Gliniewicz trial delayed until May
A Lake County judge on Monday delayed the trial of Melodie Gliniewicz after ordering prosecutors to identify the specific bank transactions authorities used to charge her with theft from a Fox Lake police youth group.
To give Assistant State's Attorney Scott Turk time to provide those specifics, Judge James Booras pushed back Gliniewicz's trial to May 30.
Defense attorney Donald Morrison said prosecutors previously turned over 12,000 pages of evidence and bank records in the theft case against Gliniewicz, 52, of Antioch Township. However, he said in court, the state has refused to specify the transactions she is accused of illegally making.
"All I'm asking for is for them to tell me what these prohibited transactions are," Morrison said in court.
Gliniewicz faces nine felony and misdemeanor counts of conspiracy, unlawful use of charitable funds for personal gain and money laundering. She has denied the accusations.
Charges were filed after investigators discovered her deceased husband, Fox Lake police Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz, killed himself Sept. 1, 2015, to cover up a theft of funds from Fox Lake Police Explorer Post 300, authorities said. Charles Gliniewicz staged his death to appear as if he'd been killed in the line of duty, authorities have said.
Investigators claimed the couple had been using money donated to the Explorer post for their own purposes. Melodie Gliniewicz served as a civilian adviser to the post her husband founded, authorities said.
Investigators claim money from the Explorer fund was used to pay for a trip to Hawaii, movie tickets, pornography websites, and more than 400 restaurant charges, authorities allege.
Morrison has argued the charges should be dropped because Charles Gliniewicz was the only person in control of Explorer post bank accounts between 2009 and March 2015. Melodie Gliniewicz should not be held responsible for any theft that may have occurred, he said.
A motion to dismiss two of the counts against Melodie Gliniewicz was denied by Booras in early January, but Morrison claimed the state has not been upfront in explaining specifics about the transactions she is accused of making with Explorer funds.
"If the state is alleging she should be held responsible for the pornography sites, then tell us that," Morrison said in court. "All I'm asking for is tell me what those prohibited transactions are."
The two sides are due back in court March 6.