Courier News

Man accused of using fake $100 bills to gamble at Elgin casino

Fri, 24 May 2013 02:35:07 -0500

Elgin Gambling with counterfeits: A man was arrested Wednesday after he allegedly used counterfeit money to gamble at a blackjack table at the Grand Victoria Casino, police reported. Darnell Coleman, 30, of Sycamore was charged with four felony counts of delivering a forged document. According to Grand Victoria security officers, Coleman entered the casino Monday morning, pretended to use an ATM for the benefit of surveillance cameras, and then used four $100 bills already in his possession to play blackjack. All four bills later were determined to be bogus. On Tuesday, Grand Victoria officials said, Coleman came back and again …

Genoa man charged in jewelry theft months earlier in Elgin

Thu, 23 May 2013 02:38:12 -0500

Elgin Jewelry theft: A Genoa man was charged with felony theft on Monday based on a months-old case. Elgin police said a family living in the 200 block of Lyle Avenue reported in February that between October 2012 and then, someone had stolen $8,800 worth of gold jewelry. The family told detectives that they suspected a former house guest named Arturo Chino, 23, of the 200 block of Stearn Street in Genoa. Police said they arrested Chino this week after a witness recalled having driven Chino to a gold-buying store in West Dundee, where he allegedly sold some gold jewelry. …

Ex-Deputy Chief Beeter indicted on 20 counts

Wed, 22 May 2013 10:47:40 -0500

ELGIN — Bob Beeter, a former deputy Elgin police chief who took early retirement in 2012 amid a scandal involving claims of adultery and email hacking, was indicted Tuesday on 20 felony counts by a Kane County grand jury. The state’s attorney’s office announced that Beeter, 51, had been indicted on 16 counts of identity theft, each a Class 3 felony, and four counts of official misconduct, each a Class 3 felony. Beeter is now chief of police in the small village of Stockton in northwestern Illinois. The indictment states that on several occasions between Aug. 11, 2010, and April …

Motorist injured in crash involving farm vehicle near Hampshire

Wed, 22 May 2013 16:38:02 -0500

Hampshire One hurt: A woman was trapped for 25 minutes, then taken to Presence Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin, after being injured Monday in a nighttime collision involving her car and a piece of farm machinery near Hampshire. Deputy Chief Trevor Herrmann of Hampshire Fire Protection District said the crash occurred about 9:12 p.m. on Route 72 west of Walker Road as the machinery was being pulled by a tractor. He said the farm machine collapsed onto the car, trapping the woman for awhile, but that her injuries did not appear to be life-threatening. The Kane County Sheriff’s Office was …

Motorist accused of hitting bicyclist in E. Dundee

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:35:42 -0500

EAST DUNDEE — Bail has been set at $150,000 for a woman accused of driving drunk and leaving the scene of a crash in which an early morning bicycle rider was seriously injured. East Dundee Police Chief Terry Mee said the incident began at about 5:20 a.m. Friday. Patrick Demarsh, 32, of West Dundee, was riding a bicycle southbound on River Street near Maiden Lane when a car came up behind him and hit his bike, investigators believe. According to reports, Demarsh bounced off the car’s windshield and was left on the pavement as the car continued southward toward Elgin. …

Gunmen reportedly take electronics, cash in Elgin store robbery

Tue, 21 May 2013 02:23:22 -0500

Elgin Store robbed: Police were looking for two gunmen who robbed workers at the Radio Shack store at 1030 Summit St. last week. According to a report released Friday, two employees told police the men entered about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, locked the front door from inside, then pointed pistols at them and demanded all the money in the cash register. They said the robbers then forced them to open a locker where new iPhones are kept and to fill a bag with iPhones and laptop computers. They then ordered the employees into a restroom and told them to count to …

Elgin carjack report probed

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:35:42 -0500

ELGIN — A 25-year-old Elgin man told police he was kidnapped at knifepoint by two carjackers forced to drive to Aurora. According to a police report released Friday, the man said he had been stuck in traffic on State Street (Route 31) near National Street just after noon on Wednesday when a young Hispanic woman carrying a child came up to his car’s driver’s side and asked if he would give her a ride to Aurora. While he was speaking with her, the driver said, a man suddenly entered his car’s front seat from the other side, threatened him with …

Prison sentence in Elgin sex attack

Wed, 22 May 2013 11:35:42 -0500

ST. CHARLES TWP. — A homeless man has been sentenced to prison for sexually assaulting a woman in Elgin two months ago. Phillip J. Dillon, 46, agreed Friday to a sentence of 20 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections in exchange for a guilty plea to one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault, a Class X felony. Circuit Judge Karen Simpson accepted the plea. According to the charges, on March 3, 2013, the victim invited Dillon, whom she knew, into her apartment in the 100 block of South State Street, Elgin. While inside the apartment, Dillon punched the victim …

