A Sangamon County judge has ruled that Sharon “Sherry” Waldron, who pleaded guilty to shoplifting in 2013, cannot be a county sheriff’s deputy.
The department fired Waldron in 2012, after she took potted plants from a Sherman park and was charged with theft. After her acquittal of theft charges in 2013, Waldron, whose appeal of her dismissal was pending, was caught shoplifting groceries at a Sangamon Avenue Schnucks store. She pleaded guilty and received court supervision.
The county argued that Waldron couldn’t be a cop after having been a thief – among other things, her credibility could be called into question as a witness in any court proceeding. But two arbitrators overruled county attempts to fire Waldron, who received $233,000 in back wages and benefits last year after the first arbitrator, Dennis McGilligan, ruled that the plant incident wasn’t sufficient grounds for termination, even after Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge John Madonia ordered McGilligan to take a second look at the case. The second arbitrator, Timothy B. Tobin, ruled that Waldron must be reinstated even after being charged with shoplifting and entering a guilty plea.
Tobin’s decision that Waldron must get her job back violated public policy, Schmidt wrote in his decision. He blasted Tobin’s conclusion that Waldron should be rehired because she wasn’t an employee at the time she shoplifted groceries – she had already been fired for taking plants the prior year, and a grievance was pending. The county, Tobin had reasoned, couldn’t fire someone who wasn’t an employee, and so Waldron should be reinstated with back pay.
Schmidt wasn’t impressed.
“The mental gymnastics required to reach this conclusion would make Nadia Comaneci proud,” wrote Schmidt, who noted that the union representing sheriff’s deputies provided a lawyer in the matter, something not usually done for shoplifters who aren’t deputies. “She certainly was not a civilian. … There is a well-defined public policy against retail theft. Acts of retail theft are more disturbing when committed by law enforcement officers sworn to uphold the law.”
Joseph Roesch, chief deputy for the Sangamon County sheriff’s office, said the deputies can’t be allowed to violate laws that they’ve been sworn to uphold.
“We believe that our deputies have a higher duty that the general public,” Roesch said. “Our people don’t lie, and we don’t tolerate people who do dishonest things.”
Contact Bruce Rushton at brushton@illinoistimes.com.
This article appears in Jun 16-22, 2016.
