The Forest View Double Dip

We have been quiet for a while and most thought that we were done.  We were working hard on a tip received to our blog email.  Since 2015, the Deputy Chief Salvador Rodriguez had been working as a Residency Investigations officer for the Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202.  Records from the school were only available for 2018 forward.  What we found was disturbing but not surprising.  Time cards submitted to the school district by Salvador Rodriguez show that Mr. Rodriguez was conducting school district business while on duty as a police officer and as a deputy chief for our village.  In our union world this is called “double-dipping”. But when you double dip with two taxpayer funded employers, it is a crime. Theft of government funds in Illinois is a FELONY when the theft is over $500.  We tallied up all the hours and Mr. Rodriguez was paid an extra $1,900.00 for working on school district business while on duty.  The village of Forest View paid out over $3,000 for the time Rodriguez used to work on district business.

We can see someone making an honest mistake on a submitted time card but this was not just one or two mistakes.  Oh no, in 2018 we found over 29 time submissions where Rodriguez was supposed to be in Forest View patrolling the village.  Could this explain why Salvador had no time to conduct background checks on his friends he hired?

Only two explanations for this are possible.  Rodriguez either submitted falsified time cards to the school district or Rodriguez was working for the district while on the clock in Forest View.

We think it is a little of both.  On February 20th and again on March 9th of 2018, Rodriguez submitted a time card to the school district with completely different information for the same pay period:

 

What we find interesting is that Rodriguez was scheduled to be in Forest View for a double overtime shift (16HRS) on February 13th, 2018. However according to the time sheets submitted by Rodriguez, he was working on school district casework and in the "field" on that day for 7 hours each. So Salvador put in for 14 hours for the same day when he was already on the BIG clock in Forest View. Furthermore, on February 16th, Rodriguez was scheduled to be on “investigations” in Forest View.  We would love to see if he checked out a vehicle that day to conduct his “investigations”.  Maybe someone should check the police blotter log, just don't snap pictures or make copies of them, people get fired for that kind of stuff.

At the time of this theft, Rodriguez was in the process of purchasing a new home on a single income household. The same home where he invited his closest friends, the police chief, Larry and select trustees for a housewarming party at the house they help him buy with his high dollar cash outs of overtime pay he was not entitled to. And of course some extra cash from the school district.

Usually an officer is immediately stripped of his police powers pending an investigation when accused of criminal wrongdoing such as FELONY THEFT.  However, Rodriguez remains on the job and is being protected by Larry Powell, Gary Wiseman and Mark Masciola.  Plenty of time and access to everything at the village police station to falsify more documents.  This is a case that can’t be investigated by the Forest View police since the investigator is the one being investigated. Not to mention, the other investigators are Salvador's friends.

Larry should contact the state’s attorney’s office so they can conduct an official criminal investigation.  No one at that department is qualified to do such a thing and it would also be a conflict of interest…. But we already know Larry and the gang don’t care about that. It will be handled the Forest View way.

We only know about 2018, we don’t doubt for one minute that this was going on since 2015. We are still working on that time period.

Ironic how the very person who wants to hold the rest of his officers accountable for their actions is now in the hot seat for his carefree money grabbing scheme. This is the same guy who gets warrants and locks people up for stealing a 12 pack of beer from the gas station worth $10. But it's okay for him to steal thousands from our village.

Don't worry Mr. Rodriguez, even though you would fire an officer for much less, Larry won't hold you accountable for your crimes. One would hope you do the right thing just like Jeff Tobolski. But we know you won't.

We should ask Larry what Metra does to employees who pad the time clock. This blog is all lies! Right Larry?

Looks like Sal's future records clerk should start filling out job applications, Mariano's needs some stock boys.

Integrity at it's finest. Only in Forest View.