A former Tinley Park political operative was acquitted Friday on charges of electronic harassment and transmitting obscene messages in a case that drew in state legislators and put a spotlight on the bare-knuckle nature of local politics.
Timothy Pawula, once a political ally of Tinley Park Mayor Michael Glotz, was found not guilty of the misdemeanor charges following a bench trial in Cook County. The charges, filed in October 2024, could have resulted in up to 180 days in jail and a fine of $1,500.
The verdict came from Cook County Associate Judge Mohammad Abedelal Ahmad, who expressed "reasonable doubts" about the state’s investigation. The central issue was the ownership of a cellphone seized by Illinois State Police, which was used to send the inflammatory messages. The judge said he was uncertain if the phone belonged to Pawula personally or to his employer at the time, a political consulting firm named Big Tent Coalition.
“The court has reasonable doubts as to whether the defendant was in exclusive, sole possession of that phone,” Abedelal stated in his ruling, adding that this uncertainty made it impossible to find Pawula guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
The obscene messages
The investigation began after a series of obscene text messages were sent to approximately 20 people on April 4, 2023, which was Election Day. The recipients included state Rep. Robert “Bob” Rita, D-Blue Island, and the husband of Ahleah Salefski, who was then a candidate for village clerk in Tinley Park.
The message, presented as evidence during the trial, included a photoshopped image. It took a 2017 social media post from Salefski that mentioned “lusting after someone you know you probably shouldn’t” and superimposed the faces of Rita and Salefski. Salefski’s image was altered to suggest a sexual act.
During her testimony, Salefski said she felt humiliated by the message. "I felt like people were going to look at me like I was some sexual deviant," she said. Salefski testified that she is close friends with Rita’s daughter and that the state representative was a supporter of her candidacy. “I was planning to start coaching for a youth organization and I was worried that all these kids that I was planning to coach as well as their families were seeing these things about me.”
Master Sgt. Cary Morin of the Illinois State Police testified that investigators used a search warrant to obtain records from the messaging app Ping and from Apple Inc. These records linked the unknown number to Pawula. Police then searched a phone they believed to be Pawula's, where they found the messages and a screenshot of them that had been sent to a group chat that included Mayor Glotz. In that chat, prosecutors said Pawula referred to himself as “the dirtiest piggy in the pen.”
A First Amendment defense
Prosecutors argued the nature of the messages and the fact they were sent to family and friends of Rita and Salefski proved they were intended to offend and qualified as obscene under Illinois law. The state statute defines the crime as using "language or terms which are obscene, lewd or immoral with the intent to offend.”
However, Pawula’s defense team argued that while the tactics may have been distasteful, the messages constituted political speech protected by the First Amendment. Defense attorney Frank Andreano argued that the state’s response to the texts was a politically motivated overreach.
“An insult isn’t an obscenity,” Andreano said during the trial. He characterized the investigation involving subpoenas and search warrants as "frightening and scary." “Oppose us, and if you say something we don’t like, the whole weight and force of the state of Illinois will come down on you,” he said of the message it sent.
Pawula’s other attorney, Phillip Lee, said the verdict was consistent with the law and that his client was “eager to put this matter behind him and to move on with his life.”
Fallout and ongoing legal battles
Following the verdict, Pawula expressed relief, stating he was surprised when he was arrested. As a political operative, he said, he “never wanted to be front and center.”
I’ve always thought that absolute power corrupts absolutely, and the only reason I ever got involved (in politics) was to balance the scales toward purple.
He added that he has been “blackballed” professionally since the criminal charges were filed. The case is not the only recent instance of political figures facing harassment charges in the region; a Frankfort man recently pleaded guilty to harassing Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Rep. Rita issued a sharply worded statement after the acquittal, calling the conduct at the heart of the case “perverse and disturbing.” He suggested the acquittal does not end the matter. "The evidence shown by the Attorney General’s Office at trial raises serious questions about the behavior of elected officials who helped execute this campaign of harassment and intimidation to win an election,” Rita stated.
Mayor Glotz, in turn, has reportedly raised questions about Rita’s own conduct as an elected official, highlighting the deep political divisions that frame the controversy. These battles often extend beyond personal disputes, mirroring civic struggles across the country, such as when Churchville residents fought an industrial plan on community land.
The political connections in this case run deep. At the time the texts were sent, Pawula was working for the Big Tent Coalition, a political action committee founded by former state Rep. Tim Ozinga, R-Mokena. Pawula also served as Ozinga’s chief of staff and campaign treasurer before Ozinga abruptly resigned his office in April 2024. The acquittal in the criminal case does not impact a separate, ongoing civil lawsuit filed in February 2025 by Sen. Michael Hastings, D-Frankfort. That suit alleges that Pawula, Glotz, and the Big Tent Coalition engaged in a coordinated “smear campaign” against him in 2022. The legal standard of proof is lower in a civil case, meaning Hastings could still prevail in that lawsuit, leaving the political fallout from this episode far from settled.
