McHenry County Blog

You may remember that McHenry County Sheriff’s Department deputies were found by Federal Judge Frederick Kapola to have violated the U.S. Constitutional rights of Dr. Jerome and Carla Pavlin.

The Fourth Amendment to be specific.

Here’s what that part of the U.S. Constitution says:

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

He made that finding in his decision to allow major parts of the case to go to trial.

The Sheriff’s Department’s attorneys appealed the decision, but that motion to reconsider was denied.

They entered the couple’s home on March 14, 2008, without a search warrant and hurt both husband and wife.

And who was arrested?

The Pavlins.

This is the case in which information supplied by Zane Seipler, which he heard before he was fired by Sheriff Keith Nygren, led McHenry County State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi to dismiss charges brought by the Sheriff’s Department.

This is also the case the State Police investigated, finding nothing amiss. The State Police did not interviewed the Pavlins or Seipler.  Seipler was listening over the radio to the incident.

“I can tell you my clients are happy with the settlement,” winning attorney Louis Meyer said.

“As the record stands the Deputies violated the Pavlins’ Fourth Amendment Rights to be free from unreasonable searches. There is a Federal Court Decision that states that.

“The Deputies will now all have that decision out there in the public where the Judge ruled they violated the Pavlins’ constitutional rights.

“This was a large settlement in my opinion.”

Settlements were reached with both Carla and Jerome Pavlin.

Mrs. Pavlin will get $200,000.

Mr. Pavlin $100,000.

Chicago Tribune reporter Bob McCoppin broke the story and found that local taxpayers only have to foot $100,000.

As of mid-June, 2011, the legal fees only exceeded that amount.

The rest is paid by an insurance policy.

No admission of liability on the part of any of the defendants, of course.

The defendants were

• McHENRY COUNTY
• KEITH NYGREN
• JEREMY BRUKETTA, Star 1909
• KYLE MANDERNACK, Star 1726
• TREVOR VOGEL, Star 1773
• CHRISTOPHER JONES, Star 1877
• RYAN LAMBERT, Star 1941
• GREG PYLE, Star 1672
• DAVID SHEPHERD, Star 142

You can read a summary of the case here.

The County summarizes it like this:

“Plantiff alleges false arrest, excessive force, failure to intervene, illegal search, of home civil conspiracy, malicious persecution.”

The case, as it was filed in July of 2009 is here.

You can read the settlement with Carla Pavlin below:

Dr. Jerome Pavlin’s settlement is below:

Over a year ago, Sheriff’s Deputy Bob Schlenkert won the right to return to work over the objections of McHenry County Sheriff Keith Nygran.

Today, the Northwest Herald reports a settlement has been reached.

I decided to see whether the money owed has been paid.

Guess what?

It hasn’t.

McHenry County Auditor Pam Palmer, in response to a Freedom of Information request, writes,

“In response to your FOIA request for copies of any documents submitted to my office for a court settlement payment to Sheriff’s Deputy Bob Schlenkert, I am informing you that nothing has been submitted through the Accounts Payable process performed in the Auditor’s Office.”

Where’s the holdup?

Since the agreement is apparently with the Sheriff’s Department, I would guess an official sign off has not yet been obtained.

No sign off, no settlement, it would seem to me.

Where’s the holdup?

Almost eleven months ago, McHenry County Deputy Sheriff Robert Schlinkert won an Appellate Court decision putting him back to work.

The decision came just three days after oral arguments indicating the justices thought Schlinkert had a pretty good case.

Periodically, I ask whether Schlinkert has been paid his back pay and anything else winning such a case would entitle him to.

The latest answer, from McHenry County Administration FOIA Officer John Labaj, follows:

“As of today, there has been no settlement with Mr. Schlinkert. The FOP attorney Mr. Jerry Bailey and County attorney Mr. John Kelly are still in negotiations regarding the settlement agreement.”

The county’s legal bill as of last April was $17,000.