Patrick Dowhen reached the point where he was taking apart his own truck.
He suspected someone was tracking him, he told ABC7 Chicago, after his former fiancée allegedly began knowing where he was and what he was doing. Dowhen looked for a physical tracking device but said he found nothing.
What police later found was different. According to internal Naperville Police Department records obtained by ABC7, Officer Oscar Maldonado searched automated license plate reader data associated with Dowhen’s vehicle approximately 150 times over a three-month period in 2025. The searches reportedly began after Maldonado entered a relationship with Dowhen’s former fiancée.
Naperville’s internal investigation ultimately found a preponderance of evidence that Maldonado had used Flock Safety’s license plate-reading system for personal reasons and committed official misconduct, ABC7 reported. Maldonado retired before the department imposed discipline. No criminal charge against him has been announced.
Inside The Searches
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Dowhen told ABC7 he first became suspicious in 2025 because his former fiancée appeared to know details about his movements. He believed Maldonado was giving her information obtained through police systems.
He eventually brought his concerns to Naperville Police Chief Jason Arres. The complaint led to an internal investigation examining possible official misconduct and stalking, according to the records reviewed by ABC7.
Investigators found evidence that Maldonado had run roughly 150 Flock searches involving Dowhen’s vehicle. During an internal interrogation, Maldonado said he had safety concerns involving Dowhen’s former fiancée and his own family.
The department’s investigators rejected that explanation, ABC7 reported, concluding the evidence contradicted Maldonado’s claim that his searches had been limited to safety concerns. The internal report said investigators gathered more than 100 pieces of evidence pointing to violations of department policy, its law-enforcement code of ethics and abuse of authority.
Dowhen also obtained a stalking no-contact order against Maldonado while the investigation was underway, according to court records reviewed by ABC7. That order was later dropped after the two men agreed to a separate two-year no-contact, no-stalking arrangement.
Rules Already Existed
Naperville did not have to create a rule against personal Flock searches after Dowhen complained. It already had one.
The department’s October 2025 ALPR policy restricted the system to law enforcement and public safety functions and expressly said its information could not be used for personal reasons.
The same policy separately prohibited officers from using ALPR information to harass or intimidate someone or for personal purposes.
Historical searches also came with documentation requirements. For local searches, officers were required to enter a valid related incident number into the search-reason field. Nationwide searches similarly required a valid incident number.
Oversight, however, was considerably less frequent than it is now. The old policy called for system audits annually, including reviews of usage, password security and training.
That changed this month.
A Different Audit
Naperville’s revised policy, dated Sept. 8, requires documented monthly audits of ALPR use.
Those reviews are supposed to examine the user performing a search, the associated case or incident information, the stated purpose and whether the search was reasonably related to that purpose.
The policy goes further when a pattern looks unusual.
Supervisors are now directed to conduct targeted reviews of unusual search volumes or patterns, inadequately documented searches and repeated searches involving the same vehicle.
That language closely tracks the kind of activity uncovered in the Maldonado investigation, where ABC7 reported roughly 150 searches involving Dowhen’s vehicle over three months.
Naperville’s public police transparency page now says suspected ALPR misuse can lead to loss of access, discipline, criminal investigation or prosecution when applicable.
Retirement Came First
The department never reached the discipline stage with Maldonado.
ABC7 obtained a May 1, 2026, email showing that he retired. Naperville Police spokesperson Rick Krakow told the station that the internal investigation had been completed but had not been formally closed because Maldonado still had to meet with the chief for discipline.
His retirement ended that process.
The internal report said the evidence had also been provided to the Will County Sheriff’s Office. The sheriff’s office referred the matter to Will County prosecutors in March, according to ABC7.
The Will County State’s Attorney’s Office would neither confirm nor deny to the station whether Maldonado remains under investigation.
Maldonado declined ABC7’s interview request. His attorney, Jeff Tomczak, argued that violating department rules governing Flock use could justify firing an officer without necessarily constituting a crime. He also maintained that Maldonado had legitimate safety concerns.
The Legal Question
Illinois does have an official misconduct statute. Among other provisions, it applies when a public employee, intending to obtain a personal advantage for himself or another person, acts beyond his lawful authority.
Naperville’s internal investigators concluded that Maldonado’s conduct met the standard for official misconduct, according to ABC7. That is an internal administrative finding, not a criminal conviction, and prosecutors would have to determine whether the available evidence establishes a criminal offense.
Illinois lawmakers are separately considering legislation aimed specifically at ALPR systems.
House Bill 5231, introduced in February, would create detailed restrictions on law-enforcement ALPR use and make certain willful and intentional prohibited searches or disclosures a Class 1 misdemeanor. The bill was returned to the House Rules Committee in March and has not become law.
Flock has also been changing its own controls. In August, the company announced additional safeguards, including plans to require its Audit Assistance system for law-enforcement customers by the end of 2026.
Flock says the tool identifies abnormal activity for administrator review. The company also announced plans for automatic temporary lockouts when user activity meets defined abnormal-behavior criteria and mandatory case codes for law-enforcement searches.
Every Flock search is associated with an individual account and recorded in an audit trail, according to the company’s current access safeguards.
Naperville’s revised policy now requires its own supervisors to look specifically for the pattern at the center of Dowhen’s complaint: one user repeatedly searching the same vehicle.
No Discipline
Naperville Police Chief Jason Arres said in the department’s public statement that the complaint was taken seriously and investigated immediately. He said the department would continue auditing its systems, strengthening safeguards and holding itself accountable.
The department also reported Maldonado’s case to the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board, ABC7 reported.
Dowhen told the station his concern now extends beyond what happened to him. Because Maldonado retired without a criminal conviction or completed disciplinary action, Dowhen questioned whether he could eventually obtain another police job with access to similar tools.
For now, the internal investigation is finished, Maldonado is retired, and Naperville’s rules require scrutiny of repeated license-plate searches that its previous policy left to an annual auditing process.