Judge's Druggie Kid Does 8-Year Prison Sentence in 7 Months

When undercover drug agents pinched the son of former Will County Chief Judge Rodney Lechwar on a heroin charge in April 2012, the Channahon man was looking at a possible 30-year prison sentence.

But last minute maneuvering by a special prosecutor appointed to the case—and a favorable recommendation by a judge—allowed the son, Matthew Lechwar, to get out of prison last week after serving less than seven months.

Matthew Lechwar finished the trip to prison—his second in less than two years—on June 5. He was also sentenced to a year in prison for a 2010 Cook County drug conviction.

On the day Matthew Lechwar, 30, was to be sentenced for his most recent drug case, special prosecutor Charles Colburn reduced the charge from a class X felony to a class 1. Colburn, who was appointed due to the position of Rodney Lechwar as a former Will County judge, explained at the time that agents from the Metropolitan Area Narcotics Squad got the weight of Matthew Lechwar's heroin wrong and the charge was too high.

Will County Judge Edward Burmila still sentenced Matthew Lechwar to eight years in prison, but the reduced charge cleared the way for Lechwar to enter a special boot camp program that would significantly reduce his time behind bars.

Burmila recommended Matthew Lechwar for the boot camp program at the behest of Colburn and defense attorney George Lenard. The same day he packed Matthew Lechwar off to serve less than eight percent of his eight years, Judge Burmila sentenced a Plainfield man to two and a half years in prison for driving on a revoked license. He also threatened to sentence a Joliet woman to the maximum 21 years if she violated the terms of her bond and was later was found guilty in her sex case. The woman, Margarita Hernandez, had no criminal record.

Matthew Lechwar, on the other hand, does. In addition to the two drug cases that landed him in prison, he was charged in 2006 with the unlawful delivery of heroin. He got that case dropped by successfully completing a special drug court program.

Matthew Lechwar also has a 2000 possession of cannabis conviction out of Kendall County, a 2003 driving under the influence conviction in Will County, and a 2004 possession of a controlled substance conviction from Grundy County, Colburn said during the November sentencing hearing.

Before he served his seven months in prison, Matthew Lechwar was in custody for seven and a half months in the Will County jail.

Rodney Lechwar served as a judge from 1985 until 2010 and was the chief judge in Will County from 1997 to 2003. For 10 years prior to becoming a judge, Rodney Lechwar was a Will County prosecutor.

Rodney Lechwar is now a mediator with ADR Systems, "the Chicago area’s largest alternative dispute resolution service." A message left with ADR Systems was not returned.

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