Is Slick in trouble?

On September 14th the Northwest Herald reported on a criminal case in McHenry County Circuit Court involving a detective's sexual relations with a confidential information. The case involves that, but it is not a criminal charge in the case at-hand.

The confidential informant (C.I.), described as the defendant's fiancee but not identified by name in the article, allegedly set up her boyfriend, the defendant, and was in heavy communication with the detective, whom she called by the nickname "Slick" when the Narcotics Task Force showed up at the house.

What kind of trouble did the boyfriend end up in? Trouble may be too light a word here, because the relationship between the C.I. and the detective allegedly took an improper and unprofessional turn shortly after the cops came calling.

Maybe it even took an illegal turn and at least one in serious conflict with established rules, maybe even General Orders at the McHenry County Sheriff's Department. Even the most unknowledgeable person will tell you that a detective needs to keep his distance from Trouble. A detective is not supposed to engage in sexual relations with a C.I.

Ya think that might hurt a case? Do you?

Court documents include "Some of Novak’s contact with Fiance was sexual in nature and relayed over phone calls or text messages on his department-issued cellphone.”

OK, how many phone calls on his MCSD cell phone? How many text messages on his MCSD cell phone?

Was it trouble for the woman (the C.I.) to call Det. Jason Novak "Slick" in the presence of the Narcotics Task Force team? Didn't any of them wonder about the familiarity being shown between Slick and the C.I.?

How harshly did Sheriff Nygren deal with Slick? Come on now; this is more than a little transgression, isn't it?

Nygren gave Slick ten days off without pay. But Slick might have picked up some serious over-time (at time-and-a-half pay) to reduced the impact on his income. Why did Nygren and Zinke allow that? Is that how they take care of a transgressor? But maybe they didn't... you know how rumors are...

Nygren also moved Slick (the paper called it "demoted") from his assignment as a narcotics detective back to patrol. Nygren told the reporter, “It would have been easy for us to cut the guy some slack, but we didn’t do that here.”

No slack? I wonder how Keith defines "slack" for Slick.

How much time should pass after a C.I.'s involvement in a case, before a detective and she become "romantic"? Should a period of months pass? Ask yourself this: how much time should pass before a lawyer has sex with a client whose divorce he handled? How much time should pass before a therapist has sex with a client who is no longer in treatment? How long should a kid be out of school before having sex with her teacher?

Certainly more time than passed in this case! The sexual involvement of the detective and the C.I. will probably ruin this case. How can the State think otherwise?

Will anything else be coming out in regard to this case or the parties involved?

Judge Prather will rule on October 18 whether Deputy Jason Novak's disciplinary records should be released by the Sheriff's Department. That should be interesting!