By Art Golab
Chicago Sun Times
Copyright 2007 Chicago Sun-Times, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Last April, Lemont firefighter Steven Slawinski was a hero, accepting an award from the Red Cross for helping to bring back to life a man who had been electrocuted in an accident.
But Saturday, Slawinski stood handcuffed in the basement of Cook County Jail, right next to accused heroin dealers and child molesters, staring up at a camera as a judge ordered him held on $150,000 bail.
Slawinski, 37, of Romeoville, was charged with felony theft and official misconduct, accused of falsely claiming to be in military service while collecting more than $27,000 in pay and benefits. He faces up to 13 years in prison.
He was released after posting $15,000 bond.
‘JUST A LOT OF RED FLAGS’
His good friend, Orland Park Fire Department Lt. Lawrence Masa, had been charged with similar crimes Wednesday. While Slawinksi’s alleged “leave” lasted eight months, Masa received two years’ pay, worth $200,000, from the Orland Fire Protection District before his arrest last week, officials said.
Masa’s arrest got Lemont officials talking to Orland Park police and ultimately prompted charges against Slawinski. They knew of the pair’s friendship and that Slawinski returned from his purported military leave in December, the same time as Masa.
“There were just a lot of red flags that went up over the last week or so since he’s been home,” said Lemont Fire Chief Carl Churulo.
Instead of serving in the military, Slawinski was working for a private security contractor, making $63 an hour as a trainer, officials said. During the months he was off, from April to December, he also collected pay and benefits from the Lemont Fire Protection District.
The money represented the difference between what Slawinski claimed to have earned in the military and what he would have made in his firefighting job, according to Cook County assistant state’s attorney Sabra Ebersole. Many public agencies and private companies make up the difference for those called to military service.
In Bond Court on Saturday, Ebersole said that in April, the same month he got the Red Cross award, Slawinski showed his bosses a forged letter from the Defense Department supposedly “calling him up to duty in the United States Special Forces.”
Prosecutors described Slawinski as a married father of one who enlisted in the Navy in 1995. Ebersole said Slawinski was in the Navy for a year but was honorably discharged in 1996 because of a “personality disorder” and never recalled to active duty.
‘He missed the military’
His ex-wife, Dina Slawinski, said her ex-husband trained as a medic and worked with Marines in the field, but that she was unaware of the “personality disorder” discharge.
“I know he missed the military,” she said. “That’s why he wanted to become a paramedic. . . . He always wanted to do something for the military and he thought this was his chance.”
Dina Slawinski said that for years, Masa had been urging her ex-husband to go to the Middle East.
When she last talked to Slawinski in June, he had finally decided to do it, she said, adding that she was unaware he was working for a private contractor.
“He was all excited about it. He said it was for the military,” Dina Slawinski said.
“I was with him through paramedic school and training to be a policeman. I thought he was a good, upstanding man. He didn’t like dishonest people. I’m shocked.”
Lemont Fire Protection District President Michael Kasperski was just as surprised. “He was probably the best firefighter and paramedic I’ve ever seen,” Kasperski said.
“I am just totally appalled by all of this. It’s going to take a lot for the fire district to get its reputation back, but we didn’t know what he was doing. We thought all the paperwork was legit.”
When Slawinski got his Red Cross award at a “Heroes Breakfast,” he was quoted in a press release as saying: “When I see someone in need of help, I try to be right there to help that person no matter what.”
In court Saturday, Slawinski’s public defender, Alfredo Maldonado, cited the award and Slawinski’s service as a Lemont firefighter and part-time police officer for Lemont and Summit as mitigating circumstances.
“I find that aggravating,” said Judge Thomas Hennelly, before he set bond at $150,000.
The firefighter faces another court hearing Monday.