[IL] Cook County Sheriff's Sgt. Mzorek's latest alcohol incident: Child endangerment

...[Cook County sheriff's deputy Kelly] Mrozek’s [3 year-old] son told a neighbor he had left his house through the garage door about 10 a.m. because his mother was vomiting and had fallen asleep on the couch... The neighbor called police, who went to Mrozek’s home and found her disoriented and an open bottle of vodka on the kitchen counter... her in-law is the director of operations for the Cook County sheriff...

SHERIFF'S DEPUTY SUSPENDED AFTER CHILD ENDANGERMENT CHARGE: Veteran employee was acquitted of indecency in 2006 hot-tub case
Chicago Tribune
By Andy Grimm
July 14, 2011
[Excerpts] A Cook County sheriff's deputy with a history of off-duty incidents allegedly involving alcohol was suspended with pay Wednesday after being charged last week with misdemeanor child endangerment, authorities said. Sgt. Kelly Mrozek was charged after her 3-year-old son was found wandering her Orland Park neighborhood June 11 wearing only underpants and flip-flops... Police found Mrozek in her home, apparently intoxicated and disoriented... A few hours after the boy was placed in the custody of his godparents, witnesses reported Mrozek pulled into the parking lot of a restaurant near her home in her marked squad car. She was behaving erratically and sat down inside "our (unlocked) car," a witness told a police dispatcher. Mrozek was taken to Silver Cross Hospital; sheriff's officers arrived and took her squad car... The veteran deputy was charged in 2006 with public indecency... When police arrived at her home around 10 a.m. June 11, Mrozek was nearly incoherent, a police report stated. Her son told police that he walked out the open garage door, and that his mother had been throwing up, then fell asleep on the couch, the report stated... On Dec. 10, a witness told police that Mrozek tried to enter a bar wearing pajamas and carrying her son. Police found her buckling the boy into the back seat of her car when they arrived, and they allowed her to call her father for a ride home, the report said. On Dec. 27, Mrozek called police to report her son was missing, then called back to say the boy was at day care, authorities said. When police arrived at her house, they noted she smelled of alcohol and was belligerent, the report said. Mrozek was not charged after either December incident. Sheriff's department spokesman Steve Patterson said Mrozek had been on medical leave until Wednesday and was placed on paid suspension. The department has called for a merit board hearing on her employment status, Patterson said. [Full article here]

SHERIFF’S OFFICER SUSPENDED, ACCUSED OF ENDANGERING KID
Southtown Star
By Mike Nolan
July 15, 2011
[Excerpts] A Cook County sheriff’s police officer from Orland Park has been suspended after another apparently alcohol-related incident involving police. Sgt. Kelly Mrozek, a sheriff’s officer since May 1994, faces a misdemeanor charge of endangering the life of a child after her 3-year-old son... Mrozek, 43, of 11037 Karen Drive, turned herself in to Orland Park police July 7 after going through an alcohol rehab program. Mrozek was suspended Wednesday, according to sheriff’s department spokesman Steve Patterson. He said she had been on medical leave since calling in sick June 11, which was a day she was scheduled to work... In the June 11 incident, Mrozek’s son told a neighbor he had left his house through the garage door about 10 a.m. because his mother was vomiting and had fallen asleep on the couch, according to Orland Park police. The neighbor called police, who went to Mrozek’s home and found her disoriented and an open bottle of vodka on the kitchen counter... The boy was released to family friends after the June 11 incident, and Orland Park police reported the case to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. Mrozek was released on bond and is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 10. Later on June 11, after Mrozek’s son had been taken away, sheriff’s police were called to 159th Street and Wolf Road to retrieve Mrozek’s squad car after she had driven to a nearby restaurant and got into a parked, unlocked car, Orland Park police said. The owner of the car didn’t recognize her and called police... [Cook County Sheriff's department spokesman Steve Patterson] said the merit board in May 2009 demoted Mrozek from lieutenant to sergeant and required her to complete a substance abuse program. Prior to her medical leave and suspension, Mrozek had been working as a sheriff’s patrol officer in the south suburbs... Patterson said that until sheriff’s police were contacted by Orland Park police last month, there was no indication of Mrozek being unable to perform her job. [Full article here]

EARLIER STUFF:

