Former Lake in the Hills cop who struck, killed woman appointed as Hebron village trustee

Hebron’s Board of Trustees on Monday voted unanimously to appoint Mark Mogan to fill a vacancy on the board, giving the former Lake in the Hills police officer who hit and killed a pedestrian in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, several years ago another stint as an elected official.

Mogan, who previously served more than 10 years as trustee, faced an accusation of driving under the influence of alcohol stemming from the fatal 2016 incident that killed 29-year-old Samantha Norris of Lake Geneva, but was never convicted in the case.

A room full of more than a dozen attendees at Hebron’s village board meeting Monday applauded Mogan’s appointment when it was approved without opposition. No public comments were against Mogan’s appointment.

He ran for village president in 2017 and lost to Kimmy Martinez, who said her uncle was killed by a drunk driver and took issue with Mogan’s appointment. Martinez lost a reelection bid in April to Village President Robert Shelton, who nominated Mogan for the trustee position vacated by Susan Ritzert.

“It’s always nice to have people’s support, and I do have a lot of support from residents,” Mogan said after the appointment. “It felt good there was no opposition. It went smooth. I’m glad to be back. I just want to do what I can to help the village.”

Mogan, who worked decades in law enforcement before leaving the profession, is not on board with returning the Hebron Police Department to a part-time agency, one of the ideas floated on the campaign trail in the four-way village president race leading up to Shelton’s April victory on promises to cut police spending.

Hebron police became full-time, staffing at least one officer around the clock, under Martinez in 2017. Previously, the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office would to respond to calls in Hebron when no municipal officers were on duty.

But Mogan also said he agrees with Shelton that a careful eye must be taken to the village’s police spending. Shelton said in an interview said he did not think Mogan’s background in law enforcement would interfere with considering the village president’s agenda to reallocate resources to other priorities.

In Mogan’s first vote of his latest term on the board Monday, he sided with Trustee Mark Shepherd to try eliminating the position of police lieutenant created following the village election before Shelton took office and to strike a resolution that could have let the village police chief take the position of lieutenant if the chief were to be terminated.

“I think this language is dangerous,” Mogan said. “Because if somebody breaks a law, or violates a policy and Robert has to do what Robert has to do, that officer is still going to have a job here. ... Let me clarify, not broken a law, convicted of breaking a law.”

But the motion to get rid of that provision within village policy failed in a 2-3 vote, with trustees Sandy Drevalas, Pat Peterson and Jim Lange opposed.

Hebron Police Chief Rich Donlea said he thinks the resolution was misunderstood by its opponents. He said it was meant to give a police chief who was fired for more of a political reason than an actual cause a chance to have union representation before being completely out of a job because the Hebron chief is not represented by a union.

He added the police department tries hard to keep its costs as low as possible, adding that pay scales for officers in Hebron are lower than departments of nearby villages.

“We’re all very conscious of costs. No one wants the village to have any financial strife,” Donlea said.

Mogan also said the village should not have started a K-9 officer program after the village was gifted a dog named Odin, under the impression it could raise money through donations to fund its training and outfitting.

Shelton initially planned to cancel the K-9 program after the village was facing more than $9,000 in training bills and had only raised about $1,500 through donations.

Alex Gohmann, the Hebron police officer who would become Odin’s handler if the dog finishes training, pleaded with Shelton to reconsider and allow the program to go forward.

During a potential threat to an officer’s life, Gohmann said, “I would rather send the dog than shoot someone.”

Karen Lalor, who does business in Hebron and attended Monday’s meeting, wrote a $500 check to contribute to the K-9 program in hopes of keeping it afloat as the meeting ended.

“The dog thing is touchy. It didn’t start the right way,” Mogan said.

Martinez has continued to speak out against Shelton’s calls for cuts to police funding, citing the volume of requests for police service handled by local cops. Donlea reported Hebron police responded to 1,100 calls between March 1 and Monday.

“His aggressiveness supersedes his knowledge on the subject,” Martinez said of Shelton.

Shelton agreed to give the K-9 program a second look, while noting the village could also use the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office K-9 resources when necessary.