The 9mm Buddy Badge and other Unknown Badge Holders at Kendall County Coroner’s Office.

Do you know how many deputy coroners we have in the Kendall County Coroner’s Office? If you do, you are a very diligent person. It is not easy to discover just how many the county has and who they are. I tried to find out and came up with varying numbers and an assortment of names. It would be nice for us taxpayers to know who they all are, and which ones we are paying. If you are for responsible government, you, too, may want to track them down.

I started with the Coroner’s Office records. According to a Freedom of Information (FOIA) request response, the Coroner’s Office reports the “official” number of sworn deputy coroners is 14, with only six of these supposedly currently active.

(If you want to track this all yourself, go to http://www.todd4kendall.org/
Patchblog/ KC_Coroner_7-10-2012 FOIA_Deputy Coroner Records.PDF   See  the 7-10-2012 FOIA request, page 15 of 15, the Coroner’s Official Reply, an “Official List of all the Kendall County Deputy Coroners” that have served, or are still active deputy coroners from 12-1-2000 to present. Included in this FOIA is the Annual Coroner’s Report from 2004 to 2011, which shows the annual workload of deaths, processed and investigated by Kendall County Coroner’s Office.)

If you go to the Kendall County Coroner’s webpage at http://www.co.kendall.il.us/coroner/staff.htm you will find a list of nine deputy coroners– three of them honorary. Note that retired Judge James (Jim) Wilson is not listed on the official Kendall County Coroner’s website, but is listed in the
7-10-2012 FOIA. This web list includes William Jeffers as active, but does not
include Judge James Wilson, who was listed as active in the FOIA.

If you review ALL the Sworn Oaths taken and signed for by ALL the Deputy Coroners that have been “Sworn In” by Ken Toftoy since 12-1-2000, you will discover more deputy coroners that were not listed either in the FOIA response or on the Coroner’s website. (Go to http://www.todd4kendall.org/
Patchblog/ KC_Coroner sworn oaths.PDF )

The Kendall County Clerk provided me with the names of five deputy coroners that were not disclosed in the 7-10-2012 FOIA, 3 of which FOIA Officer Purcell personally swore in on 4-2-2008, and another Deputy Coroner who was sworn in on 9-1-2011 and is a current candidate for Kendall County Board. The fact that Republican District #1 KCB Candidate Matt Prochaska did not disclose he was a sworn deputy coroner on his Statement of Economic Interest makes me curious because Matt was sworn in on 9-1-2011. Matt handed in his completed Candidate’s forms the first week of December 2011.

Conclusion:  Coroner Toftoy failed in the 7-10-2012 FOIA reply to disclose other Deputy Coroners sworn in since 12-1-2000. The five individuals listed below have been sworn in as Deputy Coroners, but were missing from the Official FOIA List:

Bob Reid, Richard Davis, Mark Mueller, Bradford Engel, and Matt Prochaska

http://www.todd4kendall.org/
Patchblog/Missing5.PDF 

Five sworn Deputy Coroners apparently have never done any work, nor has a county payroll number ever been assigned to Bob Reid, Richard Davis, Mark Mueller, Bradford Engel, and Jim Wilson. County Clerk Gillette did confirm that she had a sworn oath for a sixth deputy, Marcy Thompson, from the 1990’s, but she did not have any sworn oath on file for Honorary Deputy Coroner Mike Swindle, who is listed on the coroner’s website.

The withholding of information under the Freedom of Information Act should not be taken lightly and there are legal consequences for doing so.

Jim Wilson has a 12-1-2008 patronage appointment from Coroner Toftoy, which allows Jim Wilson to possess a “conceal and carry” 9mm firearm with associated county liability insurance protection. This is something we taxpayers funded to the tune of $429.93, so Mr. Wilson can pack his 9MM.

See http://www.todd4kendall.org/
Patchblog/Wilson_9mm_training_voucher = $429.93 (Page 2 through 6 of 6)

Here is another thing to think about: Jim Detzler is Chief Deputy Coroner = http://www.todd4kendall.org/
Patchblog/Detzler_80th Bday ad.PDF 

Why is Jim Detzler the Chief Deputy Coroner? What does he actually do? Generally, your Chief Deputy is your “go to” person. What does Mr. Toftoy “go to” Mr. Detzler for?

Since the new mandated compensation system (discussed in my prior blog, http://yorkville.patch.com/blog_posts/toftoy-dictates-kendall-county-boa... ) was implemented on 4-1-2012, Chief Deputy Coroner Jim  Detzler recently pulled his first day of “On-Call” duty. Mr. Detzler is paid a monthly salary. It appears from the time sheet records obtained, Jim Detzler was paid a salary of $50.00 a month ($600 annually) from 4-1-2012 to 8-30-2012, but was first scheduled to work On-Call ( 24 hours) on 8-26-2012. In fact, from the On-Call Time Sheet records obtained, Jim Detzler has performed little work in over a year. The last time he was scheduled to work and actually may have worked was on or around 9-26-2011. Jim Detzler is the Chief Deputy Coroner, but from the On-Call Time sheet records obtained it would appear that this assigned title of Chief Deputy Coroner is a misnomer. 

I specifically asked FIOA Officer Purcell for a breakdown of duty statistics and activity for each coroner over the past 10 years on 7-10-2012. I was told the Kendall County Coroner’s office does not keep those types of detailed records. If they did, those records would reflect Coroner Ken Toftoy, Chief Deputy Coroner Jim Detzler, and retired Judge Jim Wilson do no investigative work or very little actual field investigative work. Toftoy is being paid
$57,000 to be the Full-Time Coroner of Kendall County. The Chief Deputy Coroner
does not work for months but is paid each month. In Jim Wilson’s case, he is
not even registered as a county employee in the county payroll system, but has
the official title of Deputy Coroner, as do many others that our county board
and county treasurer are unaware of.

http://www.todd4kendall.org/Patchblog/Missing5.PDF 

Retired Judge Jim Wilson was granted the title of Kendall County Deputy Coroner on 12-1-2008; Jim Wilson has never been entered into the county payroll system since he was sworn in as a Kendall County Deputy Coroner on 12-1-2008. No one from the Kendall County Coroner’s Office has ever even requested a payroll number to be assigned for Mr. Wilson. To date, Judge Wilson’s nonexistent payroll records and nonexistent On-Call time sheets document and prove he has performed zero work in the coroner’s office or in the field. There is some question whether he has even qualified to do Deputy Coroner fieldwork.

There was never any expectation of work being performed by Jim Wilson, just the patronage expectation that Jim Wilson will continue to possess his tin star and his concealed gun while Ken Toftoy is the Coroner of Kendall County. The $429.93
taxpayer-funded training Jim Wilson has received and we taxpayers have paid for
was for “Weapons” training only. Just so, he can carry a concealed gun off duty. Mr. Wilson is off-duty 100% of the time. It is unknown if Coroner Toftoy keeps all of Jim Wilson’s 9mm bullets at the coroner’s office for his own and the public’s protection.

Patronage  Deputy Coroner Jim Wilson has performed  no-work to date and Chief Deputy Coroner Jim Detzler has performed little work, yet these individuals are allowed to be armed in public and can possess a firearm on a 24/7 “conceal and carry” basis with the inherent liability protections provided by the county’s liability insurance policy. As an insurance agent, I can tell you we will not
insure folks that perform no work or are not actively involved in day-to-day
operations, especially when it comes to government jobs, but our current coroner
does. This is a huge liability to the citizens and taxpayers of Kendall County.

Let me ask another question. How many of the other deputies that have been identified are currently carrying their own weapons? Stay tune…. More info later.