Recent Blog Posts
Highland Park Woman Now Faces Reckless Homicide Charges
According to the Chicago Sun Times, a Highland Park woman now faces much more serious charges following her involvement in a Labor Day crash that killed a five-year-old girl who had been walking down the street with her family. 18-year-old Carly Rousso was driving her Lexus coupe east on Central Avenue in Highland Park when she veered across several lanes of traffic and left the road, driving onto the sidewalk and hitting five-year-old Jaclyn Santos-Sacramento, her mother, and two brothers. At the time, Rousso was charged only with DUI, and released from jail on a $50,000 bond.
After receiving the results of State Police Crime lab tests, however, prosecutors now have upgraded Rousso’s charges to reckless homicide and four counts of driving under the influence of an intoxicating compound. Lab tests detected the presence of the chemical compound difluoroethane in Rousso’s bloodstream at the time of the accident, which is one of several compounds commonly used when “huffing”, or inhaling chemicals in order to get high. Police also found a commercial cleaning product in Rousso’s car at the time of the accident that contained difluoroethane. Rousso turned herself in on the new charges and her bond has increased to $500,000.
Wheaton Man Accused of Home Invasion Held on $1 Million Bail
The Chicago Tribune is reporting that a Wheaton man is being held in the DuPage County Jail on $1 million bail after being arrested on felony charges of home invasion and reckless discharge of a firearm, and misdemeanor charges of battery and firearms-related violations.
64-year-old Jeffrey H. Beard was armed when he allegedly entered the Glen Ellyn home of a female acquaintance, where he confronted the woman and her boyfriend. The couple reports that Beard fired off a round and held a gun to the woman’s head; Beard later allowed the boyfriend to leave the residence, and he immediately contacted police. After police surrounded the residence, the woman ran outside, and authorities hit Beard with a stun gun around 2:00 a.m. when he tried to flee. At the time of his arrest, Beard still had a handgun in his possession.
Proving Suicide Over Murder
The Christopher Vaughn trial has gripped Chicago headlines for the better part of September, but the trial raises some very important issues involving a murder trial, proving suicide, and mental illness. Vaughn is accused of killing his wife and three children in an SUV on a frontage road off of Interstate 55 before turning the gun on himself and creating two superficial wounds in his thigh and wrist.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Christopher’s deceased wife, Kimberly, spoke with her sister in the week preceding her death about her increased anxiety. Defense attorneys for Christopher argue that the sister’s testimony of Kimberly’s alleged bi-polar disorder corroborate the idea that she would indeed commit suicide. According to WebMD, the National Mental Health Association reports "that 30 to 70 percent of suicide victims have suffered from a form of depression," such as the bi-polar disorder Kimberly could have suffered from.
New Program Helps Minor Offenders in Illinois
Good news came for Illinois residents with a criminal record last month, when Governor Pat Quinn signed into legislation a initiative that allows counties across the state to “start rehabilitation programs for first-time, non-violent offenders patterned after the initiative started by Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez last year,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
According to Gov. Quinn, who gave a news conference to announce the new program, “justice involves your heart and your head,” and people who break the law in a way that doesn’t harm others don’t need prison to be “rehabilitated.” Twenty-three-year-old Philanese Stokes was one of the first people to benefit from the new program, and as she skipped out the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in mid-September she told a reporter from the Sun-Times that her credit card forgery arrest wasn’t a good look, and kept her from getting “one of the 50 jobs she applied to last year.”
Latin Kings Busted in Chicago for Major Drug Ring
It was a bust right out of a crime show. In mid-September, federal agents “seized an undetermined amount of cash and 13 firearms, including five long-barreled weapons in the final phase of operation,” from suspected members of the Latin Kings gang, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. More than 40 suspected members of the gang were arrested and face “narcotics charges for their alleged roles in two drug trafficking organizations that supplied and distributed huge quantities of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana in Chicago and the south suburbs.”
It was a two-year investigation that was aided by an undercover agent who infiltrated the gang. Not only were the cash and firearms seized, but also two pounds of heroin and wholesale quantities of cocaine. Damian Rivera, 31, was alleged as the leader of the drug trafficking organization, and Emmanuel Fernandez, 27, who allegedly stored and distributed the heroin.
