Posted on August 02, 2012 in Assault & Battery

Joheidi Martinez, 30, of Chicago, drove herself to a hearing at the Skokie Courthouse, but she was taken away in handcuffs. Martinez did not arrive at the courthouse alone. She brought along her eight year old goddaughter and two dogs. And police say she left the child and the dogs alone in her car for over an hour.

According to a report in the Chicago Sun Times, a witness told a deputy at the courthouse that a child and two dogs had been sitting in a car parked in a parking garage adjacent to the courthouse for over an hour. The deputy found the girl and the dogs in a gold four-door sedan parked in the parking lot. The child told the deputy that she was waiting for her godmother to come back.

Authorities tracked Martinez down in the courthouse and she claimed that “didn’t realize how long” she was gone or “how hot it was outside.” The Sun reports that the temperature and heat index was in the low eighties. Although neither the child nor the dogs were injured, the Department of Children and Family Services were called in to investigate the incident. Both the little girl and the dogs were released into the custody of the girl's mother.

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 Posted on July 31, 2012 in Criminal Defense

After a four hour debate Cook County jury found a Berwyn area physician guilty of sexaully assaulting patients during routine medical exams.

Ricardo Arze, 53, of Berwyn, was found guilty of criminal sexual assault.  According to Cook County’s State's Attorney's office, Arze assaulted a then 48 year old female patient in 2005 while examining her for flu-like symptoms.  Arze's conviction is the first following numerous complaints that he had fondled and assaulted female patients during similar examinations.

The victim, who does not speak English, testified through an interpreter.  According to her testimony, Arze fondled and sexually assaulted her during the exam in 2005,  She later reported the crime to authorities.

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 Posted on July 24, 2012 in Criminal Defense

According to the Chicago Tribune, when Chicago Cubs president Theo Epstein was with the Boston Red Sox organization, Kathleen Kearney was accused of crossing the line between enthusiastic fan and stalker. In April and May of 2010, police in the Boston suburb of Brookline, where Epstein lived at the time, were hired on eighteen different occasions to keep watch over his home. However, no charges were ever filed by Massachusetts authorities against 44 year old Kearney.

It’s a different ball game for her in Chicago. She has been charged with two felony counts of stalking and her bond was set at $75,000 after she was arrested two blocks from Epstein’s Lakeview home.

The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Massachusetts woman showed up at Epstein’s home about10 a.m. and introduced herself to Epstein’s wife, Marie, even referring to her by name. Marie Epstein thought the woman was a neighbor and the two began chatting. Marie became concerned, however, when Kearney began discussing personal details of the Epstein’s lives, including the age of their son Jack and also shared that she had a birthday gift for him. After Kearney left, the authorities were notified.

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 Posted on July 21, 2012 in Criminal Defense

Law enforcement typically have endless classified databases at their disposal where they can enter a suspect’s name to see if the person has any kind of criminal record, warrants, violations, etc. But in the case of Ronnell Jones, it was a search on Google that led Chicago police to discover that a routine traffic stop had netted them a suspect wanted on a 2010 Yonkers, N.Y. gang related double murder.

When police pulled over the vehicle, Jones, who just turned 24, was in the back seat and in possession of both a gun and an open container of alcohol. His behavior immediately made the arresting officers suspicious. According to Chicago Police Commander Kevin Ryan, in an interview with CBS Chicago, “The male subject refused to answer any questions, refused to identify himself, was almost flippant about the fact he said ‘Print me and find out who I am.  Jones eventually told police his name and birth date. It was that information that they punched into Google’s search engine.

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 Posted on July 18, 2012 in Assault & Battery

The Chicago Tribune reported a story about a middle-aged woman who was abducted from a Blue Line train in Chicago. Police are looking for information from the public to help them find the two men in their twenties who forced the 52-year-old woman off the train at gunpoint. The men took the woman to a nearby apartment and assaulted her sexually.

The woman met the two men when she got on a CTA train on the West Side at 530 South Kedzie Avenue on July 30 around 6:30 p.m., the police say. At the Northwest Side California stop, 2211 N. California Avenue, the woman was forced off the train at gunpoint, and after that the men took their victim to an apartment in the 2800 block of West Lyndale Street where the sexual assault took place, according to the alert from Area North Detectives.

