While corruption is certainly a problem across the entirety of our nation, Illinois in particular seems to have struggled with it since its inception as a state. Most recently, the Supreme Court decided to reject former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich's appeal of his conviction on corruption charges, which included an attempt to sell a position in the US Senate. Former CEO of the Chicago Public School system Barbara Byrd-Bennett was convicted just last year for negotiating school contracts to ensure millions of dollars in kickbacks for herself. A thorough and enlightening investigation by the Chicago Sun-Times recently uncovered excessive corruption within Chicago's United Neighborhood Organization, a group that uses public funding to manage a network of charter schools for the city's low-income students. The publication found evidence of a spending spree that included a $600,000 donation to a lobbying firm and over $88,000 spent on "employee training" at Disney Resort Destinations.
On a smaller scale, corruption in the justice system is rife at both the state and local levels. For a sobering example of this, one has to look no further than the twisted history of Carbondale, Illinois. Carbondale is a relatively small city, with a population of about 26,000. Despite its size, Carbondale is one of the most dangerous cities in Illinois, and has arguably the worst relationship between its police force and its citizens. A resident of Carbondale has a 1 in 171 chance of being a victim of a violent crime. In a 2014 article about the most dangerous places in Illinois, Carbondale was recorded as having 2 murders, 35 rapes, 48 robberies, and more than 200 assaults so far that year--overwhelming numbers considering the number of total residents. It's important to consider that those numbers only reflect the number of reported crimes. Carbondale is considered a college town, and it's a commonly accepted belief among its residents that many crimes are downplayed in an effort to keep attracting students. In 2014, there were 65 complaints of sexual abuse--many of them coming from Southern Illinois University. Of those 65 cases, only 5 were investigated. Why?
The answer, in my opinion, lies within the Carbondale Police Department--and largely with former Police Chief Jody O'Guinn. His long history of cover-ups and investigative missteps began in 2011 with the brutal death of 20-year-old Deaunta Spencer. Spencer was shot to death on June 14th by gang member Matthew J. Jones. The gun used to murder Spencer belonged to none other than Officer O'Guinn. Though he alleged his gun had been stolen, several citizens asserted that O'Guinn and Jones had been seen around town together on several occasions, and may have had some sort of friendship or underhanded dealings. Some credence was given to this idea when it came out that O'Guinn hadn't even reported the gun missing until June 20th--six days AFTER the murder. Even then, the report had allegedly been filed incorrectly and wasn't discovered until far after the fact. This raised serious questions about the timeline of events and how a report detailing a supposed gun theft could be misfiled in animal control complaints. O'Guinn's reputation never quite recovered from the scandal.
Chief O'Guinn was also largely instrumental in the mishandling of Molly Young's case, and was involved in the cover-up and protection of suspect Richie Minton. But that was not the last time he grossly mishandled a murder case. In February of 2014, 19-year-old Pravin Varughese went missing after accepting a ride from Gaege Bethune. Some sort of altercation between the two ensued, and Varughese fled the vehicle and escaped into the woods. His body was found five days later. O'Guinn told the public that the boy had frozen to death, and that there was absolutely no evidence of foul play. However, a second autopsy commissioned by the family showed otherwise. Esteemed Dr. Ben Margolis found that Varughese had been severely beaten, and blunt force trauma had contributed to his death. Varughese had noticeable bruises on his forehead and upper lip, and an abrasion on his nose. There were defensive wounds on his arms, including a laceration down to the bone of his right forearm. State Attorney Mike Carr stood by O'Guinn's version of events, alleging that Varughese had been intoxicated and had merely frozen to death--until the toxicology screen came back negative for alcohol. Carr was forced to admit that the leadership of the Carbondale Police force needed to be evaluated, and that the citizens of the community had come to largely distrust its officers. This was the final nail in Chief O'Guinn's coffin. He was dismissed from his position in August of that year; but to many residents, the damage has already been done.
Dee Cross, a 20-year police veteran and a former coworker of O'Guinn's, solely blames the former chief for low-morale within the department and the spawn of heavy distrust throughout the community. According to Cross, O'Guinn was rarely seen at headquarters, and when he was there, he was virtually inaccessible, instead locking himself away in his office. Performance standards set by O'Guinn amounted to nothing more than thinly-veiled quotas, and served to further fray relations between Carbondale's officers and its citizens. Similarly, O'Guinn had poor rapport with department employees, and despite his statements to the contrary, never tried to foster any personal relationships with them. Particularly after the alleged theft of his gun, there was a thick "atmosphere of distrust" among the officers. Cross was reported as saying in an interview after O'Guinn's dismissal:
"I will only say it is the general consensus of the officers that if one of us were placed in the exact same situation [with a lost/stolen weapon] we would no longer be a Carbondale Police Officer."
When news of O'Guinn's dismissal first broke, Carbondale was hopeful that real change within the justice system was coming. The members of Justice for Molly in particular were looking forward to seeing the investigation take on a new direction--but they are still waiting. The passing of Molly's Law was a huge victory, but there is still much ground left to gain. The CPD has yet to make real progress healing its relationship with the community. With corruption and nepotism permeating Illinois's justice system like a disease, police reform and the push for transparency is solely in the hands of the citizens.
