed himself in what investigators later called a carefully staged suicide. In November, investigators revealed that he was under investigation for stealing money from the village and the Explorers Post. Text messages from his phone also revealed an apparent plan to have a hit placed on Anne Marrin, the village administrator investigating him.
