ISP responds to FOIA request (Dalby)

The response to my September 14th FOIA request to the Illinois State Police was received in today’s mail.

In my request I asked for documentation that would reveal the names of deputies of the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department who had possession of the flash drive onto which Dalby had transferred files from a computer in the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s office during her employment there or the information thereon.

The Illinois State Police Investigative Report dated November 26, 2007, of Sgt. Jim Harris and Special Agent Kristin Thien included Dalby’s remark that she had been advised in October 2007 that “…an african-american (sic) male who worked for the McHenry County Sheriffs Police Department by the name of “Cooper” now know as Michael Cooper would be stopping by her apartment to retrieve the flash drive…”

Dalby’s handwritten voluntary statement on November 26, 2007, includes “…the flash drive was given to a Mr. Cooper, I believe that was his name, he was a black man that was probably about 6 foot tall. I was told he had worked at one time for the Sheriff’s Department.”

The Illinois State Police obtained a wiretap order from McHenry County Judge Michael Caldwell, for the period January 22, 2008, until February 22, 2008.

On March 20, 2008, at about 4:40PM, ISP Sgt. Jim Harris and Special Agent T. Redic conducted a “state court authorized consensual, telephonic overhear” of a telephone call from Dalby to Cooper. The transcription of that call, in summary, is that Dalby informed Cooper that she had been contacted by the State Police. Cooper asked several times if Dalby had a name of the State Police investigator, and she told him that she thought it was Harris.

Cooper told Dalby that he still had the flash drive “as evidence” and told Dalby to give his (phone) number to the State Police. He added, “And then they can contact me directly, since I was a prior State Police. I should know who they are.”

Another ISP report, dated June 26, 2008, states that Sgt. Jim Harris spoke with Michael Cooper by telephone about a future meeting. Cooper told Sgt. Harris he had done nothing wrong and would be willing to speak with him on July 8, 2008.

Sgt. Harris’s report continued, “Cooper stated he was in possession of a thumb drive containing information that was downloaded out of the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office which he had locked up in a safety deposit box. R/A (Reporting Agent/Sgt. Harris) asked Cooper to bring the thumb drive with him the day of the meeting which Cooper agreed to surrender over.”

The FOIA response did not include any further mention of a meeting with Cooper.

An ISP report dated February 8, 2009, described a telephone call earlier that day which Dalby received from Rebecca Lee, with whom she had worked at the State’s Attorney’s Office. Lee told Dalby that she was Kristen Foley’s defense attorney on an unknown matter and told Dalby that a grand jury subpoena had been issued for Michael Cooper and James P. Kelly. Lee wanted to meet with Dalby, but Dalby told Sgt. Jim Harris that she did not anticipate ever calling" (Lee back).

The transcript of the Dalby sentencing hearing on June 1, 2009, includes the following statement by Special Prosecutor David O’Connor, “By way of additional aggravation, the flash drive that the Defendant (Dalby) gave the off-duty Sheriff’s Deputy that contained all the State’s Attorney computer data has now according to that off-duty Sheriff’s Deputy has allegedly been lost.”

Is Cooper the “Sheriff’s Deputy” mentioned by O’Connor? Is Cooper a deputy sheriff or is he employed by the Sheriff’s Department in another capacity? What happened to the flash drive that Cooper had in his safety deposit box?