Bannockburn Mayor Resigns Amid Sexual Misconduct Probe

Police report states that Barkemeyer told detectives he had brief sexual contacts with two teenage boys while they were employed at his family’s business, Linden True Value Hardware, in the early 1990s

James Barkemeyer, mayor of north suburban Bannockburn for more than seven years, stepped down unexpectedly Friday. The resignation may be connected to a Wilmette police investigation into allegations that he had inappropriate sexual contact with teenage employees at his Wilmette hardware store in the early 1990s, Pioneer Press is reporting.

In response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by Pioneer Press, Wilmette Police released a heavily redacted copy of an Aug. 19 report on the investigation. In the report, police state that Barkemeyer, now 57, told detectives Aug. 18 that he had brief sexual contacts with two teenage boys while they were employed at his family’s business, Linden True Value Hardware.

Police said Barkemeyer told them he believed the boys to be between 15 and 17 years old at the time.

The police report lists the incidents as having taken place between May 1 and Sept. 1, 1993. It also states that Barkemeyer said he believed the incidents took place in the early 1990s.

According to the report, both Barkemeyer and the former employees who alleged sexual contact said the incidents mostly took place at the store, although both stated that one incident took place at Barkemeyer’s home.

After checking with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s felony review unit, police are not filing charges because the alleged incidents fall outside Illinois’ statute of limitations for criminal prosecution. Victims have between one and five years after the age of 18 to report incidents and have them considered for criminal prosecution.

The report indicates that police began an investigation in May of this year after being contacted by a former store employee. It also indicates that police interviewed multiple former True Value employees. The redactions obscure the specific number of former employees contacted, but the report appears to show that two people told detectives that Barkemeyer had approached them in sexually inappropriate ways, including touch and showing them pornography on a computer.

Barkemeyer could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

His resignation, announced without explanation Friday morning by Village Manager Maria Lasday, came after village trustees held an emergency meeting. Trustees appointed Frank “Bud” Rothing to serve as acting president for the rest of Barkemeyer’s term, which ends in May of 2015, Lasday said.

Barkemeyer served as village trustee from May 1999 through May 2007, and was elected village president in May 2007.

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