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Recent Blog Posts
Gang Violence Escalates on South Side of Chicago
According to the Chicago Tribune, Chicago police report that over one fourth of all of the murders in Chicago this year have had some kind of affiliation with the notorious street gang, the Gangster Disciples. There have been over 400 killings just this year, which is the troubled cities highest murder rate in years.
The Gangster Disciples have ruled South Side Chicago neighborhoods for decades. Authorities report that there are now several factions within the same gang such as the Killa Ward and the Hit Squad that are now turning against each other over the same neighborhoods that they once shared. Of all of the known Chicago street gangs, the Gangster Disciples have the highest attribution to the city’s total homicide rate.
It is estimated that there are over 30,000 Gangster Disciples in the city, also making the gang the largest in numbers. It is reported that the younger gang members do not follow the hierarchy that was set up by their predecessors and this is part of the cause for this year’s eruption of violence.
Dangers of Online Dating
Police are searching for even more victims of Derrick D. Chaney, who they suspect is an online predator. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Chaney was charged for several violations including three counts of criminal sexual assault, unlawful restraint and kidnapping.
Chaney met a woman from Davenport, Iowa on a dating website. He communicated with the woman online and on the telephone for several weeks before meeting the woman at a motel in Aurora, Illinois. He allegedly held the woman against her will and sexually assaulted her at that time.
During the course of the investigation, police were led to believe that he has met numerous other women online through dating and singles websites as well as in several nightclubs. He has used several aliases, lied about his occupation and level of education as well as his financial status. He likes to give an appearance of being rich which, is helped by the fact that he drives luxury vehicles and dresses well. He also has repeatedly boasted about his VIP status at different clubs in the northwest suburbs.
Reckless Driving Leads to Law Change in Illinois
According to the Chicago Tribune, Lukasz Marszalek, 22, was involved in a fatal crash last year that ended the life of Julie Gorczynski, 17. Marszalek was driving his car almost 80 mph in a 40-mph zone when Julie made a left turn in front of him with her Jeep. She was killed in the ensuing crash.
Marszalek was charged with aggravated speeding, which has a maximum penalty of 180 days in jail. On Tuesday, September 25, Marszalek received the maximum punishment and was sentenced to six months in jail. His original charge was aggravated reckless driving, which is a felony, but it was reduced to a misdemeanor because there was not enough evidence. Marszalek also had previous speeding violations and seven court supervisions, and soon after the crash he got a speeding ticket in Indiana.
A new legislation, called Julie’s Law, that imposes more serious penalties on excessive speeders, was signed in July. Julie Gorczynski’s parents helped in getting the legislation through the Illinois General Assembly. The law prohibits judges from giving court supervision to drivers that are caught driving over 25 mph over the limit on a non-rural road or 30 mph on a highway. Formerly supervision could be granted for drivers traveling up to 40 mph over the limit.
Prosecutor Gets Stabbed and Battered by Convicted Felon
On September 14th, a Cook County prosecutor intervened in a quarrel between four men which nearly cost him his life, reports the Chicago Tribune. He was on his way to meet a friend at Diversey Harbor to go fishing when he saw two men being chased by two guys in a park. The men were screaming for help, so the prosecutor intervened. He yelled to the chasers and told them to stop, but instead of stopping, they attacked the prosecutor. He managed to grab one of the attackers and tried to keep use him as a shield between himself and the second attacker, but he lost his footing and fell to the ground. The attackers hit him with a beer bottle and stabbed him several times.
The wounded prosecutor was helped to a nearby hospital by his friend who arrived near the park not long after the attack. The prosecutor had suffered injuries to his side, face, and under his right arm. The injuries were not severe, however, and he is recovering from the attack at home.
Highland Park Woman Now Faces Reckless Homicide Charges
According to the Chicago Sun Times, a Highland Park woman now faces much more serious charges following her involvement in a Labor Day crash that killed a five-year-old girl who had been walking down the street with her family. 18-year-old Carly Rousso was driving her Lexus coupe east on Central Avenue in Highland Park when she veered across several lanes of traffic and left the road, driving onto the sidewalk and hitting five-year-old Jaclyn Santos-Sacramento, her mother, and two brothers. At the time, Rousso was charged only with DUI, and released from jail on a $50,000 bond.
