CHICAGO, Oct. 14, 2015 — A Chicago city employee who had his life torn apart after a mob associate involved himself in his divorce told CDN he was hassled repeatedly by Cook County Sheriff’s Officers (CCSO), and he believes the harassment was in response to CDN’s article about the case.
Dominick Tomasello, recently featured in a CDN article describing how his access to his daughter was removed, says he was arrested, and members of the Chicago Police and Cook County Sheriff’s Officers repeatedly harassed him after Sam “Blackie” Pesoli involved himself in his divorce.
Tomasello said his life was turned upside down after he refused Pesoli’s offer to accept $100,000 to remove himself from his daughter’s life until she turned 18. Pesoli is identified as a mob associate who went to prison for lying to a grand jury in the early 1990s about his role in fixing divorce cases.
Hours after the first CDN story was published, Tomasello says two officers from the Cook County Sheriff’s Office visited his home and claimed he had violated conditions of his bond by leaving his premises that Tuesday.
Tomasello is on two ankle monitors stemming from an arrest on threatening charges after he sent his ex-wife a series of text messages in violation of a restraining order; Tomasello maintains that he thought the restraining order had been dropped.
The day he left the premises, Tomasello told CDN he had a court date and all proper paperwork was filed. After he provided the officers this paperwork, they left without further incident.
The next day, the CCSO called Tomasello and told him they were going to deny him a scheduled appointment with his neurologist.
Since his court nightmare has begun, Tomasello has developed headaches and has lost a lot of hearing in one ear. Tomasello told CDN that he has had trouble in the past being approved to see the same doctor and this has inflamed his neurological problems.
Later that day, Tomasello got a call from a blocked number from an individual identifying himself as Greg Shields, who is head of the ankle monitoring unit at CCSO.
“You just never learn do you; we are going to violate your bond and you are going to jail,” Tomasello told CDN he remembered the person saying.
An argument ensued and the individual eventually hung up.
If this was Shields, calling from a blocked number would be a violation of protocol; Tomasello says this isn’t the first time he has called from a blocked number.
An email to the press team at CCSO for an explanation of this chain of events was left unanswered.
