Ferak: Didn't Channahon Learn From Drew Peterson Blunders?

JOLIET, IL — Last week's important court ruling by a long-time federal judge out of Chicago in the Samantha Harer deprivation of civil rights case caught me by surprise. I was in Branson, Missouri, on vacation, and the timing of the judge's ruling was unexpected, even to the lawyers.

All in all, it was a major victory for people rooting for the family and friends of late Plainfield WESCOM emergency dispatcher Samatha Harer.

In summary, longtime U.S. District Judge Robert Gettleman rejected Channahon's attempt to block Attorney Jennifer Bonjean from adding Channahon's chief of police, deputy chief and lead detective as co-defendants to her still-developing police cover-up lawsuit.

So far, Channahon village administrator Tom Durkin and part-time mayor Missey Moorman Schumacher have chosen to distance themselves from the case. They've relied upon their municipal law firm, Mahoney, Silverman & Cross of Joliet, to litigate the case.

Mahoney, one of Joliet's oldest private law firms, has now lost two major court rulings, back to back, in U.S. District Court this year. The losing attorney on the case for Channahon continues to be James Murphy, whose bio is here.

What's interesting to note is that more people are feeling liberated to speak freely and share their own opinions about the controversial case. Monday's Joliet Patch article summarizing the lawsuit ruling may have been my most popular read on the Samantha Harer case in many months.

Monday's Joliet Patch article already has topped 1,000 Facebook Likes, and the vast majority are not siding with the Channahon Police administration or with the Will County police officer they are accused of covering up for, Crest Hill's Felipe "Phil" Flores.

Here's a few of the comments from readers:

• "I hope that Samantha's parents get justice for her. Ever since I started following, this red flag went up. Just reading about it I see the investigation was way off path. The Channahon Police Department is a embarrassment to the residents of Channahon."
• "Some of these police departments are as crooked as the Chicago PD. Power trips and the fact that Will County tries to protect itself just causes more costs and lack of control when it hits the fan. Shades of Peterson are showing up again."
• "I see none of Flores' friends are on here defending him any longer."

Because of last week's federal judge's ruling, Channahon Chief Shane Casey, Deputy Chief Adam Bogart and Detective Andrew "Andy" McClellan, all stand accused of covering up Samantha Harer's murder.

And she was someone they all personally knew. Before working as a 911 dispatcher for WESCOM in Plainfield, Harer was a University of St. Francis criminal justice graduate who had been a college intern with the Channahon Police force.

On the other hand, Flores was a local brother in blue. He was one of their guys.

Moving forward, thanks to the federal judge's ruling, Bogart, Casey and McClellan should now expect their professional law enforcement reputations to undergo rigorous public scrutiny.

They should not blame me for their mess, or civil rights attorney Jennifer Bonjean, or U.S. District Judge Gettleman, or Samantha Harer's parents Kevin and Heather Harer.

They should blame themselves. They put themselves in this position.

I can tell you from experience of covering similar high-profile police misconduct cases, that it's highly unlikely that all three men will emerge unscathed.

If things continue to go south, someone with Channahon's Police Department will be the designated fall guy, perhaps Detective McClellan, but that remains to the seen.

I could be way off, and Jennifer Bonjean, the Harer family's lawyer, who is in Brooklyn, is still early in her legal discovery process.

"Each of these defendants have engaged in conduct that has hindered the Plaintiffs’ ability to obtain adequate, effective and meaningful judicial access," Bonjean argues. "Casey, Bogart, and McClellan declared Samantha’s death a suicide on day one of the investigation and told Plaintiffs that Samantha died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound the day she died."

Harer, only 23, died from a single gunshot wound to the side of her head while she was completely in the nude and while her estranged boyfriend, Crest Hill Police Officer Felipe "Phil" Flores, was inside her small Channahon apartment.

McClellan was appointed by Casey and Bogart to be their lead detective and he began informing others on the day of her death that this was a suicide.

"Casey, Bogart, and McClellan ignored evidence that Flores had been abusive to Samantha and that he routinely confiscated her phone to monitor her communications with other men, including another officer from a neighboring jurisdiction who Flores was jealous of," the lawsuit alleges.

