Tribune photo illustration
Tribune photo illustration (Nancy Stone / Chicago Tribune)
 
By Dan HinkelTribune reporter
4:34 p.m. CST, February 5, 2014
Declaring plans to move past an issue that has stoked anger among Woodstock residents, city officials have announced they will take no further action against a police sergeant who text messaged a 12-year-old girl and told her to send him “sexy pictures.”
Criticism engulfed city officials after the public learned that Sgt. Charles “Chip” Amati, 48, had been suspended without pay for 30 days rather than being fired. The city’s elected officials promised to examine their remaining options with city staff — including seeking to fire Amati, a 24-year veteran officer and one of the city’s highest-paid employees.
Under Illinois law, however, a small town’s elected officials don’t discipline police. That job falls to appointed police and fire commissioners who consider a police chief’s recommendation. Woodstock’s commissioners suspended Amati before the Tribune revealed the sergeant’s conduct in late November and controversy erupted. Lawyers said a city can’t further discipline an officer once commissioners have acted.
A news release Wednesday from City Manager Roscoe Stelford said, “Based on the facts of the case … the policies in place and the extensive discussions, it was determined that no further disciplinary action is legally possible, and no further consideration of the issue will be undertaken by the city council or city staff.”
The girl’s parents, who the Tribune is not naming to avoid identifying their daughter, both voiced disgust with the city. The father said he’s certain he’d lose his job under similar circumstances, and he doesn’t have the powers of a police officer.
“There’s a double standard for cops,” he said. “It’s hypocrisy.”
Authorities learned of the matter from the girl’s mother, who said she dated the sergeant. She said she alerted authorities after her daughter showed her a text message sent Aug. 19Ö that read, “Send me some sexy pictures!” according to copies of the messages obtained by the Tribune.
Illinois State Police found that Amati also misused a taxpayer-funded database to research his girlfriend, according to a police report. Amati told investigators he knew officers weren’t allowed to use the Law Enforcement Agencies Data System (LEADS) for personal research because he coordinated the use of the database for Woodstock police, the report shows.
City officials noted in the news release that prosecutors have never charged Amati with anything, and a 30-day suspension is 30 suspension days is the maximum punishment allowed short of firing. City officials have said the text message was an isolated act.
Legal opinions differ on what non-law enforcement uses of the database could be crimes, but Illinois State Police say that using the database for personal reasons can lead to official misconduct charges, a class three felony. Civil rights advocates consider the misuse of the system an invasion of privacy and an abuse of power.
The city’s news release says the Woodstock city staff determined that official misconduct has generally been charged in Illinois in cases where the system was used to further a separate crime, and there’s no evidence that is how Amati used the system.
Amati has been relieved of his duties coordinating the database and serving as the department’s spokesman. He is currently serving his suspension days intermittently at the department’s discretion, the chief said.
dhinkel@tribune.com | Twitter: @dhinkel