Joliet Diocese To Appear In Court Today Following Incident Involving Off Duty Will County Sheriff’s Deputy

Attorneys for the the Catholic Diocese of Joliet are expected to appear in Will County Court today (Tuesday 5/31) to explain why they object in part to subpoenas in the disorderly conduct case against Will County Sheriff Deputy Ed Goewey following an incident involving an alleged gun threat made by a student at St. Mary Elementary School in Mokena last December.  Goewey was an off-duty cop and frequent volunteer whose students attend St. Mary. He is charged with yelling and not leaving the school when asked.

Initially, the deadline for the diocese to turn over the documents was last week Monday May 23, but the judge extended the deadline because he said even though he had not received anything, the documents could have been submitted to the chief judge’s office and just not made it down to his court yet. The subpoenas request emails and other communications among school and diocese officials following the incident.

Last month, Goewey’s attorney, Bob Bodach, appeared on the Scott Slocum Show and said that when Deputy Goewey arrived at St. Mary School, he was told that the rumor was true, there had been an alleged gun threat, the police had not been called, the student was still in class, his locker and book bag had not been searched, that school parents were not informed, and that no meaningful mental health examination had been conducted. Goewey is a SWAT team deputy, who has completed multiple active shooter trainings.

This incident occurred December 3, 2021 – just three days after the Oxford High School (Oakland County, Michigan) shooting where authorities failed to act, resulting in the deaths of four students and an additional seven injured.

Within a week after the incident, the diocese emailed parents of St. Mary students informing them that the diocese did not have a crisis management policy in place, but has since implemented one. The disorderly conduct charge is a class C misdemeanor, which is less than driving on a suspended license, which is a class B. A trial date has been set for July, pending there are no further delays on the subpoenas.

Reported in the WJOL story in April, the tapping of the right hip had alarmed one of the school officials who believed the Goewey was indicating he had a firearm. He was at St. Mary’s School in Mokena because he didn’t think the school appropriately handled a threat by a student. Deputy Goewey was there as a parent as his children attend the school.