OFFICER'S HOT TUB ROMP HAS NEIGHBORS STEAMED
ABCLocal
By Kevin Roy
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
[Excerpts] A Cook County Sheriff's police officer is in hot water after she was spotted - out of uniform -- with a man in a backyard spa. Neighbors complained about the hot tub tryst and now both people are charged. They were caught in the act, in the middle of the day, in a hot tub that anyone could see from the sidewalk... "I saw her and her boyfriend doing it -- having sex," said [fifteen-year-old] neighbor Bobby Nash. "They were both naked, too, completely naked, and it was 4 o'clock, light out"... His mother did, too... Caught in the act, 38-year-old Kelly Mrozek, a lieutenant with the Cook County Sheriff's police, and her 22-year-old boyfriend, Mark Sumner. Both were charged Saturday with public indecency.... Bob Nash says he received an anonymous letter warning him that Kelly Mrozek is determined to destroy his family and saying she could get her brother-in-law, Paul O'Grady, to protect her. O'Grady is operations chief for the Cook County Sheriff's department. "She said, as long as Paul is in the position he's at, 'I don't have much to worry about,' " said Nash. But a spokesperson for the sheriff's department says Paul O'Grady 'has no role in it and wants nothing to do with it"
AND CLAIMS INTERNAL AFFAIRS OPENED AN INVESTIGATION INTO MROZEK A MONTH BEFORE SHE WAS CHARGED. THEY ARE INVESTIGATING OTHER ALLEGATIONS. ROBIN GARRETT SAYS THERE HAVE BEEN MANY INCIDENTS OVER THE YEARS BUT POLICE ALWAYS TURNED A BLIND EYE...
In the meantime, Mrozek is working a desk job; her gun and badge have been taken away... [Full article here]

NEIGHBORS TELL JUDGE ABOUT HOT-TUB SCENE INVOLVING SHERIFF'S COP
Chicago Tribune
By Hal Dardick
September 28, 2006
[Excerpts] Nakedness, drunkenness and lines of sight were debated Wednesday in a Will County courtroom at the trial of a Cook County sheriff's lieutenant accused of having daylight sex in a back-yard hot tub... The alleged act led to public indecency charges... If convicted, Mrozek and Sumner face a maximum of 1 year in jail but could receive probation... "Both had been drinking, were intoxicated to the point that the female had slurred speech," [Lockport Police Officer David Cullen, who responded] said... It was February before the Will County state's attorney's office filed charges. They came ... only after the Chicago Tribune began asking questions about the case. [Full article here]

2 FOUND NOT GUILTY IN HOT-TUB CASE
Chicago Tribune
By Hal Dardick
Sep 29, 2006. pg. 6
[Excerpts]
Saying a Cook County sheriff's lieutenant and her boyfriend did not knowingly make a display of their sexual frolic in a back-yard hot tub, Will County Judge Marilee Viola on Thursday found both not guilty of public indecency... Mrozek, 38, took the stand Thursday and contradicted the 14-year- old boy, his mother and another adult neighbor, who all testified a day earlier... While on the stand, Mrozek also said she was not drunk that day. A day earlier, a Lockport officer said he believed she was intoxicated. She was slurring her words and misapplied lipstick on her face, he said.... Mrozek and Sumner were charged in February, after an assistant to Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass started asking questions about the situation.
Chuck Pelkie, spokesman for Will County State's Atty. James Glasgow, said those questions triggered a review of the matter that led to the charges... [Full article here]

GRAB A LEAF AND SPREAD THE LOVE--OF TUBS
The Chicago Tribune
John Kass column
September 29, 2006
[Excerpts] ...[Will County Judge Marilee] Viola ruled that yes, there was sex in the tub, or something very much like sex, and that yes, the tubbers in the back yard on Treeline Drive in Lockport were probably drunk, and yes, the neighbor's kid and other neighbors saw everything. But they weren't meant to. Viola came up with a fascinating legal interpretation, and here's her theory: If you have sex in a place where people can see you, but you don't think they can see you, even if you worked in the vice division of the Cook County sheriff's police and you understand the law, it's not public indecency if it's your back yard and there might be some leaves on a tree nearby. So not guilty!... Parents might want to consider the advantages of having neighbors furiously engaged outside, just about the time the kids come home from school. The kids won't bother you for milk and cookies. They'll be busy watching. And at dinner, the kids won't bore Grandma to death with obscure references from their computer war games... They'll be intrigued by gymnastics, contortions and how long someone can hold their breath underwater... [Lt. Kelly Mrozek] said she graduated with honors from Lake Forest College and the police academy, but she made no mention of the fact her in-law is the director of operations for the Cook County sheriff... Mrozek said "Absolutely not" to almost everything, contradicting police testimony that she was intoxicated and the neighbors who said she wasn't bobbing for apples. The judge said she didn't believe Mrozek. Still, Viola found that prosecutors failed to prove that the Tub of Love was intentionally on display... [Full article here]

2 CLEARED IN HOT-TUB CASE SUE NEIGHBORS
chicago tribune
1/13/07
[Excerpts] A Cook County sheriff's lieutenant and her boyfriend filed a defamation lawsuit Friday against sheriff's officials and neighbors who accused them of having sex in a back-yard hot tub in 2005... They alleged that the defendants joined in a "scheme to maliciously harass Lt. Mrozek" and agreed to "do anything possible, including contacting the news media, to bring about criminal charges"... [Full article here]
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