DUI charges dropped against Hebron village president

Charges of driving under the influence of alcohol filed last year against Hebron’s village president were dismissed Thursday because of the “incompetence of the responding” Hebron police officer, McHenry County Assistant State’s Attorney Ashur Youash said in court.

Robert Shelton, who appeared in court before Judge Mark Gerhardt with his attorney Patrick Walsh, had been scheduled for a trial conference Thursday and was set to go to trial on Monday.

In a news release provided to the Northwest Herald Wednesday, McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally said the charges were being dismissed because of “an incompetent investigation by the Hebron Police Department.”

On June 20, Robert Shelton was pulled over while driving a motorcycle by former Hebron Police officer, Christopher Robert, for suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol, court records show.

The officer alleged in complaints filed in the McHenry County courthouse that Shelton was stopped after disobeying a stop sign at Illinois Street and Prairie Avenue in Hebron.

The officer, with backup from a Richmond police officer, conducted a standardized field sobriety test and breath test. The test showed Shelton to have an alcohol concentration at 0.9%, above the legal limit of 0.8%, according to a police report.

He was subsequently arrested and charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, as well as reckless driving and three counts of disobeying a stop sign, according to citations filed in the courthouse.

In the release, Kenneally said Robert, a former full-time officer who has since resigned, “is not a credible witness.”

“First, the investigating officer in the matter, on whose testimony the entirety of the case rests, is encumbered with credibility problems as he subsequently resigned from Hebron while under investigation for allegedly falsifying time sheets,” Kenneally said.

An attempt to reach Robert’s attorney Thursday was not immediately successful. The village’s investigation is closed, and Robert has not been charged with any crime, according to court records and Hebron Police Chief Juanita Gumble.

He also said that during a pretrial hearing, the investigating officer could not recall the relevant topics covered during