Police Pension Board Suspends Disability Payments To Big Game Hunter Who "Can't Hold A Firearm"
By Chuck Sudo in News on Aug 31, 2012 7:00PM
Chicago police officer Charles T. Siedlecki, who has been collecting disability payments for nearly 20 years, had those payments suspended by the Chicago Police Pension Board Thursday.
Siedlecki has collected over $715,000 in tax-free disability payments and was cited by the Sun-Times as one of the more egregious cases of police and firefighters taking advantage of disability pay in an investigation last month. The Police Pension Board pays out $18 million a year to 347 officers, but the Sun-Times found many of them held down second jobs while looking fit enough for duty.
Siedlecki has used his time collecting disability pay to earn a law degree and run his family’s funeral business. He claims he can’t hold a firearm but the Sun-Times ran a series of photos with their series showing him holding a rifle while posing with a shit-eating grin in front of animals he killed on African safaris.
The Police Pension Board voted 5-3 in favor of suspending Siedlecki’s pension payments, but stopped short of revoking them altogether because they sent the letter notifying him of their review of his disability status to his father—retired Police Cmdr. Charles C. Siedlecki.
Fraternal Order of Police President Michael Shields, a member of the Police Pension Board, threw up the Blue Wall Thursday and said Siedlecki is entitled to his day to defend himself.
“We have to have a burden of proof in order to suspend benefits,” Shields told other board members. “If you want to do it, let’s do it right.”
Maybe someone should show him Siedlecki’s safari photos and ask if that's enough of a burden.
Anyhoo, Siedlecki told the Sun-Times last month he planned to continue collecting disability pay until he turned 63, at which point he would collect a pension based on the years he was on disability. If the Police Pension Board revokes his payments they can also try to recoup money previously paid to him. Two weeks ago the Pension Board asked the Cook County State's Attorney's office to investigate Siedlecki's case.