Crime & Safety
Attorney: Google Links Seipler to Blog
Sheriff's attorney said the search engine giant connected the former deputy to a blog through his own email account.
The attorney for McHenry County Sheriff’s Office has requested a federal judge dismiss a lawsuit filed by former deputy Zane Seipler.
Seipler filed a wrongful termination lawsuit in 2008 after he said he was fired for being a whistleblower while working as a deputy at the Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff’s Attorney Jim Sotos said he has evidence the plaintiff violated court orders by publishing sealed documents on an Internet blog and wants the case dismissed.
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Sotos said Google provided documentation linking Seipler’s e-mail account to the blog.
Based on that evidence and citing Seipler lied in his June 21 affidavit swearing he didn’t know who owned the website and that he did not release the documents to anyone, the defense has asked for a dismissal without prejudice.
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Sotos said the evidence proves Seipler was the creator of “The Real MCSO Exposed,” an anonymous blog featuring official looking documents from the Sheriff’s Office. The blog was removed after reported the story June 10.
The documents in question were provided to Seipler and his attorney as part of the lawsuit’s discovery process under the condition they were to be kept confidential. Sotos has maintained the editing marks on the pages were specific to Seipler and his attorney’s copies only. Those same markings appeared on the documents on the website.
Seipler has denied responsibility of the website, posting any documents on it, or otherwise releasing the documents to anyone.
He told Crystal Lake Patch on June 10
Sotos declined to comment specifically outside of the court documents regarding his motion. However, he said that Seipler had admitted throughout the litigation that the e-mail since linked to the blog site belonged to him.
“We obviously take it very seriously or we wouldn’t have asked for the sanctions we asked for,” he said.
Magistrate Michael Mahoney has given Sieipler until Aug. 31 to respond to the defense’s motion.
Seipler’s attorney, Blake Horowitz, did not immediately return a phone call requesting comment.
