McHenry County Blog

A press release from the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office:

DEFENDANT RYAN RASKEY SENTENCED TO FIVE YEARS IN THE ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS FOR DELIVERY OF A CONTROLLED SUBSTANCE

Louis A. Bianchi, McHenry County State’s Attorney, announces that 32 year old Ryan Raskey was sentenced today to five years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for Delivery of a Controlled Substance, a Class 1 Felony.

The charges stemmed from a February 10, 2012 incident where the defendant sold over a gram of heroin to an undercover police officer.

The defendant also told the undercover police officer that he could supply heroin to the officer in the future.

This case was investigated by the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant State’s Attorney Kate Lenhard.

A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office:

ELEVEN DEFENDANTS CHARGED WITH DISTRIBUTING MULTI-KILOGRAM AMOUNTS OF HEROIN OR COCAINE FOLLOWING DEA-LED INVESTIGATION

CHICAGO — Two brothers driving a flatbed tow truck carrying a blue Honda Prelude exited the Kennedy Expressway at Armitage Avenue where they failed to stop at a red light about 7:20 p.m. on March 5 of this year.

Chicago police officers stopped the tow truck near the intersection of Armitage and Wolcott avenues and identified the driver and his passenger.

Noting that the Honda was registered to another individual, the officers asked if the vehicle was stolen and the driver replied that to his knowledge, it was not.

The officers subsequently seized the Honda and allowed the two men to depart in the tow truck.

Within an hour the driver of the tow truck was on the phone with a third man, telling him repeatedly that the Honda had “broken down.”

After hearing some disbelief, the driver told the third man, “No, I’m telling you that the …the car was taken by the clowns, man.”

The seizure of the Honda was not at all as coincidental as it might have seemed to the three men, however.

Drug Enforcement Administration agents, assisted by the Chicago Police Department and other agencies, had been surveilling the men while they loaded the Honda onto the flatbed near 71st and Sacramento Avenue about 6:40 p.m. that evening based on listening to their intercepted telephone conversations.

Later that night, after a police canine positively indicated the likely presence of drugs at the rear of the Honda, DEA agents obtained a federal warrant to search the car and found two boxes containing a total of approximately 20 kilograms of heroin in 20 packages.

The tow truck driver, MARIO CORIA, and his brother, OMAR CORIA, and the man they spoke to on the phone, ALBERTO GUADARRAMA, were among a total of 11 defendants, 10 whom were arrested yesterday on federal drug-trafficking charges.

The charges, contained in six separate criminal complaints, stem from an investigation led by the DEA, together with task force officers from the

• Chicago,
• Berwyn,
• Brookfield,
• Lansing, and
• Summit

police departments, as well as the Elgin Police Department, which assisted in yesterday’s arrests.

DEA offices in

• Madison,Wis.,
• Milwaukee,
• Houston,
• Dallas, and
• McAllen, Tex., and
• Indianapolis

also assisted in the investigation, which was conducted under the umbrella of the U.S. Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF).

All 11 defendants were charged with various drug distribution offenses in the complaints that were filed in U.S. District Court and unsealed following the arrests. The 10 defendants arrested yesterday appeared before Magistrate Judge Maria Valdez in U.S. District Court and remain in federal custody pending detention hearings scheduled on Monday. One defendant is a fugitive.

Gary Shapiro

The arrests and charges were announced by Gary S. Shapiro, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Jack Riley, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the DEA.

“This operation strikes down a major Mexican criminal organization that routinely distributed high quality heroin throughout the Midwest,” Mr. Riley said.

“The arrests by DEA and its state and local law enforcement partners effectively dismantled a significant trafficking organization that was responsible for the distribution of multi-kilogram quantities of heroin on the streets of Chicago.”

Guardarrama, 29, of Bartlett; Mario Coria, 46, and Omar Coria, 35, both of Chicago, were charged with conspiracy to distribute multi-kilogram quantities of heroin and cocaine.

According to the affidavit in this case and others, DEA agents began receiving information in 2010 from a confidential source (CS-1) regarding the drug trafficking and money laundering activities of a Mexican-based drug trafficking organization.

According to CS-1, since at least 2010, a high-ranking member of the organization (referred to as “the Mexican SOS,” for source of supply) oversaw the distribution of large quantities of cocaine and heroin and the collection of large amounts of drug money in multiple locations in the United States, including Chicago, Atlanta, and elsewhere.

