Algonquin Township Clerk filed report of alleged theft –

ALGONQUIN TOWNSHIP (ECWd) –

On June 29, 2018, Algonquin Township Clerk Karen Lukasik made a report of theft with the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department alleging theft of public records and the report names “Edgar Watch Blog” as a suspect.  Being named as a suspect in the alleged theft is laughable and considering the case was closed approximately 5 hours later on the same day it was taken we assume the Sheriff came to a similar conclusion.

In the complaint, she alleges, among other things, that we had posted a video on our website that was stolen from the township.

She names the Township as the victim.

Of interest to us, is the timeline of events and who is not named as a suspect, which would be the NorthWest Herald newspaper.

• On January 15, 2018, we posted a video from a security camera that was inside the Township building. (here)
• On January 19, 2018, the Northwest Herald posted the same video. (here)
• March 15 and 16, 2018, Township Attorney drafts letter to YouTube. (this article)
• We filed a sixteen count FOIA lawsuit against the Township on April 2, 2018. (here)
• April 4, 2018, Township Attorney reviews letter from YouTube and drafts response to that letter. (this article)
• April 5, 2018, Township Attorney reviews email from YouTube and responds via email. (this article)
• On June 29, 2018, Lukasik reported the alleged theft. (here)

So now we have to wonder if this theft complaint was some sort of retaliation for filing the FOIA lawsuit, or if it was because they were upset YouTube would not remove the video of her secretly going through files in the Supervisor’s office with another person looking through an employee’s desk.  Either way, why on earth did she wait 5 months to file this alleged theft of public records.

Whatever her reasoning, she was obviously not concerned that the NWH had published the same “stolen” video.

In our effort to educate local public officials we have a couple of suggestions for Ms. Lukasik.  The first is for her to resign as the redacted portions of this complaint are going to exposure her failures even further.  If that is not an option she is willing to exercise, then download the video from our web site and place it into your files.  That simple step ensures you have a copy of the public record you allege was stolen.

Did Lukasik file a false police report?  Stay tuned for a future update that may answer that question.

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