The Cook County Inspector General says a laborer with the Forest Preserve District of Cook County continued working in sensitive areas around children, despite the fact he was wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet due to a pending charge of predatory criminal sexual assault.
The I.G.’s office says the unnamed laborer never informed his supervisors of his arrest. What’s more, an investigation revealed that he had used a three day “bereavement leave” beginning the day after he was taken into custody, and took sick days whenever he needed to be in court to face the assault charge.
“An open records search by this office failed to identify a death occurrence of an immediate family member,” investigators said. “Although there remains a remote possibility that an immediate family member coincidentally passed away during that time, this possibility is highly unlikely.”
The worker was fired, and recommended for placement on the County’s “do not hire” list.
