Will County sheriff’s correctional officer charged with predatory criminal sexual assault of child

A correctional officer at the Will County jail made his first court appearance Friday morning on a charge of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child after his arrest in Elwood by federal agents.

Daniel Herod, 41, of Elwood, appeared in an orange jumpsuit in the courtroom of Will County Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak for a hearing at which the charges were not discussed.

Instead, Herod’s attorney with the Will County Public Defender’s Office and a prosecutor agreed to set Herod’s next court hearing.

Herod has been charged with predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and criminal sexual assault, according to court records.

Herod is accused in a criminal complaint of sexually assaulting a child younger than 13 between May 9, 2021, and March 26.

The prosecutor in Herod’s case is Assistant State’s Attorney Jeff Brown, who is chief of the sex crimes unit for Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow’s office.

Bertani-Tomczak sealed prosecutors’ petition to detain Herod from public view.

Assistant State’s Attorney Laura Byrne said the petition was sealed because it “contains sensitive information.”

“The judge ordered the petition to remain under seal for the time being,” Byrne said.

But details of Herod’s case in the petition may emerge at an April 3 court hearing, where prosecutors plan to make their case on why he should remain in jail under the SAFE-T Act.

“[Homeland Security Investigations] is involved because they received the information and did the investigation, and they presented it to us for state charges, and we charged it.”

—  Will County Assistant State's Attorney Laura Byrne

Kevin Hedemark, spokesman for the Will County Sheriff’s Office, attended Friday’s court hearing. He said Herod’s employment with the sheriff’s office is under administrative review.

“It’s a Homeland Security case. We don’t know the charges,” Hedemark said after the hearing concluded.

The case against Herod became public not too long after.

Herod has worked for the Will County Sheriff’s Office since May 2010, and his most recent assignment was as a deputy correctional officer at the Will County jail.

Herod was arrested Thursday after a “criminal law enforcement operation” in Elwood by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations, said Erin Bultje, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“There is no threat to the public, and the matter remains an ongoing investigation,” Bultje said.

Byrne said Homeland Security Investigations is involved because they “received the information and did the investigation, and they presented it to us for state charges, and we charged it.”

“We anticipate more facts of the investigation to be presented on the next court date,” Byrne said.

Homeland Security Investigations is considered a “premier federal law enforcement agency” within the Department of Homeland Security, according to the agency’s website.

Homeland Security Investigations investigates “crime on a global scale,” including “child exploitation, human trafficking, financial fraud and scams, and other crimes against vulnerable populations,” according to the agency’s website.

The events that led to the arrest of Herod began before 6:30 a.m. Thursday, when Elwood police officers were sent to the 900 block of Meadowbrook Road for a report of a caller who heard “some type of explosion,” Elwood Police Chief Fred Hayes said.

When officers arrived, they found “several dozen federal agents” from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security at a Meadowbrook residence, Hayes said.

“The Homeland Security agents advised our officers they had executed a search warrant at the residence and that they had notified the Will County Sheriff’s Office,” Hayes said.