The police claimed that “the fraudulent Fb pages posted feedback on Village of Orland Park social media websites whereas additionally soliciting pal requests from Orland Park Police workers and different residents, portraying the likeness of Deputy Chief of Police Brian West”—and mentioned that this was each Disorderly Conduct and False Personation, each misdemeanors.

West acquired permission from his boss to launch a felony investigation, which quickly became search warrants that surfaced a reputation: retired Orland Park sergeant Ken Kovac, who had left the division in 2019 after twenty years of service. Kovac was charged, and he surrendered himself on the Orland Park Police Division on April 7, 2024.

The police then issued their press launch, letting their neighborhood know that West had witnessed “demeaning feedback in reference to his supervisory place inside the division from Kovac’s posts on social media”—which does not sound like several kind of crime. In addition they needed to let involved residents know that West “epitomizes the rules of public service” and that “Deputy Chief West’s apprehensions have been handled with the utmost seriousness and underwent a radical investigation.”

Okay.

Regardless of the “utmost seriousness” of this Very Critical Investigation, a decide wasn’t having any of it. In January 2025, Prepare dinner County Decide Mohammad Ahmad threw out both the charges against Kovac.

Kovac, in fact, was thrilled. His lawyer instructed an area Patch reporter, “These costs by no means ought to have been introduced. Ken Kovac made a Fb account that poked enjoyable on the Deputy Chief of the Orland Park Police Division. The Deputy Chief didn’t prefer it and tried to make use of the felony authorized system to get even.”

Orland Park was not backing down, nonetheless, blaming prosecutors for the loss. “Regardless of compelling proof within the case, the Prepare dinner County State’s Lawyer’s Workplace was unable to safe a prosecution, failing in its duty to guard Deputy Chief West as a sufferer of those malicious acts,” the village supervisor instructed Patch. “The Village of Orland Park is deeply dissatisfied by this consequence and stands unwavering in its help of former Deputy Chief West.”

The drama took its most up-to-date, totally predictable, flip this week when Kovac sued the officers who had arrested him. He told the Chicago Sun-Times that he had been embarrassed about being fingerprinted and processed “on the police division that I used to be beforehand employed at by those that I used to work with and for.”

Orland Park instructed the paper that it “stands by its actions and people of its workers and stays assured that they have been acceptable and absolutely compliant with the legislation.”