FOX LAKE, Ill. (AP) — The wife of a northern Illinois police officer who killed himself after embezzling from a youth program was indicted Wednesday on charges of money laundering and disbursing charitable funds without authority.
Melodie Gliniewicz turned herself in at the Lake County Sheriff’s Office when she learned of the grand jury indictment, said detective Christopher Covelli, a sheriff’s office spokesman. She was being processed and taken to the county jail Wednesday afternoon, he said. Her bond was set at $50,000. Her attorney did not immediately respond to a voicemail and email seeking comment.
Her husband, Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, died Sept. 1. Authorities say he staged his suicide to look like a homicide because he feared discovery of embezzlement from the Fox Lake Police Explorer Post.
Joe Gliniewicz had run the Explorer program for teens interested in possible careers in law enforcement. Authorities say Melodie Gliniewicz served as an adviser to the Explorer Post and had a fiduciary role with the program’s finances.
Gliniewicz’s death touched off an intense manhunt involving hundreds of officers and raised fears of cop killers on the loose.
Two months after Gliniewicz’ death, authorities announced that he had killed himself after embezzling from the village’s Police Explorer program for seven years, prompting tough questions about why it had taken so long to reach that conclusion.
“We completely believed from day one that this was a homicide,” George Filenko, the commander of the Lake County Major Crime Task Force, told reporters at the time.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Another TPM headline fail. He didn’t stage a suicide. He committed suicide and staged it to look like a homicide.
He staged his suicide to look like a murder.
Pathetic. The stole around $10K…
When the deceased officer picture flashed across my tv screen, I felt then that this officer had issues. It was written all over his face and sure enough, his victory in death was truly a lie! What a way to be remembered by…being a liar to the fracking end!
What a great model for people who want to buck the system. I’m sure all those kids in the program got a different one.
I hope.