Gutierrez bench trial reset to June 9 for witness availability

The bench trial for a St. Charles businessman charged with more than $100,000 in theft by deception was rescheduled on Wednesday to June 9.

This time it was the prosecutor who asked for a postponement of the April trial dates for Robert Gutierrez, 75, because one of this witnesses had a death in the family and would be unable to proceed with a trial next week on April 4.

Last week, it was Gutierrez’s attorney, Liam Dixon, who unsuccessfully sought a delay due to his client’s ill health.

Gutierrez was charged in 2023 as part of an alleged kickback scheme with the late former Circuit Clerk Thomas Hartwell.

On Monday, Circuit Court Judge John Barsanti ruled against that request, saying, “I don’t doubt he has some serious physical issues. I am not finding that he is unable to assist in his defense.”

“I will grant the motion,” Barsanti said of rescheduling the trial. “There’s not much else I can do.”

The only sticking point could be if other trials get set to go before the Monday, June 9 date – in which case, all would be notified by Thursday, June 5 that it would be a no-go.

Assistant State’s Attorney Robert Dore said Wednesday that he had not yet issued subpoenas to his witnesses while he awaited Barsanti’s ruling.

“I said I was going to have them (subpoenas) all out this week,” Dore said. “I have to subpoena some of those witnesses.”

When he checked on their availability, Dore said he learned that one witness would not be able to participate in a trial due to a death in the family.

In a Feb. 5, 2024, court filing, Dore listed 41 possible witnesses and a separate list of 26 – with some duplications – of those who made written or recorded statements.

Dore said he would not need that many, mostly likely 10 to 20 witnesses.

“I won’t need as many as I would have for Hartwell,” Dore said.

Hartwell was charged with 19 felonies connected to misusing public funds between December 2018 and November 2020, records show.

Invoices from Gutierrez’s companies – Gutierrez Productions and Dar Illuminations, LLC – for that period totaled $119,575, according to records released following a Freedom of Information Act request.

The invoices stated various reasons, such as for public relations, marketing about the circuit clerk’s services on radio and television and in outreach to the Hispanic community, records show.

In 2020, invoices were tied to COVID-19 promotions for outreach, public relations and recommendations to minimize contact, records show.

On May 16, 2020, a group of Kane County Republicans, both elected officials and candidates, participated in two events to distribute 1,000 free community care packages of personal protective equipment in St. Charles and Elgin, records show.

Hartwell was seeking his third term as Kane County Circuit Clerk. According to a news release, he had already planned a similar event at his church.

“With so many families hurting, and needing hope and encouragement, this is a way to combine public service with Christian service,” Hartwell had stated in the release.

That GOP event was cited among the 19 felony indictments against Hartwell and led to the official misconduct charge. It alleged “that he knowingly authorized payments from Kane County to Gutierrez Productions Inc. for services performed at a Republican Party political event which occurred on May 16, 2020, in violation of … Illinois Compiled Statutes …”

“The investigation revealed that Hartwell spent the county money to promote a May 2020 event billed as a PPE/care package giveaway, but actually was a political event for which county funds should not have been approved,” according to a news release at the time from Kane County State’s Attorney Jamie Mosser.

The Kane GOP news release about the May 16, 2020, event listed volunteers and event sponsors that included former Kane County Treasurer David Rickert, former Kane County Auditor Terry Hunt, State Sen. Don Dewitte, State Reps. Dan Ugaste and Keith Wheeler, Kane County Board members Drew Frasz and Doug Scheflow and candidates David Brown and Lucio Estrada, among other public officials.

Except for Hunt, all those listed in the release are on the witness list for Gutierrez’s trial.

Others named on the witness list include Kane Circuit Clerk Theresa Barreiro, Kane Auditor Penny Wegman, Clerk Jack Cunningham, Treasurer Chris Lauzen, former coroner Rob Russell, former treasurer David Rickert, North Aurora Village Trustee Laura Curtis, Chicago mayoral candidate Willy Wilson, Elgin Community College Trustee Shane Nowak, Golaith Slayer Communications owner Jon Zahm and public relations consultant Travis Akin.