Campton Hills: When Personnel Changes Start to Look Like a Pattern
When employees depart during a police corruption investigation, who's left to tell the truth?
Something troubling is unfolding in Campton Hills, Illinois — and while no one involved will put it in writing, the pattern speaks for itself.
In October 2025, four members of the Campton Hills Police Department were indicted for allegedly selling guns from the evidence room, falsifying reports, and engaging in wire fraud and money laundering. Former Police Chief Steven Millar, former officers Scott Coryell and Daniel Hatt, and current officer Douglas Kucik face charges stemming from alleged misconduct that occurred between January 2018 and February 2023.
As the criminal case moves forward, another story from Village Hall deserves closer examination.
The Lupie Severance
Debra Lupie, a former permits clerk, was awarded a $40,000 severance package in September 2023 after alleging a “hostile and toxic work environment.” She was fired on February 15, 2023, after nearly four years of service.
What makes her case noteworthy: Lupie wasn’t the only employee terminated during this period. Executive assistant Dorothea Stipetic was also fired — and Stipetic made a remarkable claim in an email to Shaw Local: “Reports of a toxic work environment were created by the village to provide a basis to terminate my employment because I cooperated with Illinois State Police investigations.”
That statement should make every taxpayer pause.
The village has never confirmed this allegation, but it sits uncomfortably next to everything now known about the police department’s evidence-room scandal.
The Administrator’s Departure
Former Village Administrator Denise Burchard presents the second data point. Hired in November 2021, she was terminated on September 19, 2023 — the same night the board also ended the employment of Stipetic.
No official statement tied Burchard’s termination to the police investigation, and this article makes no such claim. But the timeline merits attention:
Police misconduct occurred from January 2018 to February 2023
The Illinois State Police investigation was underway before the 2025 indictments
Police Chief Millar was placed on administrative leave in July 2023
Burchard and Stipetic were terminated in September 2023
In local government, patterns are often the only window the public has into what happened behind closed session doors.
The Central Question
When multiple employees depart Village Hall during the same period that a major criminal investigation is unfolding in the police department — and one explicitly alleges that cooperation with State Police was a termination factor — residents deserve answers.
Because if the only people who lost their jobs were those who cooperated with investigators, that’s not just a personnel issue. That’s a governance crisis.
What Transparency Requires
Release as much of the 2022–2023 closed-session minutes as legally permitted
Publicly detail the village’s evidence-room audit history
Clarify what reforms were implemented under new police leadership
Demonstrate that no employee faced retaliation for complying with state investigators
Local government depends on people being free — and expected — to tell the truth. Right now, Campton Hills owes its residents the complete story.
SOURCE VERIFICATION
✅ Police Indictments (October 2025)
✅ Debra Lupie – $40,000 Severance
✅ Dorothea Stipetic – ISP Cooperation Allegation
Shaw Local (October 2023) — Stipetic’s quote appears in this article
✅ Denise Burchard – Hiring & Termination