‘It puts an end to this chapter in Fox Lake’s history’: Gliniewicz widow to get $1 million after settlement
The widow of disgraced late Fox Lake police Lt. Joe Gliniewicz will receive a roughly $1 million settlement resolving a long-running legal fight over survivor’s pension benefits, according to village officials.
The village of Fox Lake and the Fox Lake Police Pension Board jointly agreed to pay the settlement to Melodie Gliniewicz, marking the final chapter in a protracted financial dispute.
Negotiations had been ongoing since spring of 2023, village officials said. The village and police pension boards granted final approval of the agreement on Nov. 22, 2024.
Fox Lake Mayor Donny Schmit signed the agreement on Nov. 26, 2024, according to a Thursday news release in response to Freedom of Information Act requests.
Schmit said Thursday the police pension board will pay much of the settlement amount and the village will contribute the remainder.
“This has been going on for quite a while,” Schmit said. “It could have been a lot more money potentially. It puts an end to this chapter in Fox Lake’s history. After consulting with the attorneys it was in the best interest of the village to end the matter to avoid potential future costs.”
Under the terms of the settlement, the village and pension board eliminated the risk of an adverse ruling, the cost of attorney’s fees, and reduced the cost of the survivor’s pension by potentially millions of dollars, according to Thursday’s statement.
Joe Gliniewicz staged his own death on Sept. 1, 2015, to appear as if he'd been gunned down in the line of duty to head off revelations that he'd been stealing money from the police youth program, according to authorities.
A subsequent investigation determined he misused charitable funds from the Fox Lake Police Explorer Post 300's checking account from about 2009 to April 2015, officials said. He used the account’s funds for personal expenses, including a trip to Hawaii that cost about $8,000, made out more than $1,000 in checks to his family members, and paid for pornographic and adult dating websites, according to authorities.
Gliniewicz had the village pay a portion of his police department salary directly into the first Fox Lake Explorer post checking account, an amount eventually totaling $26,800, investigators said. He also worked out a deal under which the village deposited $32,000 from his retirement fund into the Explorer account as a loan that he would use and then pay back in $606.82 monthly installments.
Shortly after the village deposited the money, Gliniewicz used the Explorer account to pay about $15,000 in student loan debt and began planning for the Hawaii trip, according to financial documents reviewed by the Daily Herald at the time.
In April 2022, a Lake County judge sentenced Melodie Gliniewicz to 24 months of probation after she pleaded guilty to a felony charge of deceptive practices in connection with the financial misdeeds of her late husband.
“This has been a difficult chapter for our village,” Schmit said. “While we cannot change the past, we can choose a path forward that brings closure and represents a prudent financial decision for the village. This agreement does just that, and we are ready to focus on the continued growth and well-being of our community.”