Gary Caruana

The 2026 General Election is still more than 18 months off, but the race for Winnebago County sheriff is already set, and it looks like it will be quite contentious.

Incumbent Sheriff Gary Caruana will seek his fourth term; and for the third time in four elections, he will face a former deputy chief sheriff.

On April 10, retired Winnebago Deputy Chief Sheriff Dom Barcellona announced his candidacy. Barcellona, who retired in 2023 after 27 years, registered as a candidate with the Illinois State Board of Elections in August. In a series of posts on his campaign Facebook page, he says Caruana doesn’t hold staff accountable, is not transparent, doesn’t understand law enforcement, and is “not present,” suggesting he spends much of his time out of the office and on the golf course.

Caruana said Barcellona is an officer he tried to bring through the ranks, appointing him to the SWAT team, and sending him to the FBI Leadership Academy. Barcellona, he said, is “naive” about what leadership entails, and is a micromanager who is not temperamentally fit to run a 400-person law enforcement organization.

Dom Barcellona

Barcellona, who has stated that he is running as an independent, was mostly non-specific in his comments about Caruana during his formal announcement, saying only “There’s gonna be some very glaring facts and truths that come out. By the time I release all the facts, people can judge those facts for themselves and make (their own) determination.”

He has been far more pointed on a series of Facebook posts going back to January. In one post he said, “Being a law enforcement leader is more than showing up to the office occasionally and saying, ‘We have a good team.’ One must understand how to do the job before they can be engaged in the journey.”

In another post he referred to the “inconsistent and in many cases nonexistence of accountability within the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office.”

On April 2, Barcellona replied to a supporter on his campaign Facebook page, saying, “the lack of transparency will be exposed and the voters will be able to have a choice in the next election.”

Caruana, now 68, left the Sheriff’s Department in the 1980s after eight years as a patrol officer and corrections officer, to take a position in the private sector. He ran for sheriff in 2014 after working more than 20 years with United Parcel Service in Illinois, including supervising security operations.

Caruana has faced a former deputy chief candidate before, defeating former Deputy Chief Bob Springer, who ran as a Democrat, in both 2014 and 2018. He ran unopposed in 2022.

Contacted by phone, Caruana initially expressed puzzlement at several of Barcellona’s allegations, particularly regarding a lack of transparency.

“I’m not really sure what he means,” he said, saying that under his leadership the department has been open with the media about incidents and other issues.

He noted that he brought body cameras to the department before the Illinois Legislature mandated them, and installed cameras in the County Jail.

“The budgets are online,” he said. “It’s all audited. Incidents, we put it all on line. Tell me where I’m not transparent.”

As for “understand(ing) how to do the job,” Caruana said, “He can say what he wants, but it’s not true,” noting that he’s served as a police officer for almost 20 years.

Caruana was calm but blunt in his comments about Barcellona’s qualifications.

“Every point he’s making shows his lack of knowledge of leadership,” Caruana said. “People want to be motivated and treated right.”

Caruana said that while he doesn’t normally refer to subordinates who complain “disgruntled employees,” he said the term applies to Barcellona.

In his most pointed jab at Barcellona, Caruana said that in 2023, Barcellona had sought the position of Winnebago County Jail superintendent, but was turned down.

“I told him he was not qualified,” Caruana said.
Barcellona, he said, responded, “If you don’t give me the job, I’m going to run against you.”

Asked if he wanted that on the record, he said, “Yes. I’m calling him disgruntled because that’s what he is.”

A month before his announcement, Barcellona posted a photo on Facebook of a golf course with the text, “A bad day of golf is still better than a good day of work.”

Above the photo, Barcellona messaged, “It’s been a long winter. Golf season is right around the corner. Golf season is the busiest time of year for Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana.”

That appeared to be a thinly veiled reference to Caruana’s membership in the Mauh-Nah-Tee-See Country Club in Rockford. According to Illinois State Board of Election records, Caruana paid the $2,080 membership dues at the golf club from his campaign fund.

Caruana had a what-about-it tone when asked about Barcellona’s dig at him.

“I’m a member of the Mauh-Nah-Tee-See Country Club in Rockford,” he said, adding, “they don’t like to call it a country club.

“I have a golf outing there, and a fund-raiser. I golf with business leaders and my deputies.”

It is, he said, a place to decompress, develop relationships and reward effort.

“He’s one of the guys I used to take golfing,” Caruana said of Barcellona.