Kane County deputy gets pretrial diversion on cocaine charge
This has been updated with a response from Sheriff Ron Hain denying he and Sgt. Aaron Feiza worked together in a drug unit. Feiza's rank has also been added.
A Kane County sheriff's deputy charged with possessing cocaine has been granted pretrial diversion.
Sgt. Aaron Feiza, 47, was admitted to the program on Aug. 1, according to court records.
In pretrial diversion, a person pleads guilty to the charge and then is assigned to a special court program - in this case, a felony drug program. If the person completes the tasks required by the court, the conviction is removed from the person's record.
Feiza was charged in December 2019 with one felony count of possession of a controlled substance. The Illinois State Police and the North Central Narcotics Task Force investigated the case. He has been on paid administrative leave since August 2019, when the state police notified Sheriff Ron Hain they were investigating Feiza.
Republican Jeff Bodin, who is running against Democrat Hain in the November election, criticized the paid administrative leave Wednesday in a Facebook post in which he called Feiza Hain's "previous drug-unit buddy."
Hain said he and Feiza never served in the drug unit at the same time. Hain said when he became supervisor of the unit in 2014, Feiza had already been reassigned.
Bodin criticized Feiza's continuing to receive a salary while on suspension. The county's 2020 wages and compensation report indicates Feiza was paid $118,191 in regular and specialty pay that year.
Hain said Thursday that lawyers advised him to put Feiza on paid leave through the conclusion of the diversion, which ends in August 2023. After that, the sheriff's department can begin administrative proceedings to decide whether to keep Feiza, he said.
Hain said he has also forwarded information about the case to the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board so the board can review Feiza's certification.
Before being elected sheriff, Hain was a deputy. He specialized in drug investigations.
Feiza has been a Kane County deputy since 2004. In 2018, he served on the county's Heroin Task Force.