Robert Swan, a defeated Democratic candidate for Frankfort Township trustee, Monday was charged with making a phony 911 call about a fight taking place at the Township Hall.
The complaint alleges that on March 25, Swan, 54, of Mokena called a Will County sheriff’s dispatcher and said there was an “upheaval and a fight” at the site.
At the time, township Republicans were meeting in the hall. Because police believed a fellow officer on the site might be in trouble, officeres in four squad cars raced to the scene.
The misdemeanor accusations against Swan, which also included two counts of disorderly conduct, were announced Monday at a joint news conference by Democratic State’s Atty. James Glasgow and Republican Sheriff Brendan Ward in the county courthouse.
Glasgow and Ward acknowledged there were “political overtones” to the case, including the role admitted to by Lois Mayer, who once worked for Glasgow and who ran unsuccessfully for township supervisor.
“She was part of it,” said Ward, who alleged that Swan made the call from his home after getting a call from a car telephone.
In a press release, dated March 29, Mayer admitted she called Swan after she and another candidate, Nancy Healy, were denied admission to the meeting.
Mayer said Swan called police to make sure the two women would not be harmed and “it was at the discretion” of the dispatcher to give the call emergency status.
Earlier in the campaign, Mayer had charged that Republicans were improperly using the facility to hold a partisan political gathering.
Although Mayer admitted her call may have triggered the response, Glasgow said there was “no evidence to charge Mayer.”
