A special prosecutor filed two misdemeanor charges Thursday against Caseyville Police Chief Jose Alvarez for his outburst during a Feb. 19 Caseyville Village Board meeting.

On-again, off-again Caseyville Police Chief Jose Alvarez

A disorderly conduct charge was filed claiming Alvarez “knowingly acted in such unreasonable manner as to alarm or disturb another and to provoke a breach of the peace during the course of a meeting of the Caseyville Village Board…The defendant shouted, made threatening gestures, and stalked about the room.”

A battery charge was also filed, in which Special Prosecutor David Rands alleges “Alvarez made physical contact of an insulting and provoking nature with Frank Moore, striking Moore in the chest with his chest” during the same meeting.

The two men appear to make contact with their stomachs after Moore approached Alvarez while the latter was telling Mayor Leonard Black that Bob Romanik was in charge of the police department and the town. Village Attorney John Gilbert appears to motion toward Moore to intervene as soon as Alvarez begins to accuse Black of allowing Romanik to run the town.

Moore remained toe-to-toe with the chief despite being commanded repeatedly to sit down.

“Go sit down,” Alvarez said, “I’m your chief, go sit down,” Alvarez says several times, at one point motioning to his badge and telling then interim chief Moore that “chief” is written on the badge, not “interim chief.”

Alvarez previously admitted that he acted inappropriately at the meeting, but said his behavior was not criminal.

“I am the leader of the department. I should be held to a higher standard,” Alvarez told The Metro Independent in March.

Bob Jones, Alvarez’s Belleville based attorney, said he and Alvarez were “shocked and dismayed” that Rands filed charges.

“We’re vigorously going to defend these charges, and I feel he is going to be exonerated in the end,” Jones said.

Mayor Leonard Black said he thought Moore, must have pressed charges against Alvarez, because he is the person Alvarez is accused of bumping in the chest with his chest. Moore is currently on sick leave from the department, but expected to return “in the next day or two,” Black said.

A special prosecutor was appointed in the case because Alvarez is a former employee of St. Clair County State’s Attorney Brendan Kelly. Rands, who works out of an office in O’Fallon, gained national attention as a prosecutor that twice attempted to convict Julie Rea-Harper in the 1997 murder of her 10-year-old son in Lawrenceville, Ill.

Rea-Harper was found guilty during her first trial. After the conviction made national headlines, an author familiar with the methods of confessed child serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells, approached him about the possibility he committed the murder.

Sells confessed to Rands during a 2003 interview in Texas, where the recently executed man provided details of the murder that prosecutors said were inconsistent. Sells was never prosecuted for the murder

“There are no other suspects. This was an exhaustive investigation. Tommy Sells was never a suspect. I interviewed him personally, and he was never able to provide us with details of the murder,” Rands said, after Rea-Harper was found not guilty at her second trial.

The first hearing in the Alvarez case is set for May 21 at the St. Clair County Courthouse. Multiple media reports indicated that Alvarez has been suspended with pay pending the outcome of the charges. Alvarez, however, said he was not notified of a suspension.

As of 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Black indicated that Alvarez was still the chief. No Village Board meeting was held Thursday. Attempts to reach two board members for clarification were unsuccessful.