"The proposed complaint alleges that Samantha Harer was shot to death by her boyfriend, Felipe 'Phil' Flores. Flores, a police officer for the Town of Crest Hill, often accused Samantha of cheating on him with other police officers and routinely confiscated her cell phone to see who she was talking to. His jealousy led to Samantha’s death," Bonjean informed the federal judge.

Incidentally, two weeks ago, I visited the downtown Joliet Public Library researching old newspaper articles on Joliet's now-shuttered Caterpillar plant. While I was there, I got to thinking, I wonder how my predecessor covered another suspicious death surrounding a local police officer?

Sure enough, I found Joe Hosey's original article, from The Joliet Herald-News newspaper.

Hosey did an excellent job on his first-day coverage of the March 1, 2004 death of Bolingbrook resident Kathleen Savio, although his story headlined, "Bolingbrook Woman Found Dead In Home" got buried on page 5 of the newspaper; likely meaning few people read it.

As I suspected, Savio's death — just like the Feb. 13, 2018, death of Samantha Harer — was treated the same way by the police of Will County.

But don't take me at my word. Here are quotes from one of Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar's closest confidants, Tom Ross, who retired in October 2017 from his post as public safety director.

In the March 3, 2004 Herald-News article, then-Bolingbrook Police Sgt. Tom Ross told Hosey that the Bolingbrook Police Department contacted the nearby Illinois State Police, on Route 53, "to conduct the investigation just so there's no appearance of impropriety. This is being treated as a tragedy in his family," Ross remarked, regarding Sgt. Drew Peterson. "She is the mother of his children and our prayers are with his family and his children."

Secondly, if you visit LinkedIn, you can find the impressive online resume for now-retired Illinois State Police Lt. Larry Brouk.

He led the criminal investigations unit on Route 53, although as far as Brouk was concerned, Savio's death in her bathrub in the midst of her contentious divorce from Drew Peterson was not a criminal investigation of any sort.

"At this point, I don't even consider this a homicide," Brouk commented.

So there you go.

In retrospect, one could argue that Sgt. Tom Ross and Lt. Larry Brouk's indifference toward Savio's murder in 2004 was responsible for leading to Stacy Peterson's disappearance and likely murder in October 2007.

Twelve years later, Stacy Peterson's body has never been found. Drew Peterson is now in federal prison for the murder of Savio.

In October 2017, Ross retired as public safety director for Bolingbrook.

“Tom has faithfully served the village for three decades, and has done an outstanding job during his time as Director. Both the Police and Fire Departments have stronger relationships throughout our diverse community thanks to his committed engagement with all our residents. The Trustees and I are grateful for his dedication and leadership," Mayor Claar's long press release noted.

In 2018, Channahon Village Administrator Tom Durkin and Village President Missey Moorman Schumacher gave Channahon's Police Department the benefit of the doubt when it came to handling the death of Samantha Harer, whose death was classified as a suicide on day one.

And yet Crest Hill Officer Flores had gunshot residue on his sweatshirt, plus on his right hand and he had blood spatter on his sweatshirt, according to lab reports at the Illinois State Police in Chicago.

In the Drew Peterson case, nobody at Bolingbrook's Police Department and nobody in Claar's administrator was targeted for public corruption.

But now, to the detriment of Channahon, the Harer family's lawyer has the benefit of perspective. Bonjean can use Bolingbrook Police Sgt. Drew Peterson's murder case as context as she aims to prove her police cover-up case, just 20 miles up the road, along I-55.

"Casey and McClellan falsely told Plaintiffs that Flores was negative for gunshot residue and that Samantha was positive for gunshot residue. McClellan falsely told an analyst for the Illinois State Police that Flores had rendered aid to Samantha to abolish the significance of blood splatter on his clothing. Casey and Bogart falsely suggested that toxicology reports of Samantha Harer pointed toward suicide," Bonjean argues.

Things are not looking good for Channahon right now.

As we all know, desperate times mean desperate measures. A phone call to Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar for legal advice may be long overdue.

A Joliet native and former investigative reporter and editor with USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin, John Ferak is Patch Editor for Joliet, and Patch coverage for Shorewood and Channahon-Minooka.