Lisle Illinois officials want to fire a former police officer of the year after allegations surfaced that he made numerous illegal background checks for a school district and worked a private job when he should have been at Lisle High School or home on sick leave, records show.
Officer Brett Lauten, a 10-year veteran of the force, was suspended without pay after a Lisle Fire and Police Board meeting Nov. 7.
The Police Department liaison at Lisle High School from 2004 through at least 2007, Lauten also has worked as a private security guard for the Olive Trees Condominium Association in Naperville since 2005, according to an administrative complaint released to the Tribune under the Freedom of Information Act.
Lauten, 32, of Naperville, referred questions to his attorney, Richard Reimer, who declined to comment.
The officer's "egregious" actions make up "a pattern of continuing misrepresentation" that calls "into question Officer Lauten's honesty and integrity," according to the complaint, filed by Police Chief Michael Damico.
Lauten did background checks on behalf of Lisle School District 202 personnel through a state police database that legally can only be used for law-enforcement purposes, according to the complaint. Through Lauten, district personnel used the database as a "back door" way of quickly checking on people working for the district, coming into school buildings or contracting with the district.
Records showed that Lauten ran 91 such checks, although when questioned by police officials, he claimed to have made 8 to 10.
"Lauten circumvented ... state law" and helped district employees shirk "their legal obligations to the children attending their schools," the complaint states.
Use of the database bypassed a slower method of checking fingerprints that state law requires school districts to follow.
Lauten called in sick "numerous days" that he worked as a security guard for the condo association, adding up to almost four weeks in 2006 alone, according to the complaint. He was paid for the sick days and for work by the condo association, as well as for working at the high school and the condo complex at the same time, the complaint states.
Damico and Lisle High School Principal Ron Logeman declined to comment. Lisle Community Unit School District 202 officials did not return calls for comment Friday.
The Fire and Police Board must hold a hearing on the charges within 30 days.
The allegations regarding the state database have been referred to state police for investigation. In the past, the DuPage County state's attorney's office has filed criminal charges in similar cases, a spokesman said.
Lauten was one of two police officers of the year in Lisle in 2005 and honored in 2000 along with another officer for saving a man's life after the man had a heart attack, according to news reports
Posted by Pebi Services President Tyra Hearns
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