CS-1 told agents that in 2011 the Mexican SOS contacted CS-1 and asked CS-1 to be responsible for the organization’s operation in the Chicago area.

CS-1 agreed and worked for the Mexican-based organization in Chicago while under the supervision of DEA during December 2011 and January 2012. According to CS-1 and Mexican media sources, the Mexican SOS was killed in Mexico in approximately July of this year.

The charges allege that Guadarrama and Mario Coria sold two kilograms of cocaine to CS-1 in January, and all three defendants were involved in arranging for the Coria brothers in March to pick up the 20 kilograms of heroin, sent from Mexico.

Other defendants charged separately as a result of this investigation are as follows:

• JUAN VIGIL, 65, of Houston, charged with distributing 1.5 kilograms of heroin, supplied by the Mexican-based organization, to CS-1 at a hotel near Midway Airport in Chicago on Jan. 22 of this year.
• DOMINGO MACEDO, Jr., 42, of Chicago, charged with possession with intent to distribute a kilo of cocaine on Jan. 7, 2012.
• MIGUEL BELTRAN, 36, of Chicago, charged with possession with intent to distribute a kilo of cocaine on Dec. 23, 2011.
• LORENZO TRUJILLO, 22, of Evanston, charged with possession with intent to distribute a kilo of cocaine on Dec. 22, 2011.
• VICTOR MANUEL CONTRERAS, 43,of Elgin;
• MARIO ORTIZ, 34, of Elgin;
• ORLANDO PENALOZA, 28, of Harvard, Ill.; and
• MIGUEL ORTUNO-GOMEZ, 30, of Madison, Wis.,

were charged in a four-count complaint. The charges allege that Contreras delivered three kilos of cocaine to Ortiz on June 5 of this year, and later the same day, Ortiz delivered the same three kilos of cocaine to Penaloza. Later still on June 5, Contreras delivered two additional kilos of cocaine to Ortiz, and Ortiz delivered that cocaine to Ortuno-Gomez. Ortuno-Gomez is the only defendant who was not arrested yesterday and is a fugitive.

During the course of the investigation, the DEA seized approximately 21.5 kilograms of heroin and five kilograms of cocaine.

Defendants

• Contreras,
• Mario and
• Omar Coria,
• Guadarrama,
• Ortiz, and
• Vigil

face a mandatory minimum of 10 years to a maximum of life in prison and a $10 million fine, while defendants

• Beltran,
• Macedo,
• Ortuno-Gomez,
• Penaloza, and
• Trujillo

face a mandatory minimum of five years to a maximum of 40 years in prison and a $5 million fine. If convicted, the Court must impose a reasonable sentence under federal statutes and the advisory United States Sentencing Guidelines.

The government is being represented by Assistant United States Attorneys Jessica Romero, Shoba Pillay, and Stephen Lee.

The public is reminded that complaints contain only charges and are not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

A press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office:

NEW BREEDS GANG LEADER DANA BOSTIC SENTENCED TO 38 YEARS IN FEDERAL PRISON FOR CONTROLLING VIOLENT HEROIN TRAFFICKING

CHICAGO — A leader of the New Breeds street gang who controlled heroin trafficking in a 12-square block area on the west side near Pulaski Road and Van Buren Street for nearly a decade was sentenced to 38 years in federal prison following a two-day sentencing hearing in Federal Court.

The defendant, Dana Bostic, controlled a faction of the New Breeds, which intertwined lucrative heroin trafficking with acts of violence and was regularly “at war” with rival gangs, including the Undertaker Vice Lords and Four Corner Hustlers.

Bostic, 33, also known as “Bird” and “Mello,” had a reputation for violence since he was arrested for the murder of a rival gang member in 2002, and his willingness to “green light” violence and murder solidified his authority in his territory.

Yet, even as those closest to him were killed or went to prison, Bostic remained on the street and in control of a criminal organization that earned thousands of dollars a day in heroin sales.

Bostic “was involved in an organization that used violence from time to time to accomplish whatever goals it thought were appropriate,” U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly said in imposing the 456-month prison term on Friday in U.S. District Court.

Bostic, who was arrested in August 2010, admitted being the leader of a heroin trafficking organization when he pleaded guilty in February this year, but he denied committing or directing acts of violence and murder.

