Elgin officer sues store for false accusations

An Elgin police officer has sued a Schaumburg department store, arguing that false accusations of shoplifting damaged his reputation and endangered his job at the department.

Jesse Padron, a 19-year veteran who has been on paid administrative leave for the last eight months, filed the lawsuit in Cook County Court late Thursday, which was at the end of his two-year legal window to sue.

In the suit, Padron's attorney, Bradley Prendergast, argues that on July 6, 2006, three security guards at Carson Pirie Scott at the Streets of Woodfield wrongfully detained him and later called his shift supervisor at the department with false allegations.

Padron was never charged with shoplifting or attempted shoplifting, but he was fired after a three-month investigation.

An arbitrator eventually reinstated Padron, but Police Chief Lisa Womack placed him on paid administrative leave in November 2007.

Contacted by phone Thursday, Padron declined to comment on the suit.

"There will be a time when I'll be able to speak," he said.

An initial court date has not been set and the amount of damages he is seeking was not specified.

Prendergast did not return a message.

The suit names the store, along with Padron's supervisor, Jeffrey P. Adam, and three security guards at the store.

Padron's career in Elgin has had its ups and downs.

He was a one-time officer of the year, but demoted from his detective rank in 2000.

In the 1990s, he was suspended for 30 days after he admitted lying in court to protect an informant.

He also served a pair of three-day suspensions for failing to show up as a witness in a drug case and for fixing a traffic ticket for another informant.