McHenry County Blog

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

DOLTON POLICE OFFICER CONVICTED OF CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATIONS FOR USING EXCESSIVE FORCE WITH BATON

CHICAGO — A south suburban Dolton police officer was convicted today of federal civil rights charges for using excessive force against two victims outside a Dolton nightclub in May 2009.

The defendant, KEVIN FLETCHER, who is on administrative leave from the department, was found guilty on two counts of violating the victims’ civil right to be free from the use of unreasonable force by a person acting under color of law.

Jurors, who had the benefit of a video recording that captured most of the scene, deliberated less than an hour today after a trial that began Monday in U.S. District Court.

Fletcher, 35, of South Holland, faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each count. He was ordered to return to court at 9:45 a.m. Monday for a hearing on the government’s motion to revoke his bond before U.S. District Judge Elaine Bucklo. Sentencing was set for 10:30 a.m. on Aug. 16.

Fletcher joined the Dolton Police Department in October 2006.

The evidence at trial showed that at approximately 2 a.m. on May 17, 2009, he and other officers were working crowd control outside the former Mr. Ricky’s 141 Club, as it and other bars along Chicago Road near 141st Street in Dolton were closing.

While performing his duties as a police officer, Fletcher used an ASP baton as a dangerous weapon to strike two victims, Michael McPherson and Laurence Williams, once each in the head.

The jury found that both victims suffered bodily injury, and the evidence showed that both required hospital treatment and staples to close their head wounds.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Tinos Diamantatos and Megan Cunniff Church argued to the jury today that Fletcher was offended by the victims cursing at him as he directed them to depart the Chicago Road area after leaving the nightclub, and then abused his authority by striking them each over the head with his baton to “teach them a lesson.”

Fletcher made no effort or attempt to arrest either victim and departed the scene after striking them with his baton.

Both victims, as well as Fletcher, testified at the trial.

Gary Shapiro

Before trial, the government dismissed an obstruction of justice count that was contained in the November 2011 indictment against Fletcher.

The guilty verdict was announced by Gary S. Shapiro, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois, and Cory B. Nelson, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division assisted in the investigation.

The bunny slope is right in front of where one may eat at Galena’s Chestnut Mountain.

Our family went to Galena mid-week and, besides seeing skiers on Spring Break for the first time at Chestnut Ridge, I found a press release from the Public Access Division of the Illinois Attorney General’s Office.

It was in The Gazette, a paper filed with ads for local candidates for Galena Alderman and school board candidates.

Of particular interest was a paragraph about a binding opinion which told of a newspaper seeking arrest records of a local public official.

The paper was turned down and appeal the decision of the local police department.

The reason?

It was an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy.

Here’s the paragraph saying that police arrest reports of public officials must be made available under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Public Access Division disagreed and issued a rare binding opinion concluding “most information in the report must be disclosed under FOIA because arrests are a matter of public record, outweighing an individual’s privacy rights,” according to the article.

The following was received from Richmond Village Clerk Karla L Thomas in reply to McHenry County Blog’s Freedom of Information Request for information about the Village of Richmond’s Police Pension Fund:

“The Village of Richmond’s population does not require us to fund the Police Pension Fund separately.

“All eligible municipal employees are covered by IMRF (Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund).”

That’s the response that I received from my Freedom of Information request to Village Clerk Melissa L. Goldman.

Here’s the part of her email that answers my question:

“The Oakwood Hills Police Department currently does NOT have a pension fund and has not had a pension fund within the last ten audited years.

“They are based part-time and it is not offered.”

McHenry County Blog drilled a dry hole in its Freedom of Information Act request for information about Prairie Grove’s Police Pension Fund.

That’s because none exists.

Prairie Grove’s reply. Click to enlarge.

Here’s the reply I received:

Among the best funded municipal Police Pension Funds is Marengo’s.

In 2010, it had 77.44% of the amount that it has obligated for retired police officers.

