Melodie Gliniewicz, widow of disgraced Fox Lake police officer, gets probation for financial crimes

WAUKEGAN, Ill. (CBS) -- Melodie Gliniewicz, the widow of disgraced Fox Lake Police Lt. Joe Gliniewicz, was sentenced to 18 to 24 months' probation Tuesday after pleading guilty in February to a felony charge of deceptive practices, connected to her late husband's financial misdeeds, avoiding a trial on more serious charges.

Lake County Judge James ruled that if she completes the probation successfully, she can have the probation expunged from her record.

Melodie Gliniewicz and her husband were accused of knowingly using money from the Fox Lake Police Explorers Post for several personal expenses – including a trip to Hawaii and more than 400 restaurant charges – and then covering up their misdeeds.

Joe Gliniewicz committed suicide seven years ago, staging it to look like a murder. He was found dead in a wooded area in September 2015, and authorities initially believed he had been killed by suspects he was chasing, but they later determined he'd killed himself as investigators were closing in on him for his embezzlement from the Police Explorers youth group.

In January 2016, Melodie was charged with embezzling between $10,000 and $100,000 from the Explorers program from 2008-14.

After years of legal wrangling, she pleaded guilty in February to  a felony charge of deceptive practices, in exchange for prosecutors dropping six more serious charges, including money laundering and misuse of charitable funds.

"We are very pleased that Ms. Gliniewicz is taking legal responsibility for her actions. She deceived the Fox Lake Police Explorer Club and misused their funds. Our lawyers did an excellent job of reaching this negotiation as it foregoes the need for a trial and starts to end a long chapter in this story. The public will be able to learn more about her and her husband's actions through a public sentencing hearing, at which each side can argue for the appropriate sentence. Her guilt is established, which is the goal of the trial," Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart said in a statement after Melodie's guilty plea.

The deceptive practices charge carries a sentence of up to 3 years, but she could also get simple probation.

After agreeing to the plea deal, Melodie Gliniewicz's attorney said her husband never stole any money from the Police Explorers' fund. Rather, he said Joe Gliniewicz borrowed $32,000 from his own pension fund, and then deposited it into the Police Explorers' bank account, and later used the money for personal expenses, including the Hawaii trip.

"There was no theft here. There was no embezzlement. There was no taking of the funds from the Explorer account. This was Joe Gliniewicz commingling his own funds in the Explorer account, and then spending those funds," defense attorney Don Morrison said.

He said Joe Gliniewicz started putting his own money in the Explorers' account in 2009, and in 2014, there were some instances when he spent more money from the account than what he'd put in from his pension fund, and asked Melodie to write a check to the Explorers' account to cover the expense.

Morrison called the plea deal "bittersweet."

"She did not want to plead guilty to anything, because she feels like she's not guilty of anything, and I think the facts will show that at sentencing," he said.

However, he said Melodie Gliniewicz wanted to get the ordeal over after more than six years, and avoid the risk of a jury trial.

He also said the plea deal allows for the chance a judge will sentence her to "second chance probation," which allows first-time offenders to clear a felony conviction from their record after completing probation.