Woodstock Mayor Brian Sager at a City Council meeting on Tuesday said he sympathizes with residents who want police Sgt. Charles Amati fired, but that there is nothing more the city can do. (Scott Strazzante, Chicago Tribune / December 16, 2013)
 
By Dan Hinkel, Tribune reporter
February 9, 2014
Woodstock Mayor Brian Sager appeared to strain to hold back tears as he used words such as "disgust," "loathsome" and "betrayal" to describe his feelings about the behavior of a police officer who sent a sexually charged text message to a child.
Sager said he sympathized with residents who berated city officials over the decision to suspend Sgt. Charles "Chip" Amati for 30 days rather than seek his firing after he invited a 12-year-old girl to send him "sexy pictures" and misused a taxpayer-funded database to research his girlfriend.
Nonetheless, on Wednesday, the city announced that it had explored its options and determined what it can do to further punish the sergeant — nothing.
By state law, it isn't a small town's elected officials who discipline police but an appointed commission that considers a police chief's recommendation. Once the police and fire commission acted, lawyers said, council members were powerless to reverse an action that had been recommended by the city manager, police chief and other officials weeks before the general public learned of Amati's conduct.
If council members had wanted to give input on the discipline, they had a brief window of opportunity to talk with the city manager — whose job the city's elected officials control — before the sergeant was disciplined. While elected officials talked of seeking Amati's firing after he was suspended, it's not clear if any of them called for that before the issue exploded publicly.
The city's response to outraged constituents felt late and disingenuous, said Woodstock resident Tara Jenkins, the mother of a young girl.
"It seemed like they kind of thought they could just pull this over on us without us noticing," she said.
Though city officials have declared themselves done with the issue, political reverberations continue. While Amati was not charged with any crime, state Rep. Jack Franks, D-Marengo, cited the sergeant by name as he introduced a bill Thursday that would add years of potential prison time for people convicted of grooming children for abuse.
Meanwhile, emails obtained by the Tribune through an open records request show that police Chief Robert Lowen earlier in the controversy downplayed the accusation and tried to rally support for Amati, who was the department's spokesman until shortly after his suspension became public.
As anger churned among residents, Lowen told officers to "lift (Amati) up and get through this difficult time." Though Lowen said he didn't think Amati needed a mental health assessment or counseling, the chief responded to a woman's email by writing that he'd invited Amati to a function of a Christian ministry for police officers so the sergeant could "become familiar with more cornerstones of life."
City Council member Michael Turner said it would be "fair criticism" to say he failed to push hard enough for a role in determining Amati's fate. But Turner said he was displeased that he didn't first learn of the matter from city staff but via an email the girl's father sent to the entire City Council on Oct. 10. The chief learned of the issue in late August, he said. Turner said any effort by elected officials to have meaningful input into the discipline was impeded by hearing of the matter only 18 days before Amati was suspended.
Council member Julie Dillon said that had it been up to her, she'd have wanted Amati fired.
Council member Joseph Starzynski said he would not have wanted Amati fired, saying he once lost a job because of one casual, ill-advised comment.
Lowen and City Manager Roscoe Stelford have defended the suspension, describing the text as an isolated act. They've also noted that Amati, a 24-year veteran, was not charged with any crime, had a pristine disciplinary record and that 30 days is the maximum punishment allowed by law short of firing.
Asked if the council should have been alerted to the matter earlier, Stelford noted that a criminal investigation was in progress until shortly before the discipline was handed down.
"I don't believe the city has taken this lightly in any way," Stelford said.
The city has said the suspension will cost Amati about $10,000. A budget document had projected him to be one of the city's highest-paid workers, making about $93,000 in fiscal year 2014, not including any potential overtime payments. The chief said Amati has been serving his suspension intermittently at the department's discretion and has been off work several Fridays so far.
Lowen called in the Illinois State Police shortly after the girl's mother reported to authorities this summer that Amati, her onetime boyfriend, had sent her daughter a text message reading, "Send me some sexy pictures!" State police investigated, determining that Amati had also used the Law Enforcement Agencies Data System, or LEADS, to look up his former girlfriend, a police report said.
On Oct. 28, police and fire commissioners Ron Giordano and Lawrence Howell approved the suspension. A month later, the Tribune revealed Amati's discipline.
The chief responded by emailing his department to say, among other things, that there were "extenuating circumstances leading up to the sending of the one text message that offers an explanation of the questionable content."
Asked recently to explain the extenuating circumstances, Lowen said that Amati and the girl exchanged messages for months and the chief felt that when the sergeant said "sexy pictures," he wasn't asking for nude or sexually graphic photos.
The chief said recently that he wanted the department to act "in support of (Amati) rather than jumping on the bandwagon of bashing him like the press has been doing."
Lowen responded to a woman who emailed to complain, quoting Bible verse, by calling Amati's act a "mistake in judgment." He also wrote that he invited the sergeant to attend a function held by the Fellowship of Christian Peace Officers, of which the chief said he is a member. Lowen said Amati declined the offer.
Amati, his attorney and police and fire commissioner Howell could not be reached for comment. Giordano declined to comment, as did the mayor and several city council members.
Some residents planned to meet Saturday to brainstorm next steps, said Erin Sahlberg of Woodstock. The issue could play into future elections, she said.
Asked about the city's declaration that the matter is closed, Jenkins responded, "Says who?"
dhinkel@tribune.com