Politics & Government

Former Des Plaines Deputy Chief Accused of Breaking up Marriage

A lawsuit filed by a former Des Plaines resident in March claims Richard Rozkuska broke up his marriage and defamed him.

Richard Rozkuska, a former Des Plaines deputy chief that is suing the city, former police chief, mayor and former city manager for forcing him to retire after he reported multiple instances of misconduct was named as a defendant in another lawsuit in which he is accused of breaking up a marriage and defaming a former Des Plaines man, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The former Des Plaines man and attorney, Thaddeus Gauza, filed the complaint with the courts in March. In the lawsuit, Rozkuska is accused of sending romantic emails from his City of Des Plaines email account to Gauza’s wife, Joanna Kieplin-Gauza. The former deputy chief is also accused of directing a detective to pursue false allegations about Gauza, according to court documents.

Earlier:

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In his lawsuit against the city, , and was told by former Police Chief James Prandini he would be disciplined and terminated if he continued to report the misconduct. Rozkuszka claimed he was forced to retire to cover up the brutality.

Former Des Plaines police officer John Bueno was fired in March, and is scheduled to appeal the termination at an arbitration hearing in November. The City of Des Plaines has not made public the cause for Bueno’s termination. During the same period, Des Plaines Police Officer Andy Contreras was suspended. Contreras has since returned to work at the department.

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in which Rozkuszka is accused of making derogatory statements to Bueno about his Latino heritage. Bueno’s union attorney representing him in the arbitration hearing said Bueno’s complaint to the EEOC was a “very large part” of his termination.

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