Saturday, March 3, 2012
This Week in Court Watch, March 5: Oak Forest sex assault case; Oak Lawn election fraud case; and murder case hearings for Orland Park, Frankfort and New Lenox cases.
The Southland's major criminal and civil cases heard in Cook County and Will County courts this week. OAK FOREST — Attorneys for David Baitman, a former Village of Oak Forest attorney charged with kidnapping and sexual assault, are looking to obtain a medical opinion about their client’s fitness for trial. It is possible that a University of Chicago neurologist specializing in dementia will produce an evaluation for the court by Baitman’s next status hearing on April 30, according to courtroom testimony. OAK LAWN— Myrna Jurcev, a community activist under indictment and accused of forging signatures on a petition to put a referendum on the election ballot, appeared for a status hearing. She faces one felony charge of mutilation of election …
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Dazzle's owner goes to trial March 7. Also, arraignment postponed for man accused of setting fire to his family's south suburban restaurant.
- POLICE & FIRE
- Jesse Marx
-
Saturday, January 28, 2012
The Southland's major criminal and civil cases heard in Cook County and Will County courts this week. TINLEY PARK — Trial starts March 7 for Dawn Hamill, the owner of Dazzle’s Painted Pastures Animal Rescue and Sanctuary, which was raided nearly one year ago. She faces dozens of counts related to animal cruelty and neglect. More than 100 animals, including a dead cat and horse, were seized from Hamill’s Tinley Park property, which prosecutors have painted as a den of feces and urine, with inadequate space and heat. When put on the stand last month for a pretrial issue, Hamill described an environment of “healthy” and “playful” animals, though she admitted that the sanctuary had been twice cited for unsanitary conditions by the Illinois …
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Also back in court: An Aurora serviceman accused of sexual abuse might not undergo psychological testing, as requested by Marine instructor.
- POLICE & FIRE
- Jesse Marx
-
Saturday, January 21, 2012
The Southland's major criminal and civil cases heard in Cook County and Will County courts this week. FRANKFORT — The murder case against Brian Trainauskas is being delayed, pending an appeal by prosecutors that rests on whether the man’s constitutional rights were denied during a police interrogation. At the Illinois Appellate Court level, the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office is challenging Circuit Judge Richard C. Schoenstedt’s ruling that sheriff’s police deprived Trainauskas of his right to counsel during an interrogation Jan. 23, 2009. Detectives allegedly kept him talking, after he asked for a lawyer, by saying a witness had identified him in a photo lineup. Prosecutors contend that Trainauskas met and spoke with detectives …
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Also, Oak Lawn woman in child porn case is allowed to visit her niece, and an accused sexual assailant is told to keep wearing his electronic monitor.
- POLICE & FIRE
- Jesse Marx
-
Saturday, December 10, 2011
The Southland's major criminal and civil cases heard in Cook County and Will County courts this week. FRANKFORT — Because some of the evidence against Darrell Stephenson may include pictures of a naked child, defense attorneys expect to meet with prosecutors at the Will County State’s Attorney’s Office by Jan. 12, 2012, and review the state’s case. Accused of having sexual contact with a boy half his age, Stephenson, 24, is charged with multiple counts related aggravated criminal sexual abuse and possession of child porn. He has pleaded not guilty and remains in jail on bail totaling $90,000. He once coached youth soccer in Frankfort and surrounding communities, according to prosecutors. OAK LAWN — A 20-year-old Oak Lawn woman charged with…
Monday, October 17, 2011
The homeless man accused of preying upon an 83-year-old woman has traveled the country, breaking laws wherever he goes.
Drifter Dennis Dodson — accused of attacking and raping an elderly Orland Park woman who was only trying to show the homeless man some kindness — has run afoul of the law more than 60 times in 15 states since leaving his native Iowa more than 15 years ago. What brought the vagrant to Orland Park? A bicycle. What would compel him to attack an 83-year-old woman so violently? Not even his mother knows. Teresa Dodson, who hasn't seen her 34-year-old son in years, assumed her son had been jailed for drugs. His drug-addled life took a turn for the worse after he and friends were arrested in Iowa years ago for stealing hog tranquilizers from a veterinarian. “None of them were quite right after that,” Teresa Dodson told Sun-Times Media reporter …
41.602218
-87.796568
The Home Depot
7300 W 159th St, Orland Park, IL
/articles/drifter-accused-in-orland-rape-arrested-at-least-60-times
281526
/locations/5610311
Friday, October 7, 2011
An 83-year-old woman was trying to help a man she thought was homeless when he attacked her.
Updated 3:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7 Dennis D. Dodson, 34, was charged with assault on Monday, Oct. 3 in connection to an incident where Dodson threatened to stab an employee in the parking lot area of Home Depot, 7300 W. 159th Street, according to a release from the Orland Park Police Department. The incident happened on Aug. 30 around 9:55 a.m. Bail was set at $50,000 for the added charge. Dodson was apparently living behind the store among trees when he attacked and sexually assaulted an 83-year-old woman who tried helping him on Sept. 23, police said. Updated 5 p.m. Saturday Police pressed charges on a homeless man for attacking and sexually assaulting an elderly woman Friday morning Dennis D. Dodson Jr., 34, without a last known address…
Monday, January 24, 2011
An Orland landlord said as much, in the Justice Department's eyes, and that'll cost him 35 grand. Two big vacancies at the IPO. A Tinley doc is accused of forcing a patient into sex. And Kanye West's Fatburger closes. Miss a week on Patch, miss a lot.
This Monday morning hangover is killing us. After all that partying Sunday, we don't even have an NFC Championship and a Super Bowl berth to comfort us. With all the hype last week leading up to the Bears-Packers showdown, we understand if you tuned out the news last week. But what a newsy week it was. An Orland Park landlord found that his discriminating taste in tenants will cost him $35,000 thanks to an investigation by the U.S. Justice Department. In an exclusive interview with Patch, the executive director of the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra explained why he's leaving the Southland. A Tinley Park doctor was accused of forcing himself on a patient. Meanwhile, heartfelt tales of need spilled out at a Cook County hearing on the fate …
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Robert C. Smith, 27, had a sexual relationship with a student at Metea Valley High School, according to police and school officials. He's now charged with sex assault.
A Mokena man who teaches science at Metea Valley High School in Aurora has been accused of having an inappropriate sexual relationship with one of his students and now faces criminal charges. Naperville police filed charges today against Robert C. Smith, 27, after they found he was having a sexual relationship with a teen-aged girl. Smith, of the 19600 block of Foxford Lane in Mokena, is charged with two counts of criminal sexual assault, each a Class 1 felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. Police said the victim is between 13 and 18 years old. Police were contacted on Sept. 28 by the school resource officer at Metea, according to a news release from the Naperville Police Department. The sexual contact took place in Naperville, …
41.53402
-87.835229
19600 Foxford Ln, Mokena, IL
/articles/mokena-man-assaulted-high-school-girl-police-say
/locations/4699692
Deb Melchert
2:39 pm on Saturday, November 12, 2011
Russ, I have to agree with you. Missy, no one is saying the woman deserved this or it was her fault. She was attacked in a "wooded area" behind the store, not in the lot. To go into an isolated area to help a complete stranger is not the wisest of choices, regardless of how old you are. Her heart was in the right place and I believe her compassion got the best of her common sense. And we all need… more ›