Saturday, May 4, 2013
A Caribbean music record company owner has a drug dog's lack of punctuality to thank for getting him out of a felony pot charge, but he still couldn't get his marijuana back.
Martin Scott was looking at a possible 30-year prison sentence after a police dog found pot in the trunk of his car back in September 2011. But a Cook County judge decided this week that the 41 minutes a state trooper made Scott wait for the dog to show up was too long, and ruled that the marijuana could not be used as evidence against him. Without that evidence, prosecutors decided to drop the case. Scott, 52, said he is the owner of Kingston, Jamaica, based UIM Records. He also said he obtained his marijuana legally in California and asked if he could have it back. He was refused. Scott left the Markham courthouse a happy—and free—man, and strolled away puffing on his electronic cigarette. Not too many other people written about last …
Thursday, April 11, 2013
A Joliet man who pleaded guilty earlier this year to child pornography and unlawful videotaping charges will be sentenced next month.
A former Joliet resident who pleaded guilty to child pornography and unlawful videotaping charges will be sentenced next month. Timothy Zak, 45, appeared in court Wednesday but his attorney, Vincent Cornelius, said he was still waiting on a sex offender evaluation to be completed. Zak was arrested in October after police said they learned he had secretly recorded his teenage stepdaughter getting in and out of the shower. Zak was reportedly living with the teen in a Waterway Court house on the city's far west side when the videos were recorded but resided in Wheaton at the time of his arrest, according to jail records. Police initially secured only two felony charges of unlawfully videotaping a person younger than 18 against Zak, but an …
Wednesday, February 13, 2013
The Joliet man apologized for his actions but the judge still gave him 14 years.
A Joliet man facing up to 15 years in prison for beating his young stepdaughter got almost the maximum, with the judge giving him 14 years behind bars. Richard Harris, 35, had pleaded guilty last week to a charge of aggravated battery to a child. He also told Judge Sarah Jones he was "sorry." Harris was arrested in February 2011. He allegedly beat his 2-year-old stepdaughter. Harris will have to serve at least 85 percent of the 14 years. Judge Jones will entertain a motion to reconsider her sentence on Feb. 26.
Saturday, January 12, 2013
Drew Peterson was in court last week trying to get a new trial, and there were a few other people with cases too.
Drew Peterson was brought into a courtroom packed with reporters and had a hearing to set the date for another hearing to see if he can have a do-over of his murder trial. That was the biggest thing going on at the Will County Courthouse last week, but it wasn't the only thing. Let's look at what else was going on in the week that was:
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Missing mother Linda Fellenbaum—who is wanted on an arrest warrant—was tossed out of her Hinsdale apartment a month and a half before she vanished. Her toddler son remains missing as well.
Just a month and a half before she supposedly ran barefoot into the Joliet night, never to be seen again, DuPage County Sheriff's deputies served an eviction order at missing mom Linda Fellenbaum's Hinsdale apartment. Fellenbaum's possessions were carried from the apartment on Sept. 5 and left outside. By then, according to police, Fellenbaum, 33, was living with her new boyfriend, Donald Wolak, in his house on Joliet's west side. According to the report, she did not return to collect her things. Wolak and Fellenbaum's relationship started after they met online in late August, police said, but the affair had apparently soured by Oct. 16. That was when Wolak, 40, told police Fellenbaum stole a "large sum of cash" and one of his handguns. …
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
The toddler son of missing mother Linda Fellenbaum has not been seen by his family in months.
OUTSIDE CHICAGO, IL -- Detectives trying to unravel the mystery surrounding a local woman who vanished nearly a month ago now are also trying to track down her youngest child. "There's some question as to his whereabouts," Joliet police Cmdr. Brian Benton said of Linda Fellenbaum's toddler son Jonathan. Fellenbaum, 33, of Joliet, was last seen Oct. 21. At the time of her disappearance, she was living with her boyfriend of two months, 40-year-old Donald Wolak. Benton said Wolak told detectives he and Fellenbaum argued and she fled his 3608 Crockett Court home barefoot, leaving behind her shoes, cell phone and Toyota Camry. Fellenbaum has not been seen since. But her 2-year-old-son Jonathan has apparently been missing for even longer. READ …
Thursday, November 1, 2012
A Chicago man's sex chats with someone he thought was a 14-year-old Naperville girl turned out to really be with a cop, so he went to jail, police said.
A Chicago man who thought he was preying on a 14-year-old Naperville girl got the surprise of his life when he found out he'd actually been sex-talking and exposing himself to a cop, police said. Mark Barreto, 34, of 300 N. Canal St. was jailed Wednesday on charges of aggravated child pornography, regular child pornography, indecent solicitation of a child, and grooming. "The Bolingbrook Police Department, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service and the FBI were instrumental in conducting the investigation and securing the arrest," according to a release from the Will County State's Attorney's Office. Barreto allegedly transferred digital images of child pornography over the Internet. His online creepiness also included discussing "acts of …
Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Another seven lovers of boys are also headed for prison three years after they were arrested by federal agents.
A self-avowed boy-loving Crest Hill man is headed off to federal prison on a nine-year sentence for possessing and distributing child pornography. And when Mark McGill, 27, gets out of the penitentiary, he will be on probation for another 20 years. McGill was one of eight men arrested in a 2009 FBI sting. Federal agents set a up their pervert pitfall by organizing a hotel party in Skokie for McGill and the other "self-identified 'boylovers,'" according to a statement released by the U.S. Attorney's Office. McGill and the others were all arrested during or soon after the party. Six of the eight copped guilty pleas. Three of the six who pleaded were used against McGill and the one other man who chose to fight the charges in court. This man, …
Wednesday, October 10, 2012
The committeewoman for the Troy Democrats charged with having sex with a teenage boy had her bond lowered by $150,000.
The 76-year-old boyfriend of a 32-year-old woman charged with setting up a sex date with a 15-year-old boy believes he can spring his young lover from jail now that a judge lowered her bond. "I'm working on it now to get that," veteran weekly newspaperman John Gabriel said of the $10,000 he needs to bail lady friend Margarita Hernandez out of jail. Judge Richard Schoenstedt reduced Hernandez's bond from $250,000 to $100,000 Wednesday. She only needs to post 10 percent of that for her release from the Will County jail. "Margarita has very substantial savings," said Gabriel, who like his live-in girlfriend is a precinct committeeman for the Troy Township Democrats. While Hernandez might have money stashed away, Gabriel said he can't get at …
Tuesday, October 9, 2012
The lawyer for James Severson will get a chance to cut down the porn-possessor's sentence next week.
Shorewood piano tuner James Severson will likely be playing the prison blues for the next three years. Judge Sarah Jones sentenced Severson to a three year hitch Tuesday for possessing child pornography. Jones said passing sentence is something she "struggles" with, but still packed Severson off to prison. "It's a hard thing to do," she said. Jones said she took into account the sadomasochistic nature of the video and photographs found on Severson's computer. She also considered that he has no criminal history. The law learned of Severson's kiddie porn collection after his wife, Margaret DeLeon, sought a court order in January 2008 to keep him away from her and her teenage daughter. "My husband has purchased 14 child pornography videos …
ralph
12:57 pm on Sunday, May 12, 2013
That's the dumb laws in IL. and the barney fife's there,,,, that is why I got the hell out of there, the laws are way different here where I'm ,, a lot __________talk about carrying a gun ,I do 7 days a week because IT IS MY RIGHT TO DO SO if I need it I have it for protection, if you don't you may die and that is because obama turns all the illegals loose here and all over the us for you and i … more ›