Posted on August 30, 2012 in White Collar Crime

In 2010, 52 year old Michelle Morrison was fired from her position of senior account representative at Alexian Brothers Behavioral Health Hospital in Hoffman Estates. Two years later, authorities have accused her of launching a harassment campaign against patients of the facilities. Morrison has been arrested and charged with three counts of forgery. Her bail was set at $50,000.

CBS Chicago reported that Morrison stole copies of confidential patient records, as well as hospital stationary, when she was fired. Police say that between February of 2011 and June of this year, she sent six letters to patients, threatening to expose their psychiatric information and treatment to their family and friends. She is also alleged to have told these patients that the electroshock therapy they received didn’t work and that it was medically recommended that they have frontal lobotomies.

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 Posted on August 27, 2012 in Criminal Defense

Nora P. Peterson, 34, has been charged with first degree murder in the death of her live-in boyfriend, 55-year-old Michael N. Mielczarek. Peterson, who lives in Eligin, is accused of striking the victim in the head with several items, including a frying pan. Police say the blows caused Eligin to fall and strike his head on the floor. If you or someone you know is involved in domestic violence, contact a Lake County domestic violence attorney to prevent the situation from escalating. A lawyer can help you with restraining orders, orders of protection, pressing charges or defending yourself against accusations.

The alleged attack occurred during a domestic dispute. Peterson called 911 when she realized that Mielczarek was not breathing. He was transferred by ambulance to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy was performed and cause of death was determined to be by blunt force trauma to the head.

The Courier-News reports that Peterson’s bail has been set at $750,000 on the murder charge. Illinois defines first-degree murder as the killing of an individual with the following criterion:

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 Posted on August 24, 2012 in Criminal Defense

According to a recent Chicago Tribune article, the Chicago Police Department has succeeded in extraditing 55-year-old Jose Hernandez Saldana from California on attempted murder charges from 1994. Saldana is currently being held in the Cook County Jail without bond.

On September 15, 1994, Saldana allegedly shot Carlos Munoz at the home of Saldana’s estranged wife, who had a protection order against Saldana. After fingerprints tied Saldana to the attempted murder, an arrest warrant was issued for Saldana, but he fled before appearing in court. State and federal authorities at the time were told that Saldana had fled Chicago for his native Mexico, and they closed Saldana’s fugitive case in January, 1996, when investigators were unable to locate him there.

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 Posted on August 21, 2012 in Criminal Defense

Millions of consumers in the US suffered job loss as well as wage deduction, especially after the recent economic meltdown. People fail to pay back their bills on time as they undergo financial crisis. When they default on credit card payment, the accruing high interest on the principal balance makes it unaffordable to pay off. Therefore, these debt stricken consumers usually negotiate settlement with the creditors or hire services of adebt managementcompany to get rid of debt.

Yes, you may have heard it right that many serious issues can emerge if you fail to pay off the debt. However, not paying off the debt may not invite criminal summon unless the debt is a result of criminal fraud. Basically, disputes regarding debts are treated as civil matter with the creditors in the civil court.

Complete information on summon as well as complaint:

When the creditors sue the debtor in the court, then the lawsuit for debt becomes official. You may receive summon from the court when the creditor files a lawsuit in the court. A summon is a legal notice of a lawsuit from the court and complaint is an actual lawsuit filed with the court. You may receive the paper document at home, places of employment or at other public location. The summons provides instruction related to the lawsuit, for instance, appearing before the court for hearing or filing a written reply.

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 Posted on August 18, 2012 in Theft

Last Friday August 10^th, two young boys were taken into custody after a neighbor noticed a burglary in process. It was around 12:40 that the police in Naperville were called to the 3500 block of Scottsdale Circle. Scottsdale Circle is south of the golf course of the well-off neighborhood of White Eagle.

The homeowner who made this discovery was not comfortable waiting for the police to appear. This good-neighbor chased and detained the vagrants but wasn’t able to hold them long enough to be taken into custody. Although the two escaped his grasp, he was able to provide a description that ultimately brought in the kids.

It took less than an hour for the Naperville police to call for outside assistance. They contacted the Aurora police and the DuPage County sheriff who provided more manpower and K-9 units. With that added help, the chase only lasted 30 more minutes until both the suspects were detained around 1:50 pm. One was on Schoger Road while the other was found near Bay Harbour Road in Naperville. Names have not been released due to the age of those apprehended.

