Aug. 25--A police officer who was accused of soliciting prescription drugs from residents and of illegally removing firearms from a police station went on trial on the gun-related charges Monday in McHenry County.
Ryszard Kopacz was fired last summer from the Richmond Police Department after less than a week on the job after authorities there said he went door-to-door in uniform asking residents to hand over prescription drugs and then failed to show up for work the next day. Court records indicate the drug he allegedly solicited was hydrocodone.
That prompted a criminal investigation by state police and a search of Kopacz's home and car, which led to felony charges accusing Kopacz of official misconduct and of illegally possessing stolen weapons that authorities said had been removed from the police station in nearby Hebron, where Kopacz had previously worked.
Kopacz's ex-boss in Hebron, former police chief Scott Annen, was the first witness to testify against Kopacz Monday.
Annen, who was chief at the time of Kopacz's arrest but has since left the department, said Kopacz had been in charge of the department's evidence room but never had permission to remove any evidence or take it home.
After Kopacz was fired from Richmond, the search of his property by special agents turned up three weapons: a Winchester Model 94 rifle, a U.S. Carbine .30-caliber rifle and a Remington 11-87 shotgun, according to court records.
Two of the weapons had been confiscated by Hebron police in 2002 and kept in the department's evidence room; the third, a rifle, belongs to the department. All three were found in a bedroom in Kopacz's home, authorities said.
Illinois State Police Special Agent Ken O'Brien, who questioned Kopacz during the investigation, testified that Kopacz told him that he had brought the weapons home to clean them and use them for training.
But O'Brien said the types of weapons in question have never been a part of any police training exercise he's aware of, and Annen also testified that guns used in evidence were never to be used for any shooting practice or training.
Kopacz's attorney, Steven Goldman, suggested there was a lack of oversight and a lack of written rules governing how evidence is handled by the department. He noted that it took a call from Illinois State Police to prompt an audit of the department's stored evidence and weapons, which confirmed three guns had gone missing.
The last time the department's evidence room was audited was in 2007, Annen said.
"I don't expect any of my officers to be stealing from the evidence room," he said.
Kopacz, 31, of Wauconda, had worked for Hebron police for several years before he was laid off for financial reasons in June 2014, weeks before he began working as a part-time officer in Richmond, officials said at the time of his arrest. Both small communities are in McHenry County near the Wisconsin state line.
Kopacz is due to stand trial separately on the drug-related charges, McHenry County prosecutor Michael Combs said.
Besides the allegation that Kopacz solicited prescription drugs during his brief stint as a Richmond officer, court documents also show that, after his initial arrest, Kopacz was later accused of delivering of marijuana on several occasions from February to June 2014.
At the time of Kopacz's arrest, Annen told the Tribune that Kopacz "had his hands in a lot of facets of the police department."
Annen, who now works for the police department in Linn, Wis., also acknowledged at the time that Kopacz had disciplinary and performance-related issues at the department, though he declined to give details.
Kopacz, who has been out of jail on bond since shortly after his arrest, listened intently throughout the trial. Earlier Monday, he had waived his right to a jury trial in favor a bench trial, where the judge decides the verdict. The trial is due to continue Tuesday afternoon.
Amanda Marrazzo is a freelance reporter.
