From hero cop to crook

Lt. Charles Joseph Gliniewicz was a hero in September when he was killed while on duty for an Illinois city on the Wisconsin border.

In the case of Gliniewicz, the story today is, again, how we don’t know what we think we know.

Gliniewicz was no hero. He was a thief of the worst order, stealing from a youth policing program, his former colleagues acknowledged today. He stole thousands of dollars that he used for personal purposes, including mortgage payments, travel and adult websites.

Then he killed himself, making it look as though he was gunned down in the line of duty, prompting a search for “two whites and a black man.” Think of how many people fit that description.

“This is the first time as a law enforcement officer…that I’ve felt ashamed by the acts of another police officer,” Lake County Major Crime Task Force Cmdr. George Filenko told a news conference this morning.

Here are some more of his victims.