SmarterthanYou
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A 12-year-old girl got a series of text messages this summer from her mother's boyfriend, Woodstock police Sgt. Charles "Chip" Amati, according to copies of the messages obtained by the Tribune.
One message, punctuated with a text emoticon shaped like a heart, read, "Send me some sexy pictures!"
The girl's mother said she alerted authorities, and Illinois State Police investigators discovered something else — that Amati had used a taxpayer-funded law enforcement database to research his girlfriend's criminal record, a police report shows. Officers who use the database for personal reasons can be charged with official misconduct, a felony, state police said.
But McHenry County State's Attorney Louis Bianchi has not charged Amati. After a departmental inquiry, Amati, a 24-year veteran and one of the city's highest-paid employees, was suspended without pay for 30 days, though he can take them one at a time at the department's discretion within a year, police Chief Robert Lowen said.
Lowen, who recommended the discipline to the city's police and fire commission, called Amati's conduct "unacceptable." But the chief defended him as a good officer and said, "I thought that the discipline was appropriate in light of all the circumstances."
Lowen acknowledged that misuse of the database can lead to criminal charges but said he thought the suspension was fair, in light of Amati's otherwise spotless disciplinary history, long record of service and the fact that he didn't use the database for a purpose such as his own financial gain.
In deciding not to charge Amati, prosecutors weighed the fact that he would face departmental discipline, Combs said.
"This guy made some serious mistakes, but I have to consider the background of somebody too," he said. "He'd been a police officer for a long time, and he made a mistake."
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...t-20131127_1_amati-text-message-woodstock-cop
One message, punctuated with a text emoticon shaped like a heart, read, "Send me some sexy pictures!"
The girl's mother said she alerted authorities, and Illinois State Police investigators discovered something else — that Amati had used a taxpayer-funded law enforcement database to research his girlfriend's criminal record, a police report shows. Officers who use the database for personal reasons can be charged with official misconduct, a felony, state police said.
But McHenry County State's Attorney Louis Bianchi has not charged Amati. After a departmental inquiry, Amati, a 24-year veteran and one of the city's highest-paid employees, was suspended without pay for 30 days, though he can take them one at a time at the department's discretion within a year, police Chief Robert Lowen said.
Lowen, who recommended the discipline to the city's police and fire commission, called Amati's conduct "unacceptable." But the chief defended him as a good officer and said, "I thought that the discipline was appropriate in light of all the circumstances."
Lowen acknowledged that misuse of the database can lead to criminal charges but said he thought the suspension was fair, in light of Amati's otherwise spotless disciplinary history, long record of service and the fact that he didn't use the database for a purpose such as his own financial gain.
In deciding not to charge Amati, prosecutors weighed the fact that he would face departmental discipline, Combs said.
"This guy made some serious mistakes, but I have to consider the background of somebody too," he said. "He'd been a police officer for a long time, and he made a mistake."
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/...t-20131127_1_amati-text-message-woodstock-cop