Posted on November 04, 2012 in Criminal Defense

A confession in a criminal case must be backed up by independent evidence, but that evidence doesn&t need to match the confession detail for detail, the Illinois Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

A unanimous court upheld the predatory criminal sexual assault conviction of a Cook County man whose admission, which he later retracted but which was presented to the jury, told a more serious story than that related by the then-8-year-old victim.

Jason Lara confessed to digitally penetrating the genitalia of the girl, whom his mother was babysitting, on two occasions in 2005, when he was 19. But the victim testified that Lara had only touched her on the surface.

Lara argued that under a long-held legal standard, the jury shouldn&t have been allowed to consider his confession because the girl's testimony didn&t corroborate the confessed penetration. Without the confession, there was only enough evidence to convict him of a lesser charge, aggravated criminal sexual assault, he said.

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 Posted on October 31, 2012 in Criminal Defense

According to a recent Chicago Tribune  article, two suburban Chicago men, Robert C. Pribilski and John T. Burns III, both affiliated with USA Retirement Management Services, were indicted on federal charges related to a Ponzi-like scheme in which they bilked $28 million from about 120 investors. Authorities claim that along with a third man, Mahmut Erhan Durmaz, the duo operated the fraudulent scheme from 2005 to 2010. USA Retirement Management Services has operated offices in Oakbrook Terrace and southern California. Durmaz has allegedly fled the country, thus avoiding the charges that the other two men are facing, at least for now.

The accused men reportedly convinced wealthy investors by advertising estate-planning seminars at local hotels and banquet halls in Illinois and California to invest in Turkish bonds that would allegedly bring investors high rates of return, ranging from 4.75 to 11 percent. Although the men promised investors a guaranteed return, they instead used the investment funds to pay other investors, speculate in real estate and restaurants that failed, and make millions of dollars in payments to themselves, friends, and families.

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 Posted on October 28, 2012 in Criminal Defense

Timothy N. Morris, 29, was found guilty of calculated criminal drug conspiracy and was sentenced to 10 years in prison on October 1. The crime is a Class X felony which carries mandatory sentences of 6 to 30 years in prison upon conviction. The Naperville Sun reports that Morris has to serve at least 75 percent of his term in prison and pay about $2000 dollars in fines and court costs. Furthermore, he will be supervised for three years after completing his time in prison.

Morris was part of a narcotics ring that operated last year in the Naperville-Aurora area and Chicago.  The Naperville Police Department’s Special Operations Group arrested three other suspects in connection with the drug ring: Ian E. Lona, Gilda L. Ruales, and Teresa I. Sanchez. They were arrested on October 6, 2011, in Naperville and Morris was arrested 14 hours earlier on Chicago’s west side.

Police started investigating the actions of the group after Ruales had been arrested for selling cocaine in Aurora. Later, police found out that Ruales and Sanchez were dealing drugs in Naperville and Aurora. Following this lead, undercover police agents purchased cocaine and hundreds of ecstasy pills from the members of the ring.

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 Posted on October 25, 2012 in White Collar Crime

An Oak Park man was arrested in late October and charged with aggravated child pornography, "after more than 700 pornographic images were found on two computers in his home," according to the Chicago Sun-Times. He was released on a $500,000 bond, and the court date was scheduled for the last week of October. Joe V. Hymon, 44, was caught when the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force contacted Oak Park police, after an IP address that was "downloading and uploading files containing pornographic images and videos of children" was linked to Hymon’s home.

The ICAC is, according to the Sun-Times, a task force "comprised of state and local law enforcement agencies that investigate and prosecute cyber enticement and child pornography cases." The Chicago Police Department has an entire team dedicated to online safety, known as the Internet Child Exploitation Team. Not only does the team work with other law enforcement agencies, it’s also "committed to teaching children and their parents to be safe during their online activities."

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 Posted on October 20, 2012 in Drug Crimes

Timothy N. Morris, 29, was found guilty of calculated criminal drug conspiracy and was sentenced to 10 years in prison on October 1. The crime is a Class X felony which carry mandatory sentences of 6 to 30 years in prison upon conviction. The Naperville Sun reports that Morris has to serve at least 75 percent of his term in prison and pay about $2000 dollars in fines and court costs. Furthermore, he will be supervised for three years after completing his time in prison.

Morris was part of a narcotics ring that operated last year in the Naperville-Aurora area and Chicago.  Naperville Police Department’s Special Operations Group arrested three other suspects in connection with the drug ring: Ian E. Lona, Gilda L. Ruales, and Teresa I. Sanchez. They were arrested on October 6, 2011, in Naperville and Morris was arrested 14 hours earlier on Chicago’s west side.

