Chicago Heights park district police chief fired after sex video charges
The Chicago Heights Park District fired its chief of police weeks after he was charged with secretly recording himself having sex with women and sharing images from those encounters without their consent.
Christian Daigre was terminated on Dec. 5, according to a statement from Park District Supt. Frank Perez that was read at a board meeting Monday night.
In its decision to fire Daigre, the park district cited his multiple arrests and pending case involving the two women, which the board believed would hamper his ability to perform his job.
“Mr. Daigre’s personal conduct discredited the district’s integrity and placed the district in disrepute,” Perez’s statement said.
Daigre, 41, was charged in late October with two counts of nonconsensual dissemination of a private sexual image and intimidation.
He was released after posting $2,500 bond and pleaded not guilty to the charges on Nov. 28.
Daigre had been suspended without pay since Nov. 6, the park district said. He was placed on administrative leave after the district first learned of the allegations on Oct. 5.
Cook County prosecutors said the two women came forward after learning Daigre shared images of their sexual encounters with him to another person via text message.
Both women said they were unaware they were under surveillance at a South Loop apartment where they had sex with Daigre after meeting him on social media, prosecutors said.
While the allegations were being investigated by Chicago police, Daigre threatened one of the women and a witness in the case, prosecutors said.
Daigre’s attorneys have accused a former colleague of releasing the images in an effort to smear him.
Daigre was arrested again on Nov. 19 and prosecutors were ready to discuss allegations against him involving a third woman. But those charges were immediately dropped at a subsequent bond hearing.
Daigre, who lives with his wife and children in Dyer, Indiana, was hired by the park district’s police department in 2015 as a commander, authorities said. He was promoted to chief in 2016 when the then-chief of the department was charged with DUI, the SunTimes reported.