Lawyer: 'Political nonsense' behind pill possession charges against Kane deputy
The attorney for a Kane County sheriff's deputy facing charges of illegal possession of prescription pain pills called the case “political nonsense” on Monday.
A McHenry County grand jury indicted Kimberly Zinke, 38, of Crystal Lake, last week on the felony charges. She is the wife of an unsuccessful McHenry County sheriff candidate.
Zinke turned herself to state police in Friday and was released after posting bond.
“You know the political climate. It think it's a witch hunt.” said defense attorney Henry Sugden, adding his client had prescriptions for the generic form of Ambien and other “mild pain pills.”
Zinke's case was investigated by the Illinois State Police, and a prosecutor from the Lake County State's Attorney's office will handle the criminal case because of her ties to the McHenry County Sheriff's Department.
Zinke's husband, Andrew, served as McHenry County Undersheriff for Ken Nygren from 2010 to November 2014; Nygren and McHenry County State's Attorney Lou Bianchi had a contentious relationship.
Andrew Zinke lost the GOP primary election in 2014 to Bill Primm, who ran after Nygren decided not to seek another term. Zinke resigned just before Primm was sworn in as the new sheriff that November 2014.
Sugden said his client also supported a candidate in the 2014 Kane County Sheriff's race other than the eventual winner, Don Kramer, and that may have played a role in the charges.
“The bottom line is she had a prescription for the pills,” Sugden said. “If we can prove she had authorization (to possess the pills), the case goes away.”
Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Reggie Mathews said a search warrant was executed on Kimberly Zinke's house in April 2015.
The investigation was handled by the Illinois State Police. Mathews said the case took longer for it to be indicted because “I wanted to make sure we had all the lab results back and everything in order before we indicted the case.”
Kimberly Zinke was hired in Kane County as a deputy in July 2008 and served in the records division.
She was placed on paid administrative leave in April 2015; that leave became unpaid on Jan. 21, 2016, due to a matter unrelated to the investigation. Kane County Sheriff Lt. Pat Gengler said.
“She's still an employee (of the Kane County Sheriff's Department). So we still have an open investigation. We were aware this investigation was going on,” Gengler said. “We'll let it play out in court.”