Sunday, April 7, 2013
Earl Wilcek's relatives and friends raised $150,000 to help him pay restitution, according to media reports.
Disbarred Elmhurst attorney Earl Wilcek had a lot of support from relatives and friends at his sentencing Friday in DuPage County court, according to an article in the Chicago Tribune on Saturday. Supporters of Wilcek, who admitted stealing $225,000 of a client's money, raised $150,000 to help him pay restitution. In addition to having to pay all of the money back—he will have 2 1/2 years to pay back the remaining $75,000—the 59-year-old also was sentenced to 180 days in DuPage County Jail and will have to perform 200 hours of community service, according to the Tribune. Wilcek said he took the money because his law practice was struggling and because he incurred expenses on behalf of the son of a woman whose estate he was managing, the …
Monday, October 8, 2012
Here's a look at what we're keeping an eye on in DuPage County courts.
- POLICE & FIRE
-
Monday, October 8, 2012
Diego Garcia, 22, of Franklin Park wants a judge to clarify the sentencing range he faces on armed robbery charges tied to a pair of holdups in 2010 in Elmhurst and Wood Dale. Garcia was told he was eligible for between 21 and 45 years if convicted in both cases, but the DuPage County Public Defender's Office suggests the range should actually be six to 30 years because a 15-year add-on for using a weapon during an armed robbery is improper, according to court records. That's because being armed is a fundamental element of an armed robbery charge, and not something that enhances possible penalties, documents show. Garcia is accused of using a gun to threaten a man on York Road before taking his cell phone, keys and ATM card Nov. 30, 2010…
Monday, September 24, 2012
Judge calls Cheryl Luchetta's actions "inconceivable."
In a calm, if not dispassionate voice, Cheryl Luchetta told the 911 operator a man had slashed her throat and done something to her son. Police and paramedics arrived to find the boy breathing, but unable to talk, while his eyes moved around unfocused. For 45 minutes, Luchetta told an Elmhurst police officer about the drug dealer who slashed her throat and gave pills to her 7-year-old son the night before. Confronted about inconsistencies in her story, Luchetta admitted to the officer that it was her who gave her son as many as a half dozen Tylenol PM pills, as well as her own prescription drugs for anxiety, in June 2011. "She brought him to death's door and dropped him off," Assistant State's Attorney Demetri Demopoulos said, calling …
Sunday, September 23, 2012
More than a year of court proceedings will wrap up Monday for Cheryl Luchetta, who pleaded guilty this summer to aggravated battery of a child to avoid attempted murder charges.
Cheryl Luchetta, the Elmhurst mother who pleaded guilty to aggravated battery to a child after she gave her young son a potentially lethal combination of drugs, is scheduled to be sentenced Monday, Sept. 24. It's been more than a year since Luchetta gave her son, then 7 years old, a mix of prescription and over-the-counter medications, then slit her own throat only to wake up the next morning and call 911 after finding the boy unresponsive. Since the crime, she has undergone mental evaluations, completed divorce procedings and had her bond increased because prosecutors said she poses a "grave risk" to her son and ex-husband if released. Visit Elmhurst Patch for coverage of the sentencing. Click here for all the background on this case. Let…
Friday, September 7, 2012
Cheryl Luchetta faces six to 30 years in prison.
- POLICE & FIRE
-
Friday, September 7, 2012
A Sept. 24 sentencing has been set for the Elmhurst mother who pleaded guilty to aggravated battery to a child in connection with a June 2011 incident involving her son. Cheryl Luchetta had been charged with attempted murder after police and prosecutors said she drugged her then 7-year-old before cutting her own throat in their Elmhurst home. She awoke the next morning and called 911 to tell police an ex-boyfriend broke into the home, poisoned her son and cut her neck, according to records. Luchetta pleaded guilty in June to the aggravated battery charge in a deal with prosecutors. She has not been released from custody since her 2011 arrest. In May, DuPage County Judge Daniel Guerin increased her bail to $1 million because he said she …
Wednesday, May 9, 2012
Antonio White is part of a burglary crew targeting the western suburbs.
Antonio C. White, 26, of 3001 S. Michigan, Chicago, was sentenced this week to 14 years in prison for his part in a 2011 Elmhurst burglary, according to a press release issued Wednesday by Elmhurst Police Chief Dominic Panico. White had been under surveillance by Elmhurst detectives when he and an accomplice burglarized a home in Addison April 4, 2011. He was arrested a short time later after leading police on a high-speed chase that ended in White crashing the vehicle into two unmarked Elmhurst police cars. Class 1 felony charges were approved in the case, and White's bond was set at $250,000. In additional to residential burglary, White also was charged with criminal damage to state property, a Class 4 felony. White’s accomplice, …
Monday, April 30, 2012
Rocio Garza could be eligible for parole in eight months.
- POLICE & FIRE
-
Monday, April 30, 2012
An Elmhurst man who fled the scene of a fatal accident in 2010 was sentenced Monday to four years in prison. Rocio Garza, 23, of 161 W. Van Buren, pleaded guilty to one count of failure to report an accident involving a fatality, a Class 1 Felony, in February. At that time, his attorneys told the court that he panicked after hitting Robert Vincze, 30, of Michigan. On Dec. 12, 2010, at about 4:30 a.m., Garza was coming home from work, driving eastbound on Butterfield Road just west of Eola Road in Aurora, when he struck Vincze from behind. Vincze was walking alongside the road returning to his friend's vehicle, which had run out of gas. Garza stopped briefly and then fled the scene. Vincze died of massive neck and head injuries. An …
Thursday, November 10, 2011
The last time Mike Stojanovich decided to drink and drive, he ended up in a crash in Elmhurst.
- POLICE & FIRE
-
Thursday, November 10, 2011
Elmhurst resident Mike Stojanovich, 51, of 255 S. West Ave., was sentenced to nine years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for driving under the influence of alcohol for the sixth time. On Sept. 22, Stojanovich entered a plea of guilty to one count of aggravated DUI, sixth or subsequent violation, a Class X felony. Judge Daniel Guerin handed down his sentence today, Thursday, Nov. 10. The sentence stems from a Dec. 2, 2010, rear-end collision caused by Stojanovich at St. Charles Road and Sturges Parkway in Elmhurst. After the crash, Stojanovich fled the scene but was apprehended by police a short time later. His blood alcohol content shortly after the crash was .30, more than three times the legal limit for driving…
Stewart Levine
8:06 am on Thursday, April 11, 2013
hey look My name is Earl decided to rip off the wrong dude more ›