Chicago Tribune
LAKE ZURICH, Ill. — A former Lake Zurich police officer has been charged with setting fires in Algonquin and has been suspended from his government-funded job teaching child safety seat installation, officials said Monday.
Robert Brasky, 58, who won awards for his police work promoting safety before retiring from the Lake Zurich department after nearly 30 years on the job, has pleaded not guilty to two felony charges of arson and two misdemeanor counts of criminal damage to property.
Brasky is accused of setting fires to three trash receptacles at the Algonquin Town Center strip mall and to a mailbox in the 800 block of Applewood Lane in Algonquin, police said. The fires were all set from Aug. 27 to Oct. 25, all between 8 and 10:30 p.m. and all within walking distance of Brasky’s home.
No one was hurt in the fires.
As a Lake Zurich police officer, Brasky worked in the traffic safety division from 1980 to 2008 and retired with a good record, officials there said.
Recently, he has been working as a traffic safety liaison for the Illinois Department of Transportation, instructing others on how to install child safety seats properly. His $65,588 salary was provided through a contract with Rush-Copley Medical Center, funded by a federal grant, according to a statement from IDOT.
“We take these accusations very seriously. The individual will not be paid by or work on behalf of the Illinois Department of Transportation until the legal proceedings are resolved,” IDOT spokesman Guy Tridgell said in an email. “We will continue to monitor and take appropriate action if necessary.”
A Rush-Copley representative confirmed Brasky is a hospital employee but declined to comment on the charges.
Brasky also declined to comment Monday after a brief appearance on the charges in McHenry County court. His attorney, Bridget Salvi, later issued a statement saying in part that Brasky and his wife, Marsha, have lived in Algonquin for more than 30 years.
“For 28 1/2 years, Bob served as a respected and dedicated police officer for the village of Lake Zurich,” she wrote. “During his tenure, Bob earned multiple commendations from law enforcement and the public for his commitment to traffic safety. ... Bob looks forward to presenting his side in this matter.”
The charges follow a string of unsolved small fires in the area over several years, Algonquin police Deputy Chief Jeffery Sutrick said. Many instances involved someone setting a fire in a trash receptacle or to a pile of wood and leaves. Once, a fire burned a recreational vehicle, though no one was hurt, he said. In some cases, Brasky was walking his dog in the area and approached police afterward to talk about the fires, Sutrick said.
The two more serious fires Brasky is alleged to have set each caused more than $150 in damage, resulting in the felony charges. Both fires occurred in trash cans at the Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois store at 1430 E. Algonquin Road, according to police and court records. Sutrick said the person who started the fires was seen on security video and identified as Brasky by police who saw him in the area after one incident.
On Monday, burn marks were still visible on the sidewalk and support columns in front of the store’s main entrance, and an employee there who did not give her name said that someone had also tried to set a tree on fire behind the building.
Sutrick said even small fires can be charged as felonies because of the potential for serious damage, injury or death.
If convicted of a felony, Brasky could face three to seven years in prison and would lose his right to have a firearm.
Lake Zurich police Deputy Chief Kevin Finlon declined to comment about the charges but said Brasky’s work on traffic safety may have saved lives.
“Bob was a very dedicated officer who took traffic safety very seriously,” Finlon said. “He was heavily involved in child safety seats and train safety. It was something he worked very hard at.”
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