Jan 6, 2007 11:17 pm US/Central
Second Firefighter Accused Of Faking Military Tour
Steve Slawinski Charged With Forgery, Theft
The STNG Wire contributed to this report.
LEMONT, Ill. (CBS) ―
He was a Navy man, entering the military back in February 1995 and being honorably discharged less than a year later in January 1996.
That discharge, prosecutors say, was because of a personality disorder.
The firefighter is now accused of lying about being called to active military duty in a scheme to bilk more than $27,000 in salary and benefits from the Lemont FIre Protection District.
Steve Slawinski, 35, was arrested at the district station by Orland Park police on Friday morning.
This is the second case of alleged falsification of military leave by a suburban firefighter this week. This past Wednesday, Orland Park police arrested Orland Park fire lieutenant Lawrence Masa, 42, on charges of felony theft and official misconduct after he was accused of doing private security work in the Middle East while claiming he was in the U.S. military.
Firefighters say they knew Slawinski was friends with Masa and that they worked for the same private sector company.
The Orland case made the Lemont Fire Chief start asking Slawinski questions.
"This week, he come in to talk and he talked about Larry in particular and some things. He really felt bad of what happened," said Chief Carl Churulo. "There were just a lot of red flags that went up over the last week or so since he's been home."
But Slawinski's wife is standing behind her husband, saying she's going to do whatever it takes to protect him. She said the allegations are false.
"The defendant provided to the fire district a forged document which purported to be a letter from the United States Department of Defense calling him up to active duty in the United States Special Forces," said Cook County assistant state's attorney Sabra Ebersol.
The Lemont Fire Protection District hired Slawinski in February 2003. He was hired as a firefighter paramedic in April 2006. Prosecutors say he asked for military leave, absent from the fire district for some eight months.
"This has been a very demoralizing time for the Lemont Fire Protection District," said Lemont Fire Chief Carl Churulo.
"You wouldn't have thought of it of Steve. Great guy; came to work. Every time I saw him, he had a great personality," said Lemont District president Mike Kasperski.
Slawinski is on inactive status with the Lemont Fire Protection District.
Churulo says he wants to do whatever it takes to protect the department from more losses, financial or otherwise.
A news release issued by the Lemont Fire Protection District said the firefighter was arrested "on charges of forgery and theft arising out of his request and receipt of compensation while he was on a purported military leave."
Slawinski is being held on $150,000 bond and he'd have to come up with $15,000 to get out of jail. If that happen, he'd be required to hand over his passport and any firearms.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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