Dolton village trustees move to fire Deputy Police Chief Lewis Lacey
DOLTON, Ill. (WLS) -- Dolton village trustees are moving to fire Deputy Police Chief Lewis Lacey at the next village board meeting after they said he violated the terms of his administrative leave.
But that's not stopping Lacey and Mayor Tiffany Henyard from asserting his authority.
ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch
In video obtained by ABC7, Lacey and Henyard are heard telling officers who's in charge.
"Now, from this point on, do what you want, but anything after this is insubordination," Lacey says in the video.
Lacey appeared in federal court Thursday, pleading not guilty to bankruptcy fraud and perjury charges.
The judge ordered Lacey to hand over his firearms and FOID card.
"He is the acting chief in the village of Dolton. He is a police officer," his attorney Gal Pissetzky argued. "And he does need his firearm in case something happens on the street that puts him in danger."
The Dolton village board voted last week to place Lacey on administrative leave, but that hasn't stopped him from showing up to work. So, now trustees say they will move to fire him.
READ MORE: Dolton Village Board places top cop on administrative leave, lays off 8 village employees
The Dolton Village Board has ordered an investigation into the city's finances as well as Mayor Henyard, and hired former Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot to lead it. In her presentation of preliminary findings last week, she found several instances in which a staggering amount of overtime was paid to a small number of police officers, in some cases more than their annual salaries
One item highlighted was overtime for Lacey, which totaled over $215,000 from 2022 to 2024.
RELATED: Dolton deputy police chief reports to work one day after village board places him on leave
Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza is now suspending some payments to the village, blaming Henyard's failure to submit two years' worth of financial reports.
In a statement, Dolton trustees say they'll demand the village's finance department submit all required paperwork to the state. Mayor Henyard has repeatedly declined ABC 7's requests for comment.
