May 04--A retired Lake Zurich police officer who previously won awards for promoting safety pleaded guilty Wednesday to felony arson but escaped jail time.
Robert Brasky, 59, admitted in McHenry County Court that he started a fire in a waste receptacle near Goodwill Industries of Northern Illinois in Algonquin last August.
Brasky, who spent nearly 30 years as a police officer and was working as a child safety seat instructor at the time of his arrest, was charged last year with setting fire to three trash receptacles and mailbox, all near his Algonquin home.
All of the charges against Brasky, except for the single count of felony arson, were dropped in exchange for his guilty plea, for which he received two years of probation. He also was ordered to have no contact with Goodwill and to pay almost $1,500 in fines and restitution. A 90-day jail sentence will be suspended as long as Brasky obeys the terms of his probation, including that he continues to receive mental health counseling.
After being charged in November, Brasky was suspended from his $65,588 job with the Illinois Department of Transportation instructing people on how to install child safety seats. The work was funded by a federal grant through a contract with Rush-Copley Medical Center, officials said at the time.
Lake Zurich officials have said Brasky worked for their police force in the traffic safety division from 1980 to 2008 and retired in good standing.
Authorities said the four fires Brasky was initially accused of setting happened occurred between late August and late October, all between 8 and 10:30 p.m. No one was injured in the fires.
Had Brasky gone to trial and been convicted of class 2 felony arson -- the charge to which he pleaded guilty -- he could have faced 3 to 14 years in prison, officials said.
After entering his plea, Brasky and his attorney Bridget Salvi left the courtroom without comment.
Salvi previously issued a statement saying Brasky "served as a respected and dedicated police officer." She wrote that he had earned numerous commendations for his "commitment to traffic safety."
At the time of his arrest, Algonquin police said there had been a number of unsolved small fires in the area in recent years. In some cases, police said, Brasky had been walking his dog nearby and had talked to police about the fires. Police said they identified Brasky in the area of the fires on nearby video surveillance.
Amanda Marrazzo is a freelance reporter.