Police started investigating the actions of the group after Ruales had been arrested for selling cocaine in Aurora. Later, police found out that Ruales and Sanchez were dealing drugs in Naperville and Aurora. Following this lead, undercover police agents purchased cocaine and hundreds of ecstasy pills from the members of the ring.

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 Posted on October 16, 2012 in Criminal Defense

A 22-year-old man had an argument over a bicycle that led to him getting shot and killed. The incident took place in the Jeffery Manor neighborhood, according to authorities. The Chicago Tribune reported a story on the case.

The 22-year-old man was outside, and he was arguing with another man over a bicycle when the shooting happened, Chicago Police Department News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli said. According to officials, the victim suffered multiple gunshot wounds in the shooting.

The 22 year old man was identified as Parrish Flournoy by the Cook County medical examiner's office. Flournoy does not live in the area where the shooting took place, and it is unclear why he was in the area.

According to a witness, the two men had been arguing about who owns the bicycle. The second man had taken the bicycle and pedaled away, but Flournoy had started following the man on foot. The two men had continued arguing, and the police believe a third person had opened fire and shot the victim multiple times before fleeing the scene.

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 Posted on October 14, 2012 in Assault & Battery

Ladislav Fromelius, 73, tried to hire a hitman to injure or eliminate an estate executor a few years ago, according to the Daily Herald. He pleaded guilty to a felony charge of solicitation to commit armed violence on Thursday, September 27 in DuPage County Circuit Court and is facing up to five years in prison for his crime.

Everything started after Fromelius inherited $100,000 from his deceased sister. However, the executor of the estate withheld the money because the will stated that Fromelius would not get the inheritance if he was still associated with his ex-wife. Fromelius became so upset that he tried to get someone to harm the executor. He managed to hire a man called “Mr. G” to do the job and described over the phone how he wanted the executor’s legs broken and also spoke of eliminating her. He also left a payment of $1,000 to the man and had an agreement that another grand would be paid after the deed was done. Little did Fromelius know that Mr G was actually an undercover police officer wearing a wiretap.

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 Posted on October 11, 2012 in Assault & Battery

Kelly Cihlar, 26, has been sentenced to 56 days in DuPage County Jail for resisting a police officer during a stabbing incident at a Naperville nightclub last year, according to the Naperville Sun. Cihlar and her boyfriend Adam Hearn, 33, were smoking cigarettes in the nightclub’s restroom. The bouncer told the couple to go smoke outside which made Hearn lose his temper. He insulted the bouncer who then told the couple to leave the club. A fight soon broke out between Hearn and one of the security staff members. During the fight, Hearn stabbed the staff member in the stomach. The other bouncers managed to disarm and restrain Hearn. The aggressive couple was then arrested by police.

On September 28, Cihlar’s jail sentence was announced. She also has to pay $195 in fines and court costs. However, as she has spent 112 days in jail following her arrest, she has already completed her term. Cihlar was also charged with battery, possession of marijuana and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, but the charges were dismissed.

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 Posted on October 08, 2012 in Criminal Defense

A new pilot program may allow recording devices in criminal and civil courtrooms in DuPage County, the Beacon-News reported on September 25. Previously, neither video nor audio recordings of court proceedings have been permissible. According to Chief Justice Thomas Kilbride, the purpose of the program is “to bring more transparency and more accountability to the Illinois court system, to assure that a fair and impartial trial is not compromised,” and to give “a closer look at the workings of our court system to the public through the eyes of the electronic news media and news photographers.”

The program won’t allow media coverage of all court proceedings, there are some exceptions. For example, recording devices won’t be allowed during juvenile, divorce, adoption, child custody, evidence suppression and trade secret cases, jury selection, and any other court proceeding that is required by Illinois law to be held in private. Likewise, the testimonies of sexual abuse victims, police informants, undercover agents and relocated witnesses cannot be recorded without the consent of the testifying victim. In other cases, a witness or a party can request not to be included in the media coverage; however, the judge decides whether such request shall be granted.

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 Posted on October 05, 2012 in Criminal Defense

A tip to police from an auto body shop has led to the arrest of an elderly Woodstock woman in the hit and run death of 6 year old Brayan Silva, of Leland. Veramae C. Phillip, 83, faces felony charges of failure to report a fatal traffic crash and leaving the scene of a fatal traffic crash.

The Chicago Tribune reported that the boy, who celebrated his sixth birthday on August 30^th, was walking with his family on Franklinville Road, just southwest of Woodstock, around 9 p.m. when he was hit by the 2001 silver Chevy Malibu driven by Philips.

After the accident, the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office contacted auto shops and tow companies in the area, asking for their help in finding the vehicle that hit Brayan. An auto body shop in Marengo contacted police and reported a silver Malibu with a damaged headlight. Police confirmed it was the car that was involved in the fatality and issued a warrant for Phillip. She turned herself in to police immediately upon learning of the warrant.

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