Sinnissippi Centers official facing battery charge

DIXON – The longtime director of family services at Sinnissippi Centers in Dixon is charged with misdemeanor battery in Winnebago County after being arrested in a public indecency sting in a forest preserve there.

Clyde A. Lipp, 58, of Sterling, was arrested May 15 at Blackhawk Springs East Forest Preserve, 5801 S. Perryville Road.

Battery consists of making “physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature”; Lipp is accused of grabbing an officer in the park, according to court documents. No further details were provided.

Lipp declined to comment Wednesday on the charge.

According to a Winnebago County Sheriff’s news release, deputies arrested 15 men in four forest preserves May 13 to 23. Twelve were charged with public indecency, three with battery.

“In general terms, those charges are based on men soliciting undercover officers in the forest preserve for purposes of sexual activity,” Chief of Detectives Dominic Iasparro said.

“We had officers walk in the forest preserves. They were approached by men. The men would either expose themselves, grab the officers in an inappropriate manner or make some other sexual contact.”

The stings came in response to complaints of sexual activity and of men soliciting other men in the preserves, he said.

DeAnne White, director of operations at Sinnissippi Centers, said Lipp is on leave and using his vacation time while it is determined what, if any, disciplinary action will be taken.

Lipp, a licensed counselor with the state, has been director of family services all 25 years he has worked at Sinnissippi, a nonprofit that provides mental health and addiction treatment programs in Lee, Whiteside, Ogle and Carroll counties. He supervises staff and programs within the family services division.

He will be arraigned Monday, and faces up to a year in jail, 2 years of probation and up to a $2,500 fine if convicted.