Schaumburg police chief says ex-girlfriend wanted revenge
Schaumburg officials on Tuesday released a memo Police Chief Brian Howerton wrote last July, in which he alleges a revenge motive in his former girlfriend's filing a complaint against him in March.
Dawn Davis of Schaumburg accused Howerton of harassing and intimidating behavior toward her, saying he abused his position of authority as police chief both before and after the 18-month relationship which ended just days before the complaint was filed.
Howerton has never spoken publicly about the allegations.
However, in his July 6, 2012, memo to Village Manager Ken Fritz, Howerton asserts that Davis' anger at the relationship's ending was the real reason for her complaint.
“What I do know is that Dawn threatened to destroy me as she was leaving my residence on March 21, 2012, after our year and a half long relationship ended,” Howerton wrote. “I firmly believe that Dawn took steps throughout our time together to position herself so that she could cause me problems if I were the one to end the relationship.”
In the memo, Howerton states he is aware he must be held to a higher level of scrutiny as a public official as well as “the possibility of unwarranted accusations.” He also remarks on the pain Davis' accusations had caused him and his family.
Davis' attorney, Kaci Holguin, said her client denies all of the memo's allegations. Davis was interviewed on television by CBS-2 reporter Pam Zekman Monday night. In the interview she said Howerton obsessively called her at work to the extent that she was fired from her job by a boss she'd previously dated.
Davis also told Zekman that Howerton had become infuriated by her ignoring his calls and threatened to kill her and dispose of her body in a woodchipper, though he allegedly later referred to the remark as “cop humor.”
Fritz said a copy of the memo was released to Zekman last summer as she was making inquiries with the village and preparing to record her interview with Davis. He released the memo to other media sources Tuesday.
On Tuesday, Howerton said he was standing by his decision not to comment on Davis' complaint until investigations by both the village of Schaumburg and Illinois State Police were completed. But he stood by the statements made in the July 6 memo.
“That's what I felt and I still feel,” Howerton said.
He said the memo represented his efforts to put his side of the story in writing while the village's Office of Professional Standards investigated.
Holguin noted that the memo was sent months after Davis' complaint was filed.
“That seems an awful long time to wait to tell them something like that,” Holguin said.
Illinois State Police said their investigation is awaiting review by the Cook County State's Attorney's office. But the state's attorney's office Tuesday declined to comment on when expects to finish the review and announce its results.
The village Monday announced that it was resuming its internal investigation due to the length of time that the state police investigation was taking. Village officials said it was their original intent to avoid duplicating the efforts of the state police investigation.