Lake County power couple retires together

Lake County Undersheriff Charles Fagan ended a distinguished law-enforcement career after 39 years Friday, in a retirement ceremony in the juror assembly room at the Lake County courthouse in Waukegan.

Fagan and his wife both retired Friday, as Brenda Fagan retired from her post as executive assistant to Sheriff Mark Curran.

Fagan, the county’s undersheriff since 2006, has spent nearly all of his 39-year police career with the sheriff’s office. He started as a deputy in 1972 and rose through the ranks to lieutenant in the 1990s.

He worked some of the most high-profile criminal cases in Lake County history, including the June 1980 murders of Bruce and Darlene Rouse in their home near Libertyville.