Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Corrections officer quits

On July 28 I wrote about two corrections officers who were in hot water at the McHenry County Correctional Facility (Jail). One of them was charged, and the Northwest Herald reported that Elias Dario Fortoso, 29, was charged with battery and official misconduct for alleged inappropriate conduct with female inmates.

The second corrections officer (jailer) has resigned. Looks like the guess that the last name started with B was pretty close.

8 comments:

Support the police said...

Actually he resigned when this all happened. And yes you were close with B. However I'm not sure why he didn't have any criminal charges against him like Fortoso did?

Gus said...

That would be a really good question for the people in charge. Unfortunately, they'll never answer it.

Unknown said...

These 2 officers work afternoon shift. Apparently, almost all serious problems of harassment to both inmates & other officers occur on this shift. As usual the lieutenant on this shift refuses to accept any responsibility for her "out of control" shift. Does anyone in the upper positions over there ever take responsibility for their command?

Gus said...

Mike, that's a rhetorical question; right? There is a captain there who is supposed to be responsible. Then there is an undersheriff. Then there is the sheriff.

What kind of supervisor is the afternoon lieutenant? Is her shift "out of control", as you say?

Will a lawyer be filing a lawsuit against these two jailers, all the command personnel named above, and the Department and the County for the "emotional trauma" inflicted on the female inmate who reportedly was forced to touch Corrections Officer Fortoso in the vicinity of (what did Sheriff Nygren call it?) his "sex organ"?

Unknown said...

I hear that the afternoon lieutenant is a tyrant who blames everyone else while taking no responsiility herself for her shift. Must be nice to make $90,000 plus & have no worries or cares. I also hear that there is always someone on her shift in trouble while she is oblivious.
I would have to think the Fortoso case would end up in civil court.

lovethebears66 said...

Call me crazy but I am of the opinion that these officer are “out of control”. Where today can anyone with a high school diploma start with a salary of $40,660 and work towards 68,868 annually. Not to mention that the county does not require experience and these officers get 5 weeks PAID training. What about the benefits? They get medical, dental, and life insurance. 10 PAID Holidays, 3 PAID personal days. That with the vacation they have over 18 paid days off a year to START.



Are we seriously going to blame the Lieutenant for the actions of her subordinates? According to the Daily Herald on July 28, 2009 this officer was IMMEDIATELY placed on leave and an investigation was started. Also according to that same article this officer had no previous disciplinary action. How are the “upper positions” supposed to anticipate that one of their officers is going to get “out of control”?



It appears that the Lieutenant responded immediately. What more could she have done? Aren’t these “out of control” officers protected by their union? As for the other serious issues doesn’t that require that the Lieutenant have to take several steps before termination of reckless, immature, and careless officers?



It is high time that everyone stopped blaming and started taking personal responsibility for their actions. All of the officers at the jail need to remember how fortunate they are to have such a good job that starts out making over $20.00 per hour. At my place of employment we have zero tolerance for sexual harassment, drugs, drug and alcohol abuse, all the way down to using the internet. We sign an agreement up front that if we are guilty of any of the above that is grounds for immediate dismissal. Maybe the Sheriff should implement that policy and the "out of control" officers would no longer be employed.

Unknown said...

lovethebears66, I agree with you that the officers involved need to be held accountable.
The primary duty of those officers is the safety and security of the inmates entrusted to them and their fellow officers.
Those who prey on inmates, who abuse their power and believe they can do whatever they want need to be weeded out and held responsible.
At this juncture, nothing has been done by the lieutenant in charge of this shift to accomplish this.
I have been assured the other lieutenants are much more cognizant of those under their command and get involved with the daily running of the jail.
Members of the afternoon shift are constantly under investigation.
My question to the lietenant in question is "Why don't you know what is occurring on your shift?"
Sheriff Nygren does not need command staff who have their "hands of the wheel." People who merely show up to collect a check are useless and in this case will ultimately cost the County a great deal of money.
I don't wish to beat a dead horse with this but when will someone please stand up and take responsibility for their command?

GeneL said...

It's hard to run a department by cellphone from another state.