Coles Co. (ECWd) –
We published this article yesterday and outlined that we would update when we hear back from the entities referenced, Arcola and Mattoon.
After publication, the City of Matton, Illinois – Police Department Facebook page produced a post regarding our article, ending with this suggestion, which we agree with: “be leery what you read on social media.“
The following quote is from the post.
“The Edgar Co Watchdogs recently posted an article about one of our finest officers. They state they have reached out to MPD, however MPD has received no call, email, or FOIA from them. An email was sent to a member of the Edgar Co Watchdogs in an attempt to respond to these allegations against our officer however we have received no callback at this time.”
Remember, be leery of what you read on social media.
In regard to not receiving a call, they are correct. We have learned long ago that documentation is key, and a phone call cannot be recorded and tends to lead to a he said, she said, situation, thus no phone call. As far as a FOIA, there was no need to FOIA any records from Mattoon because the article in question dealt with Arcola’s letter, and we simply wanted to know what Mattoon knew about that letter.
At 10:19 AM, November 14, 2025, almost 5 hours before publication, this email, with the letter from Arcola, was in fact emailed to the Mattoon Police Department Administrative Clerk, the only email we were able to locate for the Police Department. Did they not receive it as claimed? I guess now we need to FOIA our email to them. We will note the other two people who were included in the distribution of the email as a bcc; both received it.
At 8:42 pm, the Chief of Police for Matton emailed me and informed me of the following:
“That is not my email. That is our Administrative assistants email who did not work today.”
Maybe if the Chief wanted people to be able to contact him by email, it would be published for the public to see, which it was not at the time of publication.
The Chief did confirm he was ‘very aware of the letter‘, which answers the very question I asked him.
We have now learned that the City of Matton has filed a motion to quash the letter in question. While we have not yet obtained the actual motion, we have been provided a copy of the response to the motion to quash, which is at this link or can be viewed below. We will update with another article once we receive the motion filed by Mattoon.
For those who have missed the point of this matter, we will clarify it.
The primary point of the original article is that public records appear to raise a credibility question about an officer, and such a record was not disclosed to the defendant in a criminal case. There is long-standing case law on such matters, and all citizens, including criminals, alleged and convicted, have a constitutional right to due process. Whether the rights of the person in this case have been violated or not will be determined in the courts.
We must note, I did specifically ask the Chief of Police the following:
Q: “Is the information in that letter false? If yes, which parts?”
A: “If you’re willing, you can call me. I’m more than happy to continue this conversation with you.”
Q: “If you’re not willing to answer a simple question in writing, there is no need for a conversation that has no record of what is actually said.”
A: “That’s because I’ve said all I’m going to say on the record, which is yes I knew of the letter. And no there was no violations that should’ve kept us from hiring him. Now, if you really want to know everything that transpired, you would call me man to man. If you don’t care and simply want to continue pushing a false narrative, go right ahead.”
If the information in the letter is not true, the Arcola Chief and Police Committee would have a real problem in our opinion. If the information in the letter is true, it clearly opens the door for a defendant to raise the question of the credibility of the officer. It would be up to a judge or jury to weigh that point when making a decision on the person’s guilt.
As it stands, Mattoon Police Chief will not go on the record regarding the claims of wrongdoing in the letter. As of publication, we have yet to get a single person to say that the things outlined in the letter are not true.
A question that now needs answering: If the letter is not true, why try to quash it?
One would think they would let the world know why it is false and how silly it would be for a defendant to want to use it in their defense strategy. It would be a chance for the prosecution to shore up the credibility of the officer. Trying to quash it appears to do just the opposite, in our opinion.
Response to Motion to Quash – Arcola PD leter