Here are the figures since

The figures go back to the turn of the century, but are not in the same format.

McHenry County Blog ran an article on the Tribune suburban speed trap article.

Attorney Robert Hanlon, known for taking on powerful interests, has pretty much declared war on the Village of Bull Valley.

The immediate motivation is three of his friends getting speeding tickets on the way to his home, which is located just outside the village limits and his having been given a speeding ticket outside the village limits.

In December of 2010, Bull Valley ticket writing police were featured on the front page of the Chicago Tribune.

My headline was,

Bull Valley Residents Can Cheer, “We’re Number 1!”

Hanlon was offering his legal services to those had tickets in the courtroom of newly-appointed Associate Judge Joel Berg early Friday morning.

And he asked for a bench trial for all of them.

I talked to one of his new clients, a Latino man, who had been ticketed for going two miles over the speed limit.

Another man, Eliso Negron, delivers pizzas in Bull Valley.

He was driving a 1996 Ford Escort, a small car, a bit out of place in the tony town.

Noisy muffler the first time around.

Next “I was pulled over, one week later to the hour. I missed my address so I went to the next stop sign. I made a left hand turn after the stop sign and I drove approximately 20-30 feet and I pulled over and, then, he made a left hand turn and turned on the lights.

“I got a ticket for having my windshield cracked.

“I think I was profiled based on my beater car.

“He told me he was very disappointed in me that I did not junk the car yet. He said he had to give me another ticket. That’s when he gave me a ticket for having a spiderweb crack on my windshield.

“I junked the car shortly after he gave me the second ticket.

“I was driving again about two weeks later, but this time I was driving my father-in-law’s minivan and he was sitting on the side of the road. I drove past him and the vehicle has a slight hole in the muffler, but it was not very loud.

“He pulled me over and asked me for my license. I told him, ‘You already took it. You gave me two tickets earlier.’

Bull Valley Officer pulls over a pickup truck driver.

“Then he remembered me.

“I handed him my state ID.

“This time he gave me a warning ticket.

“I thought I should have been given a warning the first time.

“All of that happened on a Thursday nights when I was delivering pizzas.”

Negron may think he was targeted because of his old car, but my brother-in-law, the doctor, wasn’t driving a beater when he got a ticket for failing to turn on his left turn signal prior to turning.

Hanlon puts it this way, “Bull Valley is basically ticketing everyone who goes through that town that doesn’t live in that town.

“The village government is paying the Bull Valley cops to write more tickets than any other police department.

“The Bull Valley Police are predators and I want to bring about social change…for no pecuniary gain on my part,” the successful attorney said.

I have written how reformer State Rep. Jeanne Hurley got snookered into sponsoring a bill in 1957 to prohibit reporters like Jack Mabley from using tape recordings of legislative corruption.

Hurley married Paul Simon and is Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon’s mother.

The retired State Representative who told me the story was Roland Libonatii.  After taking a busman’s holiday to the Illinois House Chambers, we were in the Amtrak Station waiting for the train back to Chicago.

Marvelous story of how those close to the Currency Exchange scandal took steps to try to prevent others from getting similar evidence of corruption.

So, now people have cell phones and record everything imaginable, even police making arrests.

And the policemen don’t like being held accountable.

You can see that from this recent YouTube taken by professionals across the street from a Chicago Hospital where a little girl had been taken after having been shot by a gang banger.  (Thanks to Illinois Review for pointing me to it.)

So, why is House Republican Leader Tom Cross leading the way to coverup wrongdoing?

You tell me. I didn’t hear the debate.

Here’s the 45-59-1 roll call vote on House Bill 1944:

Besides House Republican Leader Tom Cross, State Reps. representing parts of McHenry County who voted against the reform bill include Kent Gaffney and Tim Schmidt. Democrat Jack Franks was missing from the House floor today. State Rep. Mike Tryon voted in favor of the measure.