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 Posted on August 15, 2012 in Traffic Offenses

A Skokie woman involved in a car accident in May was released on bond on August 9^th after serving almost three months in Cook County jail. The domino effect car accident ended up killing an 8-year-old named Carter Vo while he was riding his bicycle. The woman was charged with felony aggravated driving under the influence resulting in death, and misdemeanor driving under the influence of drugs because she was under the influence of marijuana and other drugs at the time of the accident.

Hanin Goma, of Skokie was driving away from her cashier’s job at the Grecian Kitchen and traveling near the intersection of St. Louis Avenue and Main Street. The 23 year old turned onto Main Street and hit an eastbound Ford Van. The force of the accident turned Goma’s car around where it struck the second grader and pushed him into a parked car. Later when she was taken to the Skokie Hospital, blood tests showed marijuana and amphetamines in her system.

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 Posted on August 12, 2012 in White Collar Crime

A six month police investigation has resulted in the arrest of 56 year old Lynn Pranga, a bank manager at Inland Bank’s Geneva branch. Pranga, who also serves on the Geneva Women in Business committee of the Geneva Chamber of Commerce, has been charged with financially exploiting an elderly person, forgery and theft. The alleged crime occurred when she was a bank manager at the St.Charlesbranch of MB Financial Bank.

According to a report in the Daily Herald, an 81 year old customer at MB Financial complained to the bank that a five year certificate of deposit that he held there had been changed to a one year certificate and the balance was less than what he had originally deposited. An investigation by the bank revealed that between June 2009 and June 2011, $20,000 from that account, as well as two other accounts the customer had with the bank, had been withdrawn by former branch manager Pranga.

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 Posted on August 10, 2012 in Criminal Defense

Robert Parelius, 56, of Bozeman, Montana, faces multiple charges in both his hometown and in Chicago for allegedly stalking a Chicago teenager for over a year. In Montana he was arrested and charged with sexually soliciting two boys, ages 13 and 15, who live in Chicago. He was ordered held on $50,000 bail.

According to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, prosecutors told the court that the Chicago Police Department contacted the Bozeman Police Department in April, seeking their assistance in locating Parelius, who they alleged had been making phone calls and sexually soliciting the two young boys. When Bozeman Police confronted him, Parelius admitted that he had made the calls, as well as contacting three other boys.

Police reports say that Parelius, who moved to Montana from Chicago last year, also admitted that after seeing the boys playing in a park, he researched to find out who they were and where they lived. During Parelius’ arrest, police confiscated nude pictures of young boys and girls, as well as rosters for junior football teams from the Bozeman and Belgrade Montana areas, as well as the Chicago area.

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 Posted on August 04, 2012 in Criminal Defense

Todd Mandoline from Villa Park was asked to leave his ex-girlfriend’s birthday party on Saturday, July 22^nd. At some point during the night, Mandoline walked nearly two miles back to the Lombard house, in order to speak to Paula Morgan early on Sunday morning. After trading text messages for a while, Morgan stopped answering Mandoline’s text and he became enraged. Mandoline is now being charged with setting the fire that was responsible for killing Morgan one day before her 25^th birthday.

Obviously not pleased with the lack of response from Morgan for a couple of hours, Mandoline acted in the heat of the moment. “The defendant became enraged, picked up a piece of paper, twisted it up, put it in the gas tank of the victim’s vehicle parked in the driveway and took a lighter and set it on fire,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said. “The whole car was engulfed in flames. Unfortunately, the fire spread to the home as well.” The fire spread from the car, then to the attached garage, and then to the home of Paula Morgan and her 6 year old son.

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 Posted on August 01, 2012 in Theft

According to an article by the Chicago Tribune, authorities in Illinois reported on Monday July 30^th that they broke up a large theft ring. This ring was responsible for the theft of over 200 high end vehicles worth nearly $2.5 million. The group targeted luxury cars such as Cadillacs, BMWs, Land Rovers and Mercedes, which they sold for a small percentage of their value on websites such as Craigslist.

A total of 21 people have been arrested to this point in time. They live primarily on the South Side of Chicago and in the south suburbs and some are related to each other. A ringleader of the group named Dominique Henley was convicted of identity theft, forgery, theft by deception and aggravated possession of a stolen motor vehicle. He was sentenced to eight years in jail. His father was also arrested but was only sentenced to serve 30 months of probation.

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