East Central Reporter

The Shelby County State’s Attorney office is facing scrutiny over the handling of a case involving Carlos Oberg, who was charged with 33 criminal counts related to child sex offenses. These charges included traveling to engage in unlawful sexual conduct with a child, child pornography, and grooming. Initially, the charges were filed to provide concurrent sentences rather than consecutive ones, resulting in a maximum sentence of five years.

Woolery, who took office on May 10, 2024, accepted a plea deal that resulted in Oberg receiving a minimal sentence. "DEFENDANT PLEADS GUILTY TO COUNTS 1-24; ON COUNTS 1-24, DEFENDANT SENTENCED TO 5-YEARS IN IDOC, DAY FOR DAY CREDIT TO APPLY; UP TO 12-MONTHS OF M.S.R. CREDIT FOR 201-DAYS SERVED," states the court record. With day-for-day credit and time already served taken into account, Oberg could be released in approximately 1.9 years.

Former State’s Attorney Robert Hanlon had initially offered a plea deal of 20 years but Woolery's failure to amend certain charges led to the acceptance of the current plea deal. In communications received by Woolery from Hanlon via FOIA requests, Hanlon stated: “BTW-you got bamboozled on the Carlo Oberg case... Did you think I offered 20 years because I didn’t understand? It was just the opposite."

Further controversy surrounds Woolery's handling of Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests related to this case. A request for key records resulted in violations due to unredacted private information being released while other records were denied on grounds of sensitivity concerning the identity of a minor victim. The Attorney General Public Access Counselor is currently reviewing these FOIA violations.

In light of these issues, concerns have been raised about potential misuse of public records containing signatures from judges and other officials.