McHenry County prosecutor sues those who prosecuted him

McHenry County prosecutor sues those who prosecuted him


By Robert McCoppin

Tribune reporter
3:22 PM CST, January 18, 2012

McHenry County’s top prosecutor filed suit today against the attorneys who unsuccessfully prosecuted him on corruption charges, accusing them of engaging in a politically and financially motivated conspiracy to remove him from office.

The federal suit by State’s Attorney Louis Bianchi and his former co-defendants claims the conspiracy was initiated by Bianchi’s political enemies to fabricate false criminal charge that he used his office for political purposes, despite a lack of credible evidence.

The suit further asserts that the special prosecutors and their investigators concealed exculpatory evidence, presented perjured testimony, and engaged in “gross investigative and prosecutorial misconduct.”

Bianchi, his administrative assistant Joyce Synek, and state’s attorney investigators Ronald Salgado and Michael McCleary claim defamation, emotional distress and financial damages. They are seeking more than $1 million in damages.

The civil suit was filed against Henry “Skip” Tonigan III, a former judge in Lake and McHenry counties, former federal prosecutor Thomas McQueen, five investigators, the investigative firm Quest Consultants International of Oak Brook and Tonigan’s law firm, Kelleher and Buckley, of North Barrington.

Tonigan and McQueen were appointed as special prosecutors in 2009 to investigate allegations that Bianchi had used his office workers and computers to track political campaign fundraising efforts. Bianchi and Synek were indicted on charges related to those allegations in 2010.

In 2011, Bianchi was indicted again on charges he tried to fix criminal cases for connected defendants. Salgado and McCleary were also indicted on charges resulting from that investigation.

All the defendants were acquitted or had charges dismissed last year by Winnebago Circuit Court Judge Joseph McGraw, who found the charges significantly lacking in evidence and on legal grounds.

McQueen and Robert Scigalski, president of Quest, declined comment.

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