Tag: McHenry County

Sex Offenders Impress McHenry County Sheriff.

Ok, maybe I made that up.  It seems like a reasonable inference, though.  Why else would the McHenry County Sherrif’s Department be issuing press releases and posting them to the web page.

Earlier today, Nygren’s office issued the following:

PRESS RELEASE- SEX OFFENDER COMPLIANCE CHECK

11/21/2013 12:00:00 AM

The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office announced today the completion of a recent sex offender compliance operation conducted by the Sheriff’s Office and the United States Marshal Service. The week long operation was conducted to ensure that all registered sex offenders were compliant with the statutory requirements. A total of 80 compliance checks were conducted during this operation.

Illinois State law only requires annual checks; however, Sheriff’s Office investigators conduct bi-annual verifications to make sure that registered sex offenders are providing accurate home addresses, as well as employer and vehicle information. It is a violation of the Illinois Registered Sex Offender Law to not report any change in address or employment.

The sex offender compliance operation started November 19, 2013 and continued through November 21, 2013. The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office is committed to ensuring that all registered sex offenders remain in compliance with state law.

“If a member of the public becomes aware of a violation, they are encouraged to call our office at 815-338-2144 or call Crimestoppers at 1-800-762-STOP”, stated Undersheriff Andrew Zinke.  “All of the registered sex offenders were found to be in compliance”.

I thought that sex offenders are always out lurking in the shadows while plotting, scheming and trying to re-offend?  That’s what I’ve been lead to believe, anyway- that people on this list are just about the most serious danger as they can’t control themselves and they’re over-run by impulse.

According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, that’s not quite true.  Their study dealt with the worst of the offenders (the ones who had gone to prison).  It also applied a very lenient definition of “recidivism”.  According to them, recidivism is “measured by criminal acts that resulted in the rearrest, reconviction, or return to prison with or without a new sentence during a three-year period following the prisoner’s release.” (emphasis added).  This, of course means that even innocent people (those merely charged who subsequently were found not guilty or had cases dismissed) were counted as folks who had re-offended!

By that standard, over the 3 years following release from prison there was a recidivism rate of 2.5%

So, McHenry County appears to be home to 80 sex offenders. If the BJS statistics are true you can assume a 2.5% recidivism rate over a 3 year span, right?

Wrong.  First, you’d have to assume that all 80 were among the “worst of the worst” and had gone to prison.  If that were true, you could assume 2.5% would be charged with a new sex offense every 3 years. That math works out to 2 people. 2. Two. T-w-o.  Less than one per year.  And since it didn’t even matter in that study if they were actually guilty, the number of sex offenders actually re-committing sex crimes is lower than that assumed figure.

Even with those assumptions the math comes out to… a lower risk to re-offend than just about any crime anywhere, including speeding, DUI, underage possession of alcohol, and dealing drugs.

I’m not saying that any sex offense is a good thing.  I’m just saying that the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office found that all of the McHenry County Sex Offenders were doing exactly as ordered.  That doesn’t surprise me.  It shouldn’t surprise you, either.

I’m curious about the human remains found in that house near McHenry. Real curious.

Last week word got out that the police had found human remains in a house in McHenry.  The McHenry County Sheriff’s Police wouldn’t say much. They especially wouldn’t say if “foul play” might have been involved.

I don’t usually jump the gun on speculating on such things- it’s not worth it. After reading the latest update in the Northwest Herald, though, I’m curious as to the full story.  According to their story titled, “Skeletal remains found near McHenry; homeowner charged,” Lawrence Synett writes that:

Deputies were called to the residence near McHenry in an unincorporated area of the county around 2 p.m. Wednesday after the caretaker of the home found skeletal remains inside a bedroom of the home, Undersheriff Andrew Zinke said.
The woman, who has not yet been identified, appeared to have been dead for some time. A criminal complaint filed in McHenry County Court said Ross put the body in a plastic bag and sealed the room where her remains were found.

He then goes on to quote Undersheriff Andy Zinke:

“Our focus is on identifying the victim and notifying the family,” Zinke said. “This is an ongoing homicide investigation with a lot of unanswered questions. We are hopeful to bring closure to someone’s family relatively soon.”

That right there is where I get curious.  The homeowner has been charged with “concealing a homicidal death.”  In order to be guilty of that charge, a person must “knowingly [conceal] the death of any other person with knowledge that such other person has died by homicidal means.” (Emphasis added)  Of course, a “homicidal” death is one that results because of “act or acts, lawful or unlawful, of a person that cause the death of another person.”

So, this man has been charged with concealing the death of a person whom he knows died at the hands of another person.

Do you suspect foul play now?  I’m not sure if I do or don’t- that doesn’t really matter. What I wonder about is if the remains of this person were so decayed that the police couldn’t immediately determine a cause of death.  And if they couldn’t, how could you charge a man with concealing a homicidal death (as opposed to “concealment of death”- a less serious charge)?

The McHenry County Sheriff’s Department lets us know man lifeflighted after atv crash has been charged with DUI- as though it’s important.

I love reading these police press releases.  I learn so much from what they say. I learn even more from what they don’t.  So, out of curiosity I occasionally check out McHenry County Sheriff’s media releases.  I like to know what they think is important.

