Aug. 26--A police officer who was accused of removing guns from the Hebron police station without permission was found guilty Tuesday of possessing stolen firearms but was cleared of official misconduct charges.
The officer, Ryszard Kopacz, still faces a second trial on separate allegations that he solicited drugs from residents while working for another police department and that he delivered marijuana, along with additional official misconduct charges.
Kopacz had been accused of illegally removing three weapons while working as a police sergeant in Hebron, where he oversaw the department's evidence storage room.
His attorney, Steven Goldman, argued that the small police department near the Wisconsin state line was "sloppy" in its supervision of Kopacz and in its handling of evidence. He said Kopacz, who declined to testify, had used the weapons for training, meant to clean and return them, and had no intention of keeping them.
But in announcing his verdict, McHenry County Circuit Judge Michael Feetterer countered that Kopacz had taken the guns home without permission and never told anyone in the department he had them, even after he was terminated from the job.
The judge said he cleared Kopacz of the official misconduct charge because there was insufficient evidence to determine when the weapons were removed.
Kopacz could receive probation or prison time when he is sentenced in November, his lawyer said.
Authorities said the weapons were found in Kopacz's home in Wauconda during an investigation that was launched after he was fired from another police department in nearby Richmond in July 2014. Kopacz began working there a few weeks after he was laid off from Hebron, but he was fired within his first week on the job after authorities said he attempted to solicit prescription drugs from residents while in uniform and then failed to show up for a shift.
Kopacz also is accused of delivering marijuana on several occasions in 2014, during the time he worked for Hebron. A trial date for those charges has yet to be set.
Amanda Marrazzo is a freelance reporter.
