Gliniewicz inquiry described by administrator he threatened
Fox Lake Village Administrator Anne Marrin had been on the job a little more than a year when she started to raise questions about the Explorer program led by Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz.
Marrin left a similar post in Prospect Heights last year.
"I was brought in as the first professional administrator, and one of my tasks was actually to review all of the departments, and that has been an ongoing thing for the past year and a half," Marrin, a former trustee in the small McHenry County town of McCullom Lake, said Wednesday outside Fox Lake village hall. "There were some questions and issues with the police department Explorer program."
Text messages from Gliniewicz released by Lake County authorities today show questions started to weigh heavily on the officer, who was known to refer colloquially to the group as "the exploders."
"She has now demanded a complete inventory of exploder central and a financial report," a text message to former Fox Lake Police Chief Michael Behan reads.
Marrin said the Explorers had been doing tactical training in a downtown Fox Lake building at 23 South St. She said the Explorers did not provide an inventory of what was inside the structure after she requested the information from Gliniewicz for insurance purposes.
Marrin referenced that request today, saying she sent an email to Gliniewicz regarding the building inventory the day before he died.
"He emailed me the next morning, saying 'I'll have it to you by 1 or 2 p.m.'" she said. "Then, the incident happened."
Marrin said no adults associated with the Explorers seemed to know program details or even whether parental signature forms were required for the young participants. And she said the group only received proper nonprofit status with the Internal Revenue Service early this year.
"We had no access to any of the expenditures," she said. "That was the biggest red flag."