Bostic was held responsible for distributing up to 30 kilograms of heroin from 2009 until he was arrested in 2010, but Judge Kennelly noted that the amount was actually far greater over the course of a decade.

The government argued at sentencing that Bostic authorized shootings and a murder in retaliation for being shot himself and the murder of his brother, Curtis Ellis, on Aug. 18, 2008, outside a River North nightclub and fast food restaurant.

Three days later, Davon Taylor was killed because of his association with people who were perceived to have been involved in shooting Bostic and killing Ellis.

In a sentencing memo, federal prosecutors wrote:

“For those in the territory under his control, Bostic decided what was right and what was wrong, who was rewarded and who was punished, without regard to the law or the justice system. [. . .] Kilogram after kilogram of Bostic’s heroin made its way into the veins of addicts year after year as dollar after dollar returned to Bostic and his organization.”

Bostic and more than two dozen other members, associates and suppliers of his New Breeds faction were arrested in August 2010, following an investigation that was part of a sustained, coordinated effort by local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to dismantle the leadership of Chicago’s highly-organized, and often violent, drug trafficking street gangs.

The investigation employed wiretaps, cooperating witnesses, undercover surveillance and drug transactions, and a steady progression of searches and seizures of evidence.

All of the other co-defendants were also convicted and most were sentenced previously.

Bostic and his co-defendants controlled “an open air drug market” in the area bordered by Pulaski, Kostner, Jackson and Congress Parkway. A gas station and a grocery store were among the alleged drug “spots” in the vicinity where Bostic’s organization sold heroin.

Members of Bostic’s drug organization met customers near busy city transit stations, providing a lucrative market with all of the drug spots together taking in as much as $10,000 per day.

The sales consisted primarily of “dime bags,” or small plastic bags or tinfoil wrappers that contained approximately 0.1 gram of heroin each and sold for $10 per unit.

The New Breeds street gang originated in the late 1980s and early 1990s, initially as a splinter group from the Black Gangsters (one of the three factions of the original Black Gangster Disciples, the other two being the Gangster Disciples and the Black Disciples.)

The New Breeds ultimately absorbed the Black Gangsters back into the gang, operating under the new name.

The sentence was announced by Gary S. Shapiro, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, together with Jack Riley, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Field Division of the DEA; Garry F. McCarthy, Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department; and Anita Alvarez, Cook County State’s Attorney. The investigation was conducted under the umbrella of U.S. Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF), and with assistance from the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force (HIDTA).

The government is being represented by Assistant United States Attorneys Megan Church, Bethany Biesenthal and Yasmin Best.

One of the more prolific commenters on McHenry County Blog is “Earth Mother.”

Today, she posted the following:

You gotta love that Northwest Herald. They had new article in yesterday’s paper about the MCC Forum.

Nygren makes a stupid comment (that they would not print).

The biggest problem the Sheriff’s Dept faces is TRAFFIC, according to Keith Nygren. Mahon got it right by answering, heroin.

Lots of negative comments yesterday and time left on the article.

Today, I challenge you to find the article.

Not even listed on “More Local Headlines” by date.

It must be great running for office and having your own personal news paper.

As Earth Mother points out the article can still be found, if you search for it.

And comments (43 so far) can still be made.

But, the title “Candidates find common ground at MCC forum” cannot be found on the list of yesterday’s articles.

When I went to the dentist’s office yesterday to get my teeth cleaned, I told the dental hygienist that Nygren said that “traffic” was his number one priority.

She laughed.

Such reactions are probably why the “What’s your top priority, if elected Sheriff?” answers didn’t make the NWH article.

And negative comments about Nygren’s answer may be the reason the article has virtually disappeared.

One of the substantive comments defending Sheriff Keith Nygren’s priority below my article on the meeting is worth sharing more broadly.

“Earth Father” wrote,

The greater threat to our citizens are DUI and traffic accidents. Traffic fatalities in 2006 = 23 2007 = 24 2008 = 18 2009 = 8.

Thankfully, Sheriff Nygren recognized the disturbing traffic fatality rate and aggresively pursued traffic safety in partnership with municipal police agencies. [This press release from the Sheriff's Office is referenced.]

I looked up the heroin statistics in “Heroin Use in McHenry County Skyrockets,” the article I ran July 7th, so people could compare the two problems:

“In just three years, heroin deaths in McHenry County increased by 150 percent, from 6 heroin overdoses in 2006 to 15 in 2009.”

Traffic deaths are down, but heroin deaths are up.

