The Illinois State Police have confirmed an investigation into “an allegation” involving Cambria Police Chief Phillip Boss.  

In an April 23 email, ISP Public Information Office Deputy Chief Lt. Brian Lavin told the Daily Egyptian that the Illinois State Special Investigations Unit is investigating an allegation regarding Boss. 

ISP did not provide further information regarding the investigation nor the allegation. Boss did not respond to a request for comment.

The DE previously reported that the police chief admitted he shared a photograph with other people, and he shouldn’t have done it, village records show. “I think I know what this is about and it’s about the photograph and I realize I shouldn’t have shown it to the others,” the chief told the village board, according to minutes from its Jan. 6 meeting. 

Williamson County Sheriff’s Office records show that on Oct. 16, 2025, Boss responded to a call involving a woman who was naked in her neighbor’s vehicle. Two additional Williamson County law enforcement agencies also responded. The woman was subsequently taken by ambulance to Herrin Hospital. Craig Ward, the woman’s neighbor, said in a Facebook comment on the DE’s original story that he had sent a photo of the woman to Boss during the incident out of concern for her.

The board in January voted to allow village attorney Webb Smith to investigate Boss’ conduct. There is no evidence, however, that the investigation has been conducted. Smith refused to comment on the investigation for the DE’s initial April 14 story. 

Since then, the village’s government has faced turmoil. Three village officials resigned, and the village board found itself deadlocked over a vote in February to terminate Boss — a tie that was broken by then-Village President Ron Modglin and resulted in the chief being retained. 

In late February, the village clerk and village president — who are married — resigned from their positions. Without a president to break tie votes, the six village trustees’ 3-3 votes to elect a new village president have ended in a stalemate.

The DE sent several Freedom of Information Act requests to the village in February and March, requesting records regarding the photo, village officials’ correspondence about the photo, investigative files, and case logs regarding the call for service from which the photo was allegedly taken. The village provided public meeting minutes and a response from the chief to the DE’s FOIA requests. In the response to a March 3 FOIA request, Boss wrote that Cambria PD “only assisted the Carterville ambulance service,” and there was no “criminal complaint that would create a report.” 

The DE in March filed a request for review with the Public Access Bureau, a part of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office that ensures compliance with FOIA. An attorney with the bureau contacted the village seeking a detailed description of the efforts the village took to search for the records. 

The village attorney, village clerk and Boss responded to the Public Access Bureau on April 21, regarding “the status of the requested information and why it was not previously produced.” 

In the letter addressed to the bureau, Boss wrote that the photograph referenced in the DE’s FOIA requests was sent “to a department-issued phone” and that the photo was removed from the device.

“At the time of the incident, no criminal complaint was filed,” Boss wrote. “As a result, those photographs were not retained as evidence and were subsequently removed from the department-issued device in the normal course of operations. Therefore, those photographs are no longer in the possession of the Cambria Police Department and cannot be produced.”

In his response to the bureau, Boss also provided a Cambria Police Department case log that showed he had answered Ward’s call on Oct, 16 2025.

Meeting mayhem 

Since these allegations surfaced, village board meetings that would previously only garner a handful of residents in the community’s board room have now been moved to the larger cafeteria, at times devolving into chaos from wall to wall. The DE previously reported that trustees described meetings as toxic and divided, with disputes spilling beyond the allegations themselves into conflicts over residency, past conduct and political loyalties. 

Some residents and community leaders have rallied behind the chief, urging trustees who supported an investigation into the incident to step down.

Trustee Marshall Brown has met allegations that his property is outside the village limits. Brown has said a village ordinance annexed his property into the village in 1996.

In a special meeting on April 21, the village board addressed agenda items from previous meetings that were tabled because of how long the meetings had been lasting.

The village board considered and voted on applicants for village president from the public. No applicants received enough votes from the trustees to become the village president, leaving the position vacant. The board carried a motion to pay for a survey of Brown’s property to determine if it is in village limits.

The board on April 21 went into the executive session to discuss the last agenda item, “discuss threatened litigation.” The nature of the threatened litigation was not clear. Executive sessions are closed to the public, although public bodies can enter to discuss topics like personnel issues and litigation. 

Staff Reporter Brayden Guy can be reached at [email protected]

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