UIC campus cop with extremist ties is banned from testifying in Cook County court cases

Cook County prosecutors say they can no longer rely on any testimony from a campus cop at the University of Illinois-Chicago who has acknowledged joining and paying dues to the Oath Keepers — a national, anti-government extremist group.

WBEZ and the Sun-Times reported in October that the UIC cop, Matthew Paulish, did not get punished by the state university despite showing up on the membership list of the Oath Keepers, which played a key role in the riot at the U.S. Capitol in 2021.

In a letter to UIC Police Chief Kevin Booker in November, an aide to Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx cited Paulish’s ties to extremism as the reason they would not rely on the officer’s testimony in potential future cases.

“Please be advised that effective immediately, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office will no longer sponsor UIC Police Officer Matthew Paulish as a witness in any matter,” wrote Foxx aide Sonia Brodie. “This decision is based on our concerns about his alleged membership and involvement with extremist groups.”

Brodie signed the letter to UIC as the “Brady/Giglio Officer,” meaning she was responsible for the state’s attorney’s list of cops whose questionable credibility prevents them from being called as witnesses in cases prosecuted by the office. WBEZ and the Sun-Times obtained the letter this week through an open-records request.

The state’s attorney’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Wednesday. UIC declined to comment.

Foxx’s office also has barred 10 Chicago cops from testifying in their cases after the men were identified as having joined the Oath Keepers in the WBEZ, Sun-Times and Organized Crime and Corruption Project investigation of “Extremism in the Ranks.”

The series reported that 27 current and former members of the Chicago Police Department appeared on the leaked membership rolls for the Oath Keepers. City records show some of those have faced serious misconduct complaints, including accusations of excessive force and racist comments to civilians and colleagues while on the job.

In Paulish’s case, UIC police conducted an internal investigation in 2022, after the Anti-Defamation League sent the force a letter notifying the department’s chief that Paulish appeared on the membership list for the Oath Keepers, according to records obtained by WBEZ and the Sun-Times.

The UIC police’s probe concluded that Paulish violated a departmental rule against acting in any way that “would degrade or bring disrespect upon the employee or the Department, including public association with persons of known criminal reputation.”

But Paulish received only “verbal counsel,” after saying he had not been aware he was signing up for an “extreme right-wing anti-government militia group.”

State records show Paulish remains with the UIC police force, which hired him in September 2005, and previously worked as a campus cop at Northeastern Illinois University, another state school in Chicago.

Paulish initially told an internal affairs investigator that he did not recall signing up for the Oath Keepers. When pressed, he acknowledged he may have become a member of the Oath Keepers when he made a donation to the group “just one time” in 2009, according to the investigator’s report.

The leaked membership records for the Oath Keepers suggest he remained on the membership list for several years, and in his application to the Oath Keepers, Paulish told the group he had been an officer since 2004 and learned of the organization through “a friend from work.”

UIC records and a video recording of his internal affairs interview show Paulish told the investigator he never had further contact with the Oath Keepers after giving them his contact information and the donation. He also said in the interview that he joined the Oath Keepers because he thought it advocated for Illinois to allow concealed carry and he believed the Oath Keepers was “a pro-law enforcement entity.”

The internal affairs investigator criticized Paulish because he “did not fully investigate the philosophy of the group prior to his membership,” according to the final case report.

But Paulish was not fired or suspended after the investigator concluded that Paulish did not “intentionally violate” policy. The investigator also argued that the Oath Keepers was “not as organized” when Paulish signed up as it later became.

The Chicago Police Department also did not take disciplinary action against any of the cops who have been barred from testifying by Foxx’s office for their Oath Keepers ties, with officials at the force concluding that joining the group did not violate departmental rules.

But Mayor Brandon Johnson promised to rid the force of Oath Keepers and other extremists during his campaign for office last year, and Police Supt. Larry Snelling told the City Council that the department would conduct a new and “stringent” investigation into the matter after “Extremism in the Ranks” was published.

The city’s independent inspector general, Deborah Witzburg, also is investigating. A civilian-led police oversight panel also recently approved a rule that would ban officers from joining hate or extremist groups.

Dan Mihalopoulos is an investigative reporter on WBEZ’s Government & Politics Team. Tom Schuba is a criminal justice editor for the Chicago Sun-Times.