Yesterday a release about a man crashing his ATV, being unconscious, and having to be evacuated by helicopter to the hospital caught my eye.  According to the McHenry County Sheriff’s police:

“On November 3, 2013 at approximately 3 PM, McHenry County Sheriff’s Office Deputies and the Nunda Township Fire Protection District responded to the intersection of Riverside Dr. and Kerry Ave, in unincorporated McHenry regarding a reported ATV crash.  Upon arrival Deputies discovered that Timothy P. Ritchie had been operating an ATV on the roadway and it had overturned; landing on top of him.  Nunda Township called for the Flight for Life helicopter and Ritchie was transported to Condell Medical Center.  Ritchie’s injuries were later discovered to be non-life-threatening.”

This sounds bad.  I’m glad to hear that the Sheriff’s office says the injuries are non-life-threatening.  I’m curious as to what the extent of the injuries are.  The Northwest Herald is reporting that the man “was knocked unconscious…”

Unconscious usually means brain injury.  Brain injuries can be fairly serious, resulting in nasty things like paralysis and severe disability- possibly lasting a lifetime.

So, while it’s good that the man will likely live, it’s not like he’ll necessarily be walking out of the hospital tomorrow- we don’t know.  There’s more to the MCSD press release, though.  They’ll let us know what his prognosis is, right?

Sheriff’s Deputies completed their investigation and issued citations to Ritchie for: Driving Under the Influence, Driving on a Revoked License, Operating an ATV on the Roadway, and Careless Operation of an ATV.

Ah.  Glad they didn’t leave that part out. We’d all be horrified if we knew this man had not been cited for DUI and traffic offenses almost immediately.  Thankfully they didn’t wait on either charging him, or letting us know they charged him.

I’ll let you know when they issue the media release on his updated condition, so you can be sure he’ll even be competent and able to go to court to answer the charges.  I’m sure the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department is working on it right now.

Did the McHenry Police beat up a 17 year-old kid?

The recent past hasn’t exactly been kind to the McHenry City Police Department.  Some poor internal controls last year lead to evidence (drugs… possibly money, who knows) being stolen from their evidence lockup by one of their own.  It was bad enough that the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s office sent a letter to the defense bar notifying us that the poor control may have effected a number of drug cases.

The news today has nothing to do with that, but might be just as problematic.  The Northwest Herald reports that a 17 year old kid cited for underaged drinking alleged in a law suit that he was cuffed and beaten:

McHenry father says police unjustly beat 17-year-old

Published: Friday, Oct. 25, 2013 5:07 p.m. CDT • Updated: Friday, Oct. 25, 2013 5:26 p.m. CDT
 
By STEPHEN Di BENEDETTO – sdibenedetto@shawmedia.com
McHENRY – A McHenry family is alleging that at least three McHenry County Sheriff officers grabbed their underage son by the hair and bashed his head against the pavement during an incident along River Road last weekend.
Police stopped the 17-year-old boy and his girlfriend while they were walking home along River Road in McHenry around 12:30 a.m. on Oct. 19, said Jerry Connor, a personal injury attorney at Albert R. Pino’s Law Offices who is representing the family.
An officer handcuffed the boy and cited him for underage drinking and then called for backup, Connor said. The officer and two others proceeded to beat the 140-pound boy, who suffered a detached retina and a concussion, he said.
The boy is currently receiving medical treatment and may be suffering from permanent brain damage, he said…

The article is accompanied by a picture of what appears to be some rather nasty damage to the kid’s eye and surrounding area.  Of course, if the kid has “permanent brain damage” (and I really, really hope he does not), the eye will be the least of his worries.

Allegations of abuse by the police happen all of the time. They are, typically, investigated by the Illinois State Police.  My experience with those investigations is that the I.S.P. rarely conclude somebody was wrongfully beaten.  I’ve also had numerous cases where the I.S.P. investigators will strongly suggest to witnesses of the police conduct that they or the person complaining of abuse could potentially face additional criminal charges for what they are telling the investigators.

Read into that what you will. The point is that for the number of allegations of police wrongdoing I’ve seen, law suits are rarely filed against the police. So, this will be an interesting one to keep an eye on.

Bull Valley, Child Pornography, and the NSA.

I’m amused sometimes when I read about crime in Bull Valley.  Not because it’s funny.  More so because everybody thinks of Bull Valley as a pristine, perfect place.  Arrests in Bull Valley should serve as proof to the world of what those of us in Criminal Defense work already know: crime can pop up anywhere.  Today the Northwest Herald is reporting of an arrest for child pornography in Bull Valley:

Bull Valley man charged with child porn

By CHELSEA McDOUGALL – cmcdougall@shawmedia.com
WOODSTOCK – A Bull Valley man facing child pornography charges in Topeka, Kan., was arrested Thursday in Woodstock on an additional seven felonies.
[Name redacted by myself] allegedly had more than 1,000 images on various electronic devices of children engaged in sex acts, Woodstock Police said.
Thursday’s arrest was the end of a 10-month investigation by the Woodstock Police Department, who were notified in January that there might be some illegal pornographic downloads in the area…

Here’s another thing that amuses me: when the police use the passive voice.  They did that here.  The Woodstock Police Department “were notified” about illegal downloads.

Wonder who did the notifying?

My first guess is the feds.  As I’m sure you know by now, they have the ability to watch everything we’re doing on the internet.  Even before it was that pervasive, though, the feds were all over this internet child porn thing.  I’ve had cases in the past where they notice a download of material that shouldn’t be downloaded and either start their own investigation or assist the local police in getting the investigation going. Sometimes they’ll bust somebody on one end of an illegal transaction, get that person to cooperate in further investigation, and then extend the investigation out to other people and jurisdictions.

Is that what happened here? I don’t know. The police are clearly trying to protect the identity of whoever provided them the information, though.