The former head of the office that oversees hiring, firing and discipline within the Illinois State Police will need to wait a while to press his claims that a politically connected former employee, who now faces criminal charges, falsely accused him of sexual assault and then used her political ties to Gov. JB Pritzker to get him removed, because he allegedly caught her falsifying payroll records to rake in overtime pay.
In mid-January, U.S. District Judge Sharon Johnson Coleman granted the request from Jenny Thornley to put a hold on the legal claims brought by Jack Garcia, former director of the Illinois State Police Merit Board.
According to court documents, the judge granted the stay in proceedings to allow time for Sangamon County prosecutors in Springfield to complete the criminal proceedings against Thornley, who has been indicted on counts of forgery, theft and official misconduct.
In her motion requesting the stay, filed Jan. 13, Thornley argued it would be “fundamentally unfair” for her to be forced to defend herself against both the pending criminal charges and Garcia’s lawsuit. Without the stay, she said she would be forced to choose between “protecting her Fifth Amendment rights” against self-incrimination and defending against Garcia’s claims.
“Thornley should not be forced to choose to waive her constitutional rights at this stage of the proceedings,” Thornley’s attorney wrote in her Jan. 13 motion.
“… Should Thornley invoke her privilege against self-incrimination, she could be unable to defend the allegations against her in this case and defendants could be prevented from conducting meaningful discovery.”
Thornley initiated the court fight in April 2021, when she first sued the ISP Merit Board and Garcia. In that complaint, Thornley accused the Merit Board of improperly firing her in retaliation, after she had accused Garcia of sexual harassment and sexual assault.
Thornley had served as the chief fiscal officer and director of personnel at the Merit Board.
Garcia responded to Thornley’s lawsuit with a counterclaim, asserting Thornley had completely fabricated the sexual assault allegations in a bid to protect her job and prevent her criminal prosecution.
According to Garcia’s counterclaim, Garcia in 2019 began investigating accusations that Thornley was falsifying payroll records.
Garcia allegedly uncovered evidence that Thornley had been padding her paycheck by claiming overtime pay for hours she allegedly had not worked, including by allegedly forging Garcia’s signature on payroll records.
Garcia reported his findings to the Office of the Executive Inspector General.
However, in his counterclaim, Garcia asserts Thornley responded by launching a campaign against him, accusing him of sexual assault and taking that accusation to high-ranking individuals within Illinois state government, allegedly including M.K. Pritzker, wife of Gov. JB Pritzker.
Thornley had worked on Pritzker’s 2018 election campaign.
Garcia was then temporarily removed from his job, and the investigation into Thornley’s conduct halted, moments before Garcia was to meet with police in Springfield concerning the matter.
A later outside investigation into Thornley’s sexual assault claims and Garcia’s claims concerning Thornley’s alleged fraud and theft led to criminal charges against Thornley and her termination. The outside investigators found no basis to Thornley’s claims.
Garcia was restored to his former post in July 2020. But in September 2021, Pritzker signed a new law enacted by the Democrat-dominated Illinois General Assembly, forbidding anyone who previously worked in the Illinois State Police from holding the top spot at the Merit Board. This action again forced Garcia from his post.
Critics have asserted the new law was specifically designed to target Garcia for removal.
In her complaint, Thornley painted a different version of the story, asserting Garcia had improperly grabbed her breast, and made inappropriate comments to her.
Further, she asserted she had made numerous reports of potential ethical misconduct against Garcia from 2017-2020, and Garcia’s decision to report her for allegedly pilfering unearned overtime pay was payback.
She further asserts the outside investigation of her accusations, and of the accusations against her, was a sham, conducted by people friendly to Garcia.
In her complaint, Thornley is asking the court to order the defendants to pay her unspecified compensatory damages, plus back pay, interest and attorney fees.
In his counterclaim, Garcia is seeking unspecified damages, including punitive damages, against Thornley.
Garcia is represented in his counterclaim action by attorneys Jeremy D. Margolis and Neil G. Nandi, of the firm of Loeb & Loeb, of Chicago.
The criminal case against Thornley remains pending. The next hearing in that case is scheduled for April 11, according to online court records, with a jury trial currently scheduled to begin April 18.