Here’s how the synopsis describes the bill:

“Provides that a person who is not a law enforcement officer nor acting at the direction of a law enforcement officer may record the conversation of a law enforcement officer who is performing a public duty in a public place and any other person who is having a conversation with that law enforcement officer if the conversation is at a volume audible to the unassisted ear of the person who is making the recording.”

A pr4ss release from the Crystal Lake Police Department:

On February 16th, 2012, police responded to a report of delayed commercial burglary at the Menards Store located at 4850 Northwest Highway.

Upon arrival police were informed that the suspect had made entry into the business by removing a glass pane from an overhead door adjacent to the store’s garden center.

In an effort to conceal the burglary, it was discovered that the suspect then replaced the glass pane with a piece of plexi-glass.

Officials from Menards further explained that their corporate office had launched their own investigation of high theft merchandise (hand tools, power tools, and copper wiring) missing from the Crystal Lake and Fox Lake stores dating back since December 10th, 2011.

Loss Prevention also informed police that they had identified a Wallace A. Henshall (m/w d.o.b. 05-13-64 of 1108 Idlewild Drive, Round Lake, Illinois) as a possible suspect.

During the course of this investigation, shoe prints were discovered in the snow, believed to have been made by the burglar near a fence line to the rear of the Menards’ property.

Wallace Henshall

It was also discovered that Wallace Henshall rented a storage unit at the Space Management self-storage facility located adjacent to the Menards Store and that the shoe prints led in that direction.

Working in conjunction with Fox Lake Police and Menards Loss Prevention, Police immediately gathered video surveillance from both businesses and reviewed the evidence with their respective State’s Attorney Offices.

Crystal Lake Police were given the approval to secure a search warrant for the storage facility while the Fox Lake Police was able to secure an Arrest warrant for Henshall and his involvement with a Burglary at their Menards Store.

On Friday, February 24th, 2012, Crystal Lake Police contacted Henshall by telephone as a ruse after discovering that he had a number of tools listed on Craigslist for sale.

Henshall agreed to the meet and was subsequently arrested by Crystal Lake Officers on the Fox Lake Arrest Warrant for Burglary ($50,000.00 bond). Upon executing the search warrant, Crystal Lake Police found multiple burglary proceeds belonging to Menards and a 2011 Ford Ranger pick-up truck that had been stripped down to the chassis. It was later determined that this particular vehicle was reported stolen from Buss Ford in McHenry.

Menards store in Crystal Lake.

After reviewing the above facts with the McHenry County State’s Attorney Office, Henshall was initially charged with 1 count of Burglary Class (2 Felony), 1 count of Theft Class (3 Felony) and 1 count of Possession of Burglary Tools Class (4 Felony). Following his initial appearance before the court, the Henshall subject posted bond and was released with a court date of February 29th, 2012.

On February 27th, 2012, the Crystal Lake Police were able to secure an additional arrest warrant for Unlawful Possession of a Stolen Vehicle (Class 2 Felony), which was related to the recovery of a 2011 Ford Ranger Pickup Truck stolen from Buss Ford that was recovered in Henshall’s rented storage unit with a bond set at $100,000 (10% to apply).

Henshall was served with the additional warrant when he arrived for his court appearance on February 29th, 2012 at the McHenry County Courthouse.

At the time of this press release the Henshall subject remained in custody at the McHenry County Jail.

The North Carolina school with the lunchroom nanny apologized to the child's parents late last week.

Perhaps you heard of the lunchroom nanny in North Carolina.

Well, you don’t have to go that far to find the kids’ lunch food police.

At one Woodstock elementary school, a lunchroom nanny disapproved of the brownie that a child brought with her home-packed lunch.

I don’t know the admonishment, but the little person was told by someone in authority that it was not good for her and she couldn’t eat it.

From my college days I know about the in loco parentis (in place of the parent), but the parent made the meal. The parent’s intention was clear.

Where does a District 200 employee get off telling the child he/she can’t eat a brownie?