North Aurora woman killed in Fabyan Parkway crash

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:54:00 -0500

A 23-year-old North Aurora woman was killed early Wednesday morning after her car was struck by an oncoming garbage truck in Geneva. Police said Monica Warner was pulling out of a private driveway in the 200 block of East Fabyan Parkway around 6:04 a.m. when her car was struck by a garbage truck. Geneva police, along with Batavia firefighters and Batavia police, responded to the scene, where Warner was pronounced dead. The driver of the garbage truck, Carol Stream resident Matthew Flood, 22, suffered non-life threatening injuries and was taken to Delnor Community Hospital, police said. It is unknown at …

Elgin man arrested on pot charges

Thu, 16 May 2013 02:35:43 -0500

Elgin Marijuana charges: Junaid Ahmad Jr., 20, of the 600 block of Alice Place, Elgin, was charged with a Class 4 felony count of possession of cannabis, between 30 and 500 grams; a Class 3 felony count of manufacture or delivery of cannabis; and a misdemeanor charge of possession of drug paraphernalia, following his arrest Tuesday. Bail was set at $50,000, and he was given a May 22 court date. Forgery, identity theft charges: Laurencio C. Pena Jr., 42, of the 700 block of Joan Court, Elgin, was charged with Class 3 felony counts of forgery and issue or delivery …

Inmate faces 20 years in plot to kill DuPage judge, prosecutor

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:18:00 -0500

WHEATON – A prison inmate faces an additional 20 years in prison after a DuPage County jury found him guilty Tuesday of trying to have two county officials killed. Incarcerated at the Centralia Correctional Center, Gordon Vanderark, 56, solicited a fellow inmate to kill Judge Blanche Hill Fawell and Assistant State’s Attorney Audrey Anderson from December 2010 through November 2011, Vanderark began serving a 16-year sentence for aggravated driving under the influence in December 2010. Falwell was the judge in the case. According to a press release from the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s office, Vanderark agreed to pay the “hitman” …

South Elgin man faces aggravated arson charge

Wed, 15 May 2013 11:38:17 -0500

Mark A. Clough, 46, of the 300 block of West Spring Street, South Elgin, was charged with a Class 2 count of aggravated arson following an April 28 incident in Elgin. According to police, firefighters were called to Advanced Engineering Corp., 440 S. McLean Blvd., at 9:56 p.m. that day. Firefighters determined the protective covering on a section of pipe was on fire and extinguished the flames without further damage. According to police, following several interviews with Clough, he admitted to being angry at the company, using his key to enter the building, and using a cigarette lighter to ignite …

17-year-old charged in smash-grab burglaries

Tue, 14 May 2013 12:36:15 -0500

Thanks to video surveillance equipment, Miguel Zavala, 17, of the 300 block of Sedgewick Circle in Carpentersville, has been charged with committing two “smash-and-grab”-style burglaries in Elgin last month, police said. Police announced Monday that Zavala has been charged with two counts of burglary after a detective recognized his face on a surveillance video. He is accused of being one of three men who stole 240 cartons of cigarettes from the Pops Pantry convenience store at 1195 N. McLean Blvd. on April 27 after breaking its door glass. He also is accused of being one of two men who stole …

Two accused of taking appliances in Elgin burglary

Sun, 12 May 2013 18:34:00 -0500

Elgin Two charged in burglary: Andre Sardin, 48, of the 400 block of Bowen Court, Elgin, and William T. Ferguson, 35, of the 100 block of Timber Trail, Streamwood, were charged each with a felony count of burglary and a misdemeanor count of theft. Police said they were called to the 200 block of South Channing Street at 11 a.m. Thursday for the report of two men taking a refrigerator and a kitchen sink from a home there. Police said they found a blue van reported by witnesses as being involved with a burglary on Percy Street. Ferguson, who was …

Elgin man faces resisting charge after arrest incident

Fri, 10 May 2013 12:07:45 -0500

Elgin Resisting: Anthony C. Gonzalez of Elgin was charged with felony resisting an officer after an incident in the 1800 block of College Green Drive on Tuesday afternoon. A police officer reported that he saw Gonzalez there and recognized that there were several warrants out for his arrest, including one for a robbery charge. When the officer tried to handcuff him, the policeman reported, Gonzalez tried to run away and ended up wrestling with the officer on the ground, causing an injury to one of the officer’s hands. West Dundee Heroin charges: Danielle P. Carolan, 28, of the 1400 block …