Widow Of Disgraced Fox Lake Cop Seeks To Have Charges Dismissed
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The widow of disgraced Fox Lake Police Lt. Joe Gliniewicz was in court Wednesday, seeking to have charges related to her late husband's corruption thrown out of court.
Gliniewicz was found dead in a wooded area on Sept. 1, 2015, and authorities initially believed he had been killed by suspects he was chasing, but they later learned it was a carefully staged suicide, as investigators were closing in on him for embezzling from the village and the Police Explorers youth group.
His wife, Melodie, later was charged with six felonies alleging she participated in her husband's financial misdeeds.
On Wednesday, Melodie Gliniewicz's attorney argued she did not have knowledge of the thousands of dollars in transactions made by her husband, and the law used to charge her is unconstitutionally vague.
Lake County prosecutors countered that Melodie Gliniewicz's own words and her own bank account show she knew her husband was withdrawing money from the Police Explorers fund he managed, and using it for personal expenses, including a trip to Hawaii.
Prosecutors said, when she was questioned about her husband's death, she told investigators he would use money from the Police Explorers account to make ends meet, and later pay it back.
