A settlement has been reached between a former Forest Park village council member who sued the town and the municipal defendants she accused of spying on her e-mail. Terms of the agreement, disclosed Jan. 19 in a brief memo filed with the U.S. District Court, were not made public and a phone call to the plaintiff’s attorney was not returned.
Former council member Terry Steinbach had filed her original complaint in August 2006. She accused Mayor Anthony Calderone and a police officer of hacking into her e-mail account that was maintained by the village. The mayor was later dismissed from the case because the statute of limitations had expired, and shortly thereafter settlement talks with the police officer and the village began.
Evidence verified that the mayor’s laptop was used to access e-mails of several political rivals, including Steinbach, but the viewing was extremely brief and appeared limited to a “test e-mail.” The mayor has steadfastly denied ever accessing the former commissioner’s account.