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 Posted on July 14, 2012 in DUI

If an officer stops you and you have been drinking, remember, remain in your vehicle with your seatbelt fastened and when spoken to, remain courteous but firm. Keep in mind that the officer is not just trying to determine if you are able to drive, the officer is also trying to build evidence to support a case for DUI according the Illinois State Statute.

1. Provide identification when requested. The officer will ask for your driver's license and registration. How easily you find these items will be noted on the officer's report. If you fumble around for them, it will look like you&ve had too much to drink.
2. Politely refuse to take field tests. When you do submit to field tests, you are giving evidence that will be used against you. There is no law requiring you to do the tests. Some officers will tell you they will take you to jail if you don&t do the tests. Don&t fall for it. They were going to take you to jail anyway.

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 Posted on July 11, 2012 in Criminal Defense

At one time or another, everyone comes across a situation where you just don’t like or get along with a neighbor. But for one Lake Villa neighborhood, the disputes have escalated into accusations of stalking, criminal charges and an issuance of a restraining order. What makes this an even more headline grabbing story is that the defendant in this case is a state senator.

State Sen. Suzi Schmidt, 60, was arrested by deputes from the Lake County Sheriff’s office on June 12 and charge with misdemeanor criminal damage and trespassing. The accusations come from her next door neighbors, who earlier this month, filed for and received an emergency stalking no contact order which barred Schmidt from coming within 500 feet of their property. This order made it impossible for her to return to her home since the two properties are adjoined.

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 Posted on July 10, 2012 in Criminal Defense

Christopher L. Hage, an attorney in Oak Brook, has been appointed as the third commissioner to the Election Commission of DuPage County, following the resignation of the former Election Commission Chairman, Rick Carney.

As Commissioner, Hage’s responsibilities, along with the other two commissioners, include organizing and documenting all elections that take place in DuPage County during his term, which will end in January of 2013.

In addition to being an associate attorney at the Law Office of Kathryn L Harry and Associates, Hage is an active member of the community.  After 14 years as a lawyer in Illinois, Hage is a highly rated criminal defense and family law attorney in DuPage County. He currently holds the title of Executive Director at the Federation of Illinois Young Republicans, and ran for the Illinois State Representative for the 42^nd district.

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 Posted on July 08, 2012 in White Collar Crime

A Naperville minister who has been free on a $250,000 bond since May 2010 may have to raise another $750,000 in order to stay out of jail. Howard Richmond, 51, was accused two years ago of swindling parishioners of the church he founded, Life Reach Ministries Worldwide, out of $475,000.

The church operated out of an Aurora storefront. Police say Richmond convinced three members he was borrowing the money from them in order to purchase land for the church. He allegedly paid a bank employee to produce fake financial documents, showing that Richmond himself had millions of dollars. Richmond was charged with a total of eleven counts of theft by deception, deception, financial institution fraud and continuing a financial crimes enterprise. One of his alleged victims, a doctor from Skokie, gave Richmond $400,000.

Richmond has now been accused of a new crime. He has been charged with deceptive practice/bad checks and conspiracy to commit a financial crime of more than $100,000 Prosecutors want his bail to either be revoked or increased to a million dollars.

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 Posted on July 05, 2012 in Criminal Defense

Article 18 of the Illinois Criminal Code makes a distinction between what crimes are considered aggravated robbery and what crimes qualify as armed robbery.  While it's possible for an individual to be charged with either when committing a robbery, each charge carries different prerequisites by law.

A person commits armed robbery when he or she:

1. “Carries on or about” their person a firearm or a dangerous weapon.
2. Personally discharges a firearm during the course of the crime.
3. Personally discharges a firearm during the course of the crime that “proximately causes great bodily harm, permanent disability, permanent disfigurement, or death to another person”

Armed robbery is classified as a Class X Felony offense, the highest class of felony in the state of Illinois.  If convicted of armed robbery, a person will have 15-25  years of imprisonment added to his or her sentence.

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