Former Cantigny curator banned from facility after weapons cache found

A DuPage County judge has ordered a former curator at the Cantigny First Division Museum in Wheaton to stay at least 1,500 feet from any Cantigny Foundation facility and has banned him from calling the facility as museum officials allege they found his personal weapons cache at the museum.

Museum officials sought the temporary restraining order Monday, just days after firing Chris Zielinski, the museum's former manager of macro artifacts, alleging he created a hostile work environment for a female employee.

Cantigny spokesman Phil Zepeda said the organization was limited in what it could share because of the "personnel matter."

"The safety of Cantigny Park visitors and staff is, and will always be, our top priority," Zepeda said. "We have taken legal steps and security measures to continue this commitment to our guests and employees."

Zielinski, reached at his Plainfield home Tuesday evening, said he was not aware of the temporary restraining order and was "shocked" to learn about it.

The court filing alleges museum officials found Zielinski's "semiautomatic AR-15 assault rifle, a combat shotgun and two .22 caliber rifles" hidden in a safe near his office after Zielinski was sent home Friday afternoon and threatened to return with "two more guns."

According to affidavits filed by several museum employees, Zielinski interrupted a meeting Friday morning during which human resources staff members were meeting with the female employee about her complaints.

"In the midst of this meeting, Mr. Zielinski barged in without notice or invitation and began angrily confronting us about the situation and whether it would affect his employment status," wrote Director of Human Resources Oscar Regalado. "I found Mr. Zielinski's demeanor to be hostile and threatening based on his tone of voice, body language and facial expressions."

Curator William Brewster wrote that he followed Zielinski to retrieve some personal items and then to the parking lot after Zielinski was sent home. During that time, he said, Zielinski told him "he no longer had a reason to live."

"Zielinski revealed to me that he had firearms stored at the nearby residence of another Cantigny employee. (He) then located a key inside his parked car and told me he planned to use it to retrieve his guns from the nearby residence," Brewster wrote. "Realizing the gravity of the situation, I attempted to reason with (Zielinski) and discourage him from taking this course of action."

JD Kammes, director of programs and education, stated in court documents that he and museum security staff members inspected the safe in the motor pool area after Zielinski left the museum, and they found the weapons.

"I had no knowledge that he stored his own personal live firearms in the workplace or on Cantigny property," Kammes wrote. "Cantigny strictly prohibits unauthorized personnel from bringing any firearms onto park property, except in safe harbor parking areas."

Zielinski maintains he was invited to the Friday morning meeting with the human resources staff and believed the situation had been resolved until he was told he would likely be terminated at the end of the investigation. He said he was fired during a telephone call on Friday afternoon.

"I was crying. I was upset. I've given this place my all and been a model employee with glowing reviews for 10 years, and they were just taking it all away from me without any due process," he said. "I'm sitting here at home right now and I've got their keys, my IDs, their credit cards, the gate pass. If I were such a bad guy, don't you think they would have taken those from me immediately?"

Zielinski also maintains Kammes knew about and gave him permission to keep the guns in the museum safe.

"Those are all legal firearms in the state of Illinois and JD Kammes knew I kept them in that safe," Zielinski said. "I'm going through a rough divorce and I didn't want them in the house, so (Kammes) said I could keep them in there. I did nothing wrong in regard to those guns."

Zielinski also denied threatening to return with his other guns.

"I told (Brewster) that I was going home, getting my two other guns and getting out of here," he said. "I never threatened anyone."

A judge will rule on the status of the restraining order at 9 a.m. Tuesday in courtroom 2005.