Widow of Disgraced Fox Lake Cop Continues to Fight Charges Against Her

Fox Lake Lt. Joseph Gliniewicz faked his own murder in what investigators allege was “elaborately staged suicide” to cover up Gliniewicz’ s embezzlement of tens of thousands of dollars from the Police Explorer Post he sponsored

Melodie Gliniewicz has come out swinging, aggressively fighting charges that she personally benefited from the scandal involving her disgraced husband.

Fox Lake Lt. Joseph Gliniewicz faked his own murder in what investigators allege was “elaborately staged suicide” to cover up Gliniewicz’ s embezzlement of tens of thousands of dollars from the Police Explorer Post he sponsored. His wife Melodie was indicted for her own alleged role in the scandal.  As evidence, police noted massive expenditures at local coffee shops, a movie theatre, health clubs, adult entertainment and dating sites, and payments on a student loan. 

But in a court filing which is scheduled for a hearing Tuesday, Gliniewicz’s attorneys say they have personally visited the establishments where Fox Lake Police Explorer Funds were spent. 

“Specifically, the (evidence) lists hundreds of transactions at Starbucks, the Fox Lake Theatre, and health clubs,” the court filing states.  “Yet no one from Starbucks, the theatre, or the health club can identify defendant Melodie Gliniewicz as ever being in the business, or using the Fox Lake Police Explorer funds to make any purchases.” 

Indeed, while the manager of Lindenhurst Health and Fitness did state that Melodie Gliniewicz had a $175 membership, the operations director there stated that Joe Gliniewicz bought a gift card in the same amount on Christmas Eve of 2013, with no evidence that Melodie actually spent any funds there herself. 

Likewise, the manager of the Volo Starbucks stated that while she remembered seeing Joe Gliniewicz, she never recalled seeing his wife in her store.  And a local salon stated that while the police lieutenant frequently visited for body waxes, “Melodie Gliniewicz never visited the salon.” 

But the defense did not stop there.  In the same filing, attorneys floated the theory that Joseph Gliniewicz may have merely “parked” his own personal funds in the Explorer accounts, raising the possibility that any purchases he made for personal use were not improper. 

“Charles J. Gliniewicz deposited large sums of his own money into the Fox Lake Explorers’ account,” they wrote.  “If he had claimed deductions on his income tax return as charitable contributions, a person of ordinary intelligence could easily conclude that these were charitable contributions…and no longer Charles J. Gliniewicz’s money.  However, that is not what happened in this case.” 

The lawyers attached Gliniewicz’s tax return, showing that he never took a deduction for nearly $27,000 of his own salary which he ordered directed to the Explorer accounts over five years, and another $32,000 from his personal retirement account in 2014. 

“Charles J. Gliniewicz did not claim these amounts as deductions,” they wrote.  “He merely ‘parked’ or ‘co-mingled’ his own funds into the Fox Lake Police Explorer account temporarily, and then ultimately used those funds for his own purposes.”

They do not state why Gliniewicz would have done that. 

“These actions certainly may seem foolish, but they are not the actions performed by defendant Melodie Gliniewicz;  in fact, the Village of Fox Lake had knowledge of the transfer of the amounts listed.” 

In summary, the Gliniewicz lawyers contend Melodie Gliniewicz is only facing prison because she’s the only person left associated with the case. 

“Because Charles J. Gliniewicz is deceased and can no longer be prosecuted,” they wrote, “the local law enforcement officials in this case are attempting to hold defendant Melodie Gliniewicz criminally responsible for the actions of Lt. Charles J. Gliniewicz.”

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