After receiving the results of State Police Crime lab tests, however, prosecutors now have upgraded Rousso’s charges to reckless homicide and four counts of driving under the influence of an intoxicating compound. Lab tests detected the presence of the chemical compound difluoroethane in Rousso’s bloodstream at the time of the accident, which is one of several compounds commonly used when “huffing”, or inhaling chemicals in order to get high. Police also found a commercial cleaning product in Rousso’s car at the time of the accident that contained difluoroethane. Rousso turned herself in on the new charges and her bond has increased to $500,000.
Wheaton Man Accused of Home Invasion Held on $1 Million Bail
The Chicago Tribune is reporting that a Wheaton man is being held in the DuPage County Jail on $1 million bail after being arrested on felony charges of home invasion and reckless discharge of a firearm, and misdemeanor charges of battery and firearms-related violations.
64-year-old Jeffrey H. Beard was armed when he allegedly entered the Glen Ellyn home of a female acquaintance, where he confronted the woman and her boyfriend. The couple reports that Beard fired off a round and held a gun to the woman’s head; Beard later allowed the boyfriend to leave the residence, and he immediately contacted police. After police surrounded the residence, the woman ran outside, and authorities hit Beard with a stun gun around 2:00 a.m. when he tried to flee. At the time of his arrest, Beard still had a handgun in his possession.
Proving Suicide Over Murder
The Christopher Vaughn trial has gripped Chicago headlines for the better part of September, but the trial raises some very important issues involving a murder trial, proving suicide, and mental illness. Vaughn is accused of killing his wife and three children in an SUV on a frontage road off of Interstate 55 before turning the gun on himself and creating two superficial wounds in his thigh and wrist.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, Christopher’s deceased wife, Kimberly, spoke with her sister in the week preceding her death about her increased anxiety. Defense attorneys for Christopher argue that the sister’s testimony of Kimberly’s alleged bi-polar disorder corroborate the idea that she would indeed commit suicide. According to WebMD, the National Mental Health Association reports “that 30 to 70 percent of suicide victims have suffered from a form of depression,” such as the bi-polar disorder Kimberly could have suffered from.
New Program Helps Minor Offenders in Illinois
Good news came for Illinois residents with a criminal record last month, when Governor Pat Quinn signed into legislation a initiative that allows counties across the state to “start rehabilitation programs for first-time, non-violent offenders patterned after the initiative started by Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez last year,” according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
According to Gov. Quinn, who gave a news conference to announce the new program, “justice involves your heart and your head,” and people who break the law in a way that doesn’t harm others don’t need prison to be “rehabilitated.” Twenty-three-year-old Philanese Stokes was one of the first people to benefit from the new program, and as she skipped out the Leighton Criminal Courthouse in mid-September she told a reporter from the Sun-Times that her credit card forgery arrest wasn’t a good look, and kept her from getting “one of the 50 jobs she applied to last year.”
Latin Kings Busted in Chicago for Major Drug Ring
It was a bust right out of a crime show. In mid-September, federal agents “seized an undetermined amount of cash and 13 firearms, including five long-barreled weapons in the final phase of operation,” from suspected members of the Latin Kings gang, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. More than 40 suspected members of the gang were arrested and face “narcotics charges for their alleged roles in two drug trafficking organizations that supplied and distributed huge quantities of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana in Chicago and the south suburbs.”
It was a two-year investigation that was aided by an undercover agent who infiltrated the gang. Not only were the cash and firearms seized, but also two pounds of heroin and wholesale quantities of cocaine. Damian Rivera, 31, was alleged as the leader of the drug trafficking organization, and Emmanuel Fernandez, 27, who allegedly stored and distributed the heroin.
Tinley Park Man Accused of a Hate Crime against Bank Worker
On September 2nd, a representative of a bank visited a foreclosed home near the 6200 block of West 179th Street of Tinley Park. This man was working on the outside the home when he was verbally abused from a neighboring home. His name was not released but he is a 51 year old African American man. The resulting altercation caused a Tinley Park man to be charged with a felony hate crime.
The neighbor accused of slinging racial slurs at this man is 47 year old Joseph Berndt, who resides at 17903 S. Highland Avenue. He also yelled at this man and accused him of breaking into the foreclosed property next door. Unfortunately, when this agent tried to explain his professional capacity to Berndt, he was answered by a beer can and a brick as well as racial slurs and insults.
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