Chicago Media Jump on Greg Pyle Story

It’s late Sunday afternoon and the crew responsible for Monday’s stories must be coming to work.

About 4 PM stories started appearing about McHenry County Sheriff’s Department Sgt. Greg Pyle’s arrest on ten counts of predatory sexual assault, at least one of which was under 13-years old.

The Sheriff's links to recent press releases on Jan. 8, 2012.

Not stories from the press release spoon fed the Northwest and Daily Heralds by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department which said it was about a “domestic issue involving the officer and his family,” but ones with the information first revealed on McHenry County Blog that the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office had heavy involvement. Lou Bianchi’s people, plus the Illinois State Police. Apparently, not the Sheriff’s Department.

Regular readers will remember that the Sheriff Keith Nygren and State’s Attorney Lou Bianchi have not been political allies for over four years.

When former Deputy Sheriff Zane Seipler petitioned Judge Thomas Meyer to appoint a Special Prosecutor to probe whether Nygren used resources of his office to advance his political campaign, Bianchi argued he could not investigation the Sheriff because then he could be charged with having a conflict of interest in other cases opening the possibility that private attorneys would have to be retained in cases Bianchi’s staff otherwise would defend.

Since this case does not involve charges of criminality within the Sheriff’s Department, I suppose3 it is the involvement of the State’s Attorney’s Office does not put the taxpayers in jeopardy in other cases.

While a resident of Crystal Lake, Pyle was not investigated by the Crystal Lake Police. That’s what Deputy Chief Gene Lowery told me.

The Chicago Tribune put up a story, complete with photo for which McHenry County Blog is forced to file a Freedom of Information request and usually gets such requested arrest photos about a week after the request.

The first cut of the Chicago Tribune article that will appear in Monday's paper.

So did NBC News in Chicago.

You'll see this photo of Greg Pyle on Channel Five tonight.

ABC News in Chicago put up the AP article.

The ABC TV web site quotes a statement from the Sheriff's Department: "We are deeply concerned any time a Department member has violated the honor of this Organization."

WGN-TV signaled it will do a story on the charges on its web site.

WGN-TV, an affiliate of the Chicago Tribune was running a story, too.

CBS-TV in Chicago picked up the story, too.

The CBS-TV story sited a Sheriff's Department press release which said, “These allegations are serious, but should not tarnish the integrity of the hard working and dedicated men and women of this Office who risk their lives to serve and protect our communities everyday.”

The Daily Herald had a more complete article. It even printed a “written” comment from Sheriff Keith Nygren:

“We are deeply concerned any time a department member has violated the honor of this organization.”

The Daily Herald story Sunday afternoon.

As did McHenry County’s newspaper of record, the Northwest Herald.

The Northwest Herald's second cut on the arrest of Sheriff's Deputy Greg Pyle.


Comments

Chicago Media Jump on Greg Pyle Story — 2 Comments

  1. As hard as it is to believe, Pyle is not an isolated incident. In 2005 or 2006 Lt. Stafford of the Sheriff’s Department was criminally charged with some sort of lewd conduct involving a minor. I won’t pretend to know the details but eventually the Lt. plead guilty and committed suicide.

    Recently Sgt. Hubbard of the Sheriff’s Department had some family issues that involved criminal sexual abuse of a child. Sgt. Hubbard did not commit the crime(s), her husband did. Is she a victim? No, she’s a police officer. You would think she had the police instincts to see her husband for what he really is and the instinct to protect her family and children.

    Then there is Pyle.

    Nygren approves all supervisory appointments. He promoted these people.

    3 supervisors in 6 years, all involved in one way or another with sexual acts and children.

    The very sad thing about this Pyle situation is that Nygren and the rest of the department knew he had psychological and emotional issues.

    If you read the postings that Mr. David Bachmann has made public on his website it is easy to see that Pyle is a deeply troubled individual.

    When he was authoring his blog and writing such vile rhetoric, why did Nygren allow it? The Sheriff talks of the “honor” of the department. It was plain to see that Pyle had no honor or sanity when he was authoring the Diametrical Woodstock Advocate.

    If I remember correctly, Nygren has a Sociology or Psychology degree from NIU. Lotta good that has done him. He should have saw this coming a mile away.

    Mrs. Pyle and that poor family should hold the Sheriff’s Department responsible and file a lawsuit to that end.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *