Saturday, May 25, 2013
The Frankfort pediatrician charged with molesting five women in his doctor's office appeared in court.
Dr. Kishor Jain—the Frankfort pediatrician charged with molesting five women in his Colorado Avenue office and named as a defendant in five civil lawsuits—appeared in court this week. This time, Jain, 59, was around for his criminal case. The special prosecutor appointed to Jain's case said he produced police reports and video evidence, but needs time to come up with more material for the defense. Here's a look at what else was going on in court last week: Check out all these stories and more on our Facebook page.
Saturday, May 18, 2013
A lawsuit against an imprisoned preacher from Crete and an Indiana megachurch topped the week's court news.
A former megachurch preacher sentenced to 12 years in federal prison in March for carrying on a sexual relationship with a teenage member of his congregation was sued in Will County court. In addition to preacher Jack Schaap, 55, of Crete, the First Baptist Church of Hammond was named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The parents of a teenage girl Schaap had sex with while he was pastor of the First Baptist Church of Hammond filed the lawsuit. The suit identifies the parents as "John Doe and Mary Doe," and the teen as "Jane Doe." The suit gives Jane Doe's date of birth as June 27, 1995. Here's what else was going on at the area's courthouses: Check out all these stories and more on our Facebook page.
Saturday, May 11, 2013
The former Chicago Ridge deputy fire chief charged with trying to rape and kill a neighbor is tired of the cops always showing up at his parents' place.
When they let former Chicago Ridge Deputy Fire Chief Gary Swiercz out of jail, he wasn't allowed to return to the Tinley Park condo where he allegedly tried to rape and kill a neighbor. Since the woman still lives in his building, Swiercz moved into his parents' home in Worth. But that hasn't worked out so well. The high-priority electronic monitoring the county put Swiercz on requires the cops to make an in-person visit to the house once during each eight hour shift, and the repeated visits are wearing on Swiercz's elderly parents, Barbara and Stan. Swiercz's parents were they went to court and asked a judge to cut out the house checks between midnight and 8 a.m. Cook County Judge John Joseph Hynes denied the request, pointing out that …
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 …
Saturday, April 27, 2013
Two men were found unfit to face criminal charges this week.
Not one, but two men were found unfit to face criminal charges this week. For the second time in a month, Mark Lewis, 53, was deemed unfit to stand trial for the murder of his sister, who was found beaten to death in her Naperville home in June 2011. Lewis wants to act as his own attorney if the murder case ever makes it to trial. Also wanting to act as his own attorney—and deemed unfit to face criminal charges—was 40-year-old Jason Chance of downstate Lewiston. Chance already did prison time for menacing Will County State's Attorney James Glasgow through Facebook. According to a criminal complaint, Chance threatened to rape and kill the county's top prosecutor. After his release, Chance allegedly made harassing telephone calls to a judge…
Saturday, April 20, 2013
A former Plainfield North gym teacher pleaded guilty to meeting a teen for sex. And that was just one of the things going on in court this week.
More than two years after the police caught her in a car with a half-dressed student from the high school where she was a teacher, Ashley Blumenshine copped a plea. Blumenshine, a 30-year-old former Plainfield North gym teacher, will have to do 11 days in jail. She will also spend two years on sex offender probation and 10 yeas on the Illinois sex offender registry. She tearfully apologized before she was taken into custody to start doing her time. Let's look at what else was going on in the area's courthouses this past week: Check out all these stories and more on our Facebook page.
Tuesday, April 16, 2013
The daughter of Will County Board member Herbert Brooks was sentenced to two years court supervision after paying off the money she stole from Target and completing her community service.
The daughter of Will County Board member Herbert Brooks paid back all the money she stole from her job at Target and will see the case against her dismissed completely if she can stay out of trouble for the next two years. Megan Brooks, 23, had faced a felony theft charge for stealing $1,291 from the 2701 Plainfield Road store in December 2011. Dave Neal, a special prosecutor appointed to the case, allowed Brooks to plead down to a misdemeanor in January and brokered a deal to sentence her to court supervision if she paid full restitution and completed 100 hours of community service. "Quite frankly, I was skeptical of her ability to get this all done by today," Neal told Judge Daniel Rozak during Brooks' sentencing hearing Tuesday morning…
Saturday, March 23, 2013
A Joliet man was charged with the brutal murder of his mother, and there was plenty more going on as well.
It was bad enough last week when a Cook County man appeared in court for allegedly beating his mother, stabbing her and leaving her in a ditch. But now this week we have a Joliet man who allegedly choked his mother, stabbed her so hard with one knife the blade bent, plunged a second knife into her repeatedly and then used a baseball bat to hammer it into her her body until the handle broke, and finally dropped her in the Des Plaines River. The body of Jeanie Parker, 54, remains missing as fire department divers brave the depths of the Des Plaines and police officers scour the river bank. Parker's son, Charles McCullum, 21, has been charged with her murder and is being held on a $5 million bond. Also in court this week, there was: See all …
Saturday, March 16, 2013
A young man charged with stabbing his mother and dumping her in a ditch was sent to jail on a $2 million bond—and more! On this week's Court Supervision.
You only have one mother, and no matter what, you shouldn't strangle her, stuff her in the back of your car, stab her and leave her in a ditch in Crete. But that's exactly what the police say a man did a couple weeks ago. Blake Springsteen, 22, was charged with attempted murder in connection with an alleged March 4 attack on his 46-year-old mother, Jennifer Springsteen, in their home outside Flossmoor. On Wednesday, Cook County Judge Brian Flaherty set Blake Springsteen's bond at $2 million. That was interesting, but far from the only thing going on in court last week. In Joliet, we had the judge in the Nightmare on Hickory Street double murder case continuing to keep the court file sealed not once, but twice. Over in Bridgeview, a Burr …
Saturday, March 2, 2013
The judge for the Hickory Street double murder case doesn't want anyone talking.
The Hickory Street double murder case took a surprising twist this week when one of the defense lawyers complained about stories in Patch and the judge ordered the attorneys involved not to talk to the media. Will County Judge Gerald Kinney also sealed the file for the case against accused killers Adam Landerman, 19, Joshua Miner, 24, Alisa Massaro, 18, and Bethany McKee, also 18. The four were charged with murdering Terrance Rankins and Eric Glover, both 22, in Massaro's house on Hickory Street in Joliet. Judge Kinney said he wants both defense attorneys and prosecutors to investigate who allegedly leaked police reports. The judge said he will revisit the issue on March 11. Here's what else was going on in the area's courthouses last week…
Fester Bestertester
4:22 pm on Monday, May 20, 2013
Drunkenly driving and drunkenly lying on the street. huh. more ›