If you were running for Sheriff, what would be your biggest priority?

Another candidates’ forum for the office of Sheriff (and County Clerk) will be held on October 25 at the McHenry County College’s Conference Center.  It will be sponsored by the League of Women Voters.  Perhaps someone will ask the priority question again.

From left to right, Gus Philpott, Mike Mahon and Keith Nygren.

The final question from the moderator for the three candidates for McHenry County Sheriff inquired about the biggest problem facing the department.

“Traffic” was the reply of 13-year incumbent Keith Nygren.

I admit to being stunned by his reply. I’d have thought he would have said something relating to a more significant aspect of law enforcement.

Nygren finished his explanation by telling how hard it was to get out of McHenry County College. Funny, I’ve never had a problem when I used the entrance with the traffic signal. Certainly not after a meeting that went until after 9 PM.

Democrat Mike Mahon was sitting next to Nygren and got second shot at the question.

“Heroin” was his reply.

He explained that the drug had been brought to his attention when he was canvassing neighborhoods.

I can attest to being told by acquaintance that his child had been incarcerated in the McHenry County Jail on a drug charge, placed in a cell with a heroin addict and, when released, turned from, I think it was cocaine, to heroin.

We’re talking Crystal Lake here.

Green Party candidate Gus Philpott went third and waxed enthusiastically about traffic enforcement, but said his highest priority would be getting deputies out of their cars, in contact with people and in the schools with children.

Mahon scored one other point, although he did not stress it.  When asked about saving money in the department, Nygren said he wasn’t going to lay off anyone, especially those on the street, that if more money were needed he would find additional revenue.

Is one of the highly paid employees on Mike Mahon's list of positions which would be eliminiated driving Keith Nygren's car in this year's Algonquin Founders Days Parade? Anyone know the identity of the driver?

Mahon did score one good point while answering the question of how the candidates would save money.  Nygren went first, vowing not to fire anyone, especially those on the street.  He said if he needed more money, he would find a way to raise more revenue.

Mahon has issued a press release about how he would save $1 million a year [37 comments on that article] by eliminating positions in the department.  He cited for the audience a $90,000 a year assistant supervisor of the vehicle maintenance part of the Sheriff’s Department, whom he said Nygren paid overtime (although hedging his answer suggesting it might be compensatory time off) to drive his car in parades.

Philpott brought up how one employee is apparently paid for commuting to and from work. You can read about it here.  He says he learned through a Freedom of Information request that Patrick Firman, Deputy Chief of Corrections, receives a $350 per month “Vehicle Compensation Package.”

The forum was sponsored by the Illinois Policy Institute and the McHenry County TEA Party.

Thanks to a Roosevelt University study by The Illinois Consortium on Drug Policy’s
Stephanie Schmitz and Kathleen Kane-Willis, we learn that McHenry County and the rest of suburbia has a serious heroin problem.

Deaths in McHenry County have almost tripled from 6 to 15 from 2006-2009.

Heroin Treatment by Race and Age in 2008

Here’s the report’s summary mentioning our area that a CBS TV story pointed me to.

Suburban counties have experienced significant increases in heroin deaths:

• Lake County deaths attributable to heroin have increased 130 percent, from 13 in 2000 to 30 in 2009.
• In just three years, heroin deaths in McHenry County increased by 150 percent, from 6 heroin overdoses in 2006 to 15 in 2009.
• In Will County, heroin deaths increased by 93 percent in just two years, from 17 in 2008 to 29 in 2009. Nearly all of those who have died have been male, and 83 percent were white. Nearly 60 percent of the deaths occurred among those aged 34 or younger.

The CBS story quoted co-author Kane-Williams as saying,

“Chicago has one of the worst – if not the worst – heroin problems in the nation.”

And, Chicago includes us.

And catch this quote Kate Mahoney, executive director of PEER Services, in the WBBM-TV story:

“It’s cheaper to buy heroin than to go to the movies, to buy a movie ticket. That’s really frightening.”

What to do about the problem?

Here’s a suggestion I haven’t run across before:

“Several states have passed laws that have provided partial or full immunity from prosecution for selected drug offenses in the event that an individual calls 911 to report a drug overdose and request emergency assistance.

“The State of Washington recently passed such a law.

“To protect Illinois residents from an unnecessary overdose death, the state must create a law that provides protection for those who call 911 to report an overdose event.”