Panel fires ex-Kane County jail chief after DUI accusation

A Kane County sheriff's lieutenant and former chief of the jail, suspended since he was accused of drunken driving, was fired Monday by a sheriff's disciplinary panel.

Todd Exline, 47, was found guilty of two of the four allegations he faced before the three-member merit commission, which unanimously ended his 26-year career.

Drunken driving and other offenses were leveled against Exline days after a controversial June 29 traffic stop in Geneva and resulted in his suspension without pay from the force.

Sheriff Pat Perez had recommended the commission fire Exline, in part for his actions during the traffic stop and on-the-job conduct that the sheriff maintained portrayed the department in a bad light.

Exline, citing his pending criminal case, declined to comment after the decision.

Patrick Crimmins, his lawyer in the disciplinary matter, said Exline will consider filing an appeal to the ruling, which could be lodged in civil court within a month.

"The penalty is extreme," Crimmins said. "We feel Lt. Exline has a lot to offer, especially as it relates to the new jail and the transition process."

When he turns 50, Exline is entitled to his pension because he has not been convicted of a felony, Perez said.

Exline also must turn in his star and any sheriff's equipment he still has, Perez said, adding the board's decision was in the best interest of the department.

"It's not something we take pleasure in. … I think the public would expect nothing less than for us to police our own," he said.

Exline was pulled over on Route 25 in Geneva near the Batavia border, but didn't immediately tell his superiors why he'd been stopped, according to testimony in his disciplinary case.

At the time, Exline was part of a team overseeing the transition of the county jail to a new facility in St. Charles.

In court, the details of the arrest have been scrutinized by Exline's attorneys, in part because he was not required to take a Breathalyzer test and a field sobriety test was performed on a crack on an incline, not a flat slice of road.

The arresting officer, Susan Deuchler, was also fired from the Geneva police force near the end of her 18-month probationary period for failing an oral exam, the city has said.

Prosecutor Kelly Orland, a passenger in Exline's vehicle that night, was suspended a week for poor judgment.

Exline has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor drunken driving and is due in court again April 18.