Sheriff’s office says Chicago rail chief expressed love for agency in suicide note

Report released on Chicago rail chief’s suicide

WOODSTOCK, Ill. — Authorities say the head of Chicago’s commuter rail service who committed suicide earlier this month by stepping in front of a train professed his love of the agency in a suicide note.

Details of the note were included in a 40-page report the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department released Tuesday. The report also recounts the hours before Metra Executive Director Phil Pagano stepped in front of a train on May 7.

The Sheriff’s Department says Pagano wrote that he had always done things the right way “with the exception of this one mistake.” That’s apparently a reference to an investigator’s finding that the 60-year-old Pagano had improperly taken $475,000 in vacation payouts.

The note was addressed to Metra’s board and Chairwoman Carole Doris.

Information from: The Northwest Herald, www.nwherald.com