In a case filed in the Appellate Court of Illinois, First Judicial District, John Trapp has appealed against the City of Burbank Firefighters’ Pension Fund and The Board of Trustees of the Burbank Firefighters’ Pension Fund. The court case ID is 1-23-1311 and it was filed on March 20, 2024. Trapp alleges that his pension benefits were wrongly terminated following his guilty plea to various federal crimes.
John Trapp, born on February 23, 1964, began working for the Burbank Fire Department on October 13, 1988. On January 11, 2017, allegations arose about an inappropriate relationship between Trapp and a minor who worked as a high school cadet/intern at the Burbank Fire Department. Following these allegations, he was placed on administrative leave and later applied for retirement benefits effective from January 16, 2017. He was granted a "regular" retirement pension benefit on September 12, 2017.
On December 5, 2019, Trapp was formally charged with violating child pornography laws and pleaded guilty to this charge on September 29, 2020. The charges included having a sexual relationship with the minor while being employed as a firefighter and inducing her to create explicit content for him. He was convicted and sentenced to six months' incarceration on June 17, 2021.
The plaintiff seeks reversal of the decision by the Board that revoked his retirement pension following his conviction. The Board had found that Trapp's federal conviction for possession or receipt of child pornography was related to his service as a Burbank firefighter and hence ordered his retirement pension be "revoked and rescinded". This decision rendered him ineligible for any benefits pursuant to article four of the Code effective July 19, 2022.