Circuit clerk pleads guilty in battery incident at bar, gets court supervision

Kendall County Circuit Court Clerk Robyn Ingemunson pleaded guilty to battery and was sentenced to court supervision Monday afternoon.

Ingemunson was alleged to have struck an employee of hers during a holiday celebration Dec. 21 at a Yorkville bar. The employee is the current wife of Ingemunson's ex-husband.

DeKalb County Judge William Brady, who was hearing the case in lieu of a Kendall County judge at the request of Kendall County Presiding Judge Timothy McCann, sentenced Ingemunson to 18 months of court supervision along with a $300 fine and $192 in court costs.

The plea, known as a "blind plea," was given after Brady, Kendall County Assistant State's Attorney Ryan Phelps and Ingemunson's attorney, Lisa Accardi of Oswego, held a conference without Ingemunson. Ingemunson then joined Accardi and Phelps in a separate conference before agreeing before the judge on the plea.

Phelps had asked Brady to require Ingemunson undertake a drug and alcohol evaluation, due to the alleged use of alcohol during the battery incident, and perform 30 hours of community service work. Phelps said Ingemunson told law enforcement that she had "consumed too much alcohol" and that if "she had been sober, the incident would not have taken place."

However, Accardi objected to the alcohol evaluation, stating that alcohol was not a factor in the incident and that there is not a history of alcohol abuse. She said it was an "isolated incident" and a "family matter."

Brady agreed with Accardi and said there was no proof that Ingemunson was intoxicated at the time and no witnesses to attest to that.

Phelps also wanted Ingemunson to be required to perform 30 hours of community service work, related to an alleged violation of her bond that occurred when she traveled to Wisconsin recently with her children and texted back and forth with her ex-husband about the incident. State's Attorney Eric Weis had filed a motion to either increase or revoke her bond. Phelps had also asked that there be a restriction on no "hostile" or "offensive" contact by Ingemunson with the victim during the supervision period.

However, Accardi argued that it was her ex-husband who initiated the conversation, and that the parties have had contact and will continue to have contact regarding the shared custody of their children and other matters. She reminded the judge that Ingemunson and the alleged victim still work in the same office, and that the victim recently dropped the kids off at Ingemunson's house.

Brady said the travel out of state was not an "aggravating factor" in deciding the sentence, and that restricting communication that was considered hostile would be "difficult to enforce."

Ingemunson is set to appear before Brady again at 9 a.m. Aug. 28 at the DeKalb County Courthouse in Sycamore.