Leadership
Inspector General Philip Wagenknecht
Philip Wagenknecht has been with the Office of Inspector General since 2015. He is an AIG Certified Inspector General. During his tenure with the office, he helped oversee the formation of the OIG’s Performance Analysis Unit and Sexual Allegations Unit, while continuing the mission of the office’s general investigative work. He also is an appointed member of the Task Force to Make Sexual and Severe Physical Abuse Fully Extinct ("Make S.A.F.E. Task Force"), a State of Illinois legislative initiative that examined the best practices for preventing and responding to sexual abuse in schools and recommended legal and institutional changes to better protect students.
Prior to joining the OIG, he served as a judicial clerk to the Hon. William E. Cassady in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama and practiced law with a boutique firm, where he litigated cases involving breaches of fiduciary duty, ethical violations and fraud, among other matters. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois, as well.
Philip Wagenknecht has been with the Office of Inspector General since 2015. He is an AIG Certified Inspector General. During his tenure with the office, he helped oversee the formation of the OIG’s Performance Analysis Unit and Sexual Allegations Unit, while continuing the mission of the office’s general investigative work. He also is an appointed member of the Task Force to Make Sexual and Severe Physical Abuse Fully Extinct ("Make S.A.F.E. Task Force"), a State of Illinois legislative initiative that examined the best practices for preventing and responding to sexual abuse in schools and recommended legal and institutional changes to better protect students.
Prior to joining the OIG, he served as a judicial clerk to the Hon. William E. Cassady in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama and practiced law with a boutique firm, where he litigated cases involving breaches of fiduciary duty, ethical violations and fraud, among other matters. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Illinois College of Law and received his undergraduate degree from the University of Illinois, as well.
General Investigations
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Deputy Inspector General Joseph Ptasinski
Joseph Ptasinski joined the office in 2018 and currently serves as a Deputy Inspector General. Joseph was previously an Assistant Inspector General in the OIG. Prior to joining the OIG, Joseph worked as an attorney in private practice litigating cases involving misappropriation of assets, fraud, and breaches of fiduciary duty. Joseph is a Certified Fraud Examiner and received his B.A. from the University of Notre Dame and J.D. from the Northwestern University School of Law. |
Chief Investigator Daria Dzura
Daria has worked in public service since 1991. She has been a Chief Investigator for the Board of Education Office of Inspector General's Office since 2016. Daria is a decorated veteran of the United States Army Military Police Corps, and served as a Special Agent for the Criminal Investigation Division. Working investigations from homicides, the Oklahoma Federal Building bombing, to seizing over five million dollars of drugs at Fort Riley, Kansas, to working in protective service for the Secretary of Defense. Daria also spent 17 years with the City of Chicago Inspector General's office working a variety of criminal and administrative investigations. |
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Assistant Inspector General Nicholas Infusino
Nick Infusino joined the office as an Assistant Inspector General in the General Investigations Unit in 2021. Nick previously served as an Assistant Corporation Counsel in the City of Chicago, Department of Law from 2015 to 2021, where he litigated employee misconduct cases before the Chicago Police Board and Human Resources Board, responded to discrimination complaints filed at the EEOC, IDHR, and CCHR, and served as a subject matter expert on employee military leave and pay laws. Nick earned a B.A. in History and Political Science from Northwestern University and a J.D. from Loyola University Chicago. |
Chief Investigator Ozzie Skenderi
Ozzie has spent almost his entire career as an investigator for CPS OIG working a variety of administrative cases and many of the office's criminal investigations. He became an AIG Certified Inspector General - Investigator in 2013 and he has moved his way up the ranks at CPS OIG to become a Chief Investigator in 2024. Prior to coming to CPS OIG, he also worked for the Illinois Attorney General's Office Criminal Investigations Division. Ozzie graduated magna cum laude from Western Illinois University with a degree in Law Enforcement and Justice Administration. |
Sexual Allegations Unit
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Assistant Deputy Inspector General Christina Guarisco
Christina Guarisco is an Assistant Deputy Inspector General in the Sexual Allegations Unit. She joined the OIG as a Staff Attorney in 2022. Christina graduated cum laude from Loyola University Chicago School of Law in 2010. From 2010 to 2022, Christina was an editor at a legal education company, where she wrote and edited test preparation materials for state bar exams, law school exams, the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, and the Solicitors Qualifying Examination in England and Wales. She also served as a subject matter expert on evidence law and legal ethics. |
Director, SAU Investigations Maiesha Thomas
Maiesha Thomas is a Director of SAU Investigations for the OIG's Sexual Allegations Unit. She joined the OIG as a Senior Investigator in 2021. Prior to joining the OIG, Maiesha prosecuted misdemeanor and felony cases as an Assistant State's Attorney with the Cook County State's Attorney's Office for over a decade. Maiesha holds a B.A. in Africana Studies and Politics from New York University and a J.D. from DePaul University College of Law. |
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Assistant Inspector General Tony Walner
Tony Walner is an Assistant Inspector General in the Sexual Allegations Unit. He received his B.A. in Psychology and English/Creative Writing from Emory University and J.D. from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. Tony previously worked as an immigration attorney supporting unaccompanied minors. Before law school, Tony was also an undergraduate admissions officer, a language arts and social studies teacher in Guatemala, and an advertising copywriter. |
Chief Investigator Angelika Tryba
Angelika Tryba is a Chief Investigator for the OIG's Sexual Allegations Unit. She joined the OIG as an Investigator in 2015, working cases for the General Investigations Unit, and joined the SAU when it was founded in 2018. Angelika has a B.A. in Criminal Justice and a B.S. in Accounting from Southern Illinois University - Carbondale. Chief Investigator Felicia Papafio
Felicia Papafio is a Chief Investigator for the Office of Inspector General’s Sexual Allegations Unit. She joined the OIG in 2020 as an Investigator and later served as a Senior Investigator, where she conducted Title IX investigations and handled complex and sensitive matters involving allegations of adult-on-student sexual misconduct. Prior to joining the OIG, Felicia served as a forensic interviewer with the Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center, where she conducted developmentally appropriate and legally defensible interviews of children and adolescents alleging abuse and worked closely with multidisciplinary partners, including law enforcement and prosecutors. She has also served as an expert witness in multiple court proceedings related to forensic interviewing and investigative findings. Felicia holds a Master of Public Administration from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a B.A. in Political Science and Speech Communications from Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. |