Tinley Park Man Accused of a Hate Crime against Bank Worker
On September 2nd, a representative of a bank visited a foreclosed home near the 6200 block of West 179th Street of Tinley Park. This man was working on the outside the home when he was verbally abused from a neighboring home. His name was not released but he is a 51 year old African American man. The resulting altercation caused a Tinley Park man to be charged with a felony hate crime.
The neighbor accused of slinging racial slurs at this man is 47 year old Joseph Berndt, who resides at 17903 S. Highland Avenue. He also yelled at this man and accused him of breaking into the foreclosed property next door. Unfortunately, when this agent tried to explain his professional capacity to Berndt, he was answered by a beer can and a brick as well as racial slurs and insults.
Barrington Doctor Found Guilty of Medicare Fraud
An investigation across the USA has discovered more than 90 people who have defrauded the Medicare system. The total amount of falsified billings comes to be nearly $300 million dollars that could have been used for other people’s medical bills. “The defendants charged in this takedown are accused of . . . jeopardizing the integrity of our health care system and our nation’s most critical health care program for personal gain,” Attorney General Eric Holder said during a news conference.
Dr. John Natale, a 62-year-old vascular surgeon was charged with two counts of making false statements, two counts of health care fraud and one count of mail fraud. Natale is a surgeon who specialized in repairing abdominal aortic aneurysms, or the weakening of this artery. These charges stemmed from six different surgeries during 2003 and 2004 when he allegedly falsified post-operation reports for his personal gain. Dr. Natale prepared at least two reports which detailed fictitious surgeries or elaborated surgeries to be more complicated than they should be. These surgeries supposedly occurred while he was working at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights.
Evanston Police Uncover Teen Burglary Ring
The police department in Evanston responded to an alert that a group of boys was trespassing in a neighborhood and from that they were able to expose more criminal activities. It was around 6:30 pm on August 14th, when some boys were trying to break into a car near the 100 block of Clyde Avenue. The police arrested three boys between the ages of 8 and 10, all who live in Chicago. When they were detained, they had the key to the car, a watch, an iPod and a TV, which they stole from a residence in that neighborhood.
As these children were being questioned by the police, they revealed that two older teenage boys had set up this burglary. Two sixteen year old boys approached these three kids near the intersection of Damen Avenue and Howard Street the day before the burglary. These two teenagers intimidated these younger children to steal for them with threats of violence. During the heist, these two kids boosted the children through windows and acted as lookouts while the children were in the house. It is believed that these two teenagers are responsible for a string of burglaries that have occurred in the Evanston area.
Illinois to Rethink Juvenile Justice Recidivism and Lockup Aftercare
George Timberlake, a retired Illinois judge and the Report Commission’s chairman, says the group observed more than 250 prisoner review board hearings and analyzed the files of about 400 young people whose parole was revoked.
He says many of the juveniles who ended up back in custody didn’t commit new crimes, but instead were found guilty of technical violations of a parole order, such as skipping school and staying out late.
“How many teenagers do you know who are where they are supposed to be when they are supposed to be there?” Timberlake says. “Certainly, they need to be educated that time matters and it affects other people’s schedules, but doesn’t mean they need to be back in prison because of it.”
Arthur Bishop, director of the Illinois Juvenile Justice Department, has been on the job for less than two years. He began his career as a caseworker in the state’s child welfare agency. He says his team is in place to change the way kids in the system are treated. It’s pretty simple, Bishop says: Treat kids who commit crimes more like kids, and less like adults.
Juvenile on Drugs Shoots Relative by Accident
Drugs can cause many unnecessary tragedies. This seems to be the case in a recent case where a 16-year-old shot and critically wounded his younger relative. The shooting was reported by the Chicago Tribune. According to police, the young man was packaging drugs while under the influence of narcotics. He was carrying a gun which misfired and the shot hit the man’s fifteen year-old female relative. The drugged juvenile then left the crime scene, got rid of the gun and phoned his mother who was able to convince her son to surrender. The juvenile was arrested and taken into custody only a few hours after the incident. The unlucky teenage girl was taken to a hospital in a critical condition.
The young man may be facing many types of charges, from drug charges to felony charges to weapons charges. Whatever they may be, the penalties are likely to be severe, especially if the wounded girl does not recover from her injuries. In this case, the drug-influenced accident could ruin the lives of two young people. The girl’s fate is in the hands of medical professionals, but the young man requires legal help. An experienced criminal defense attorney can affect the outcome of any ensuing legal proceedings and help minimize the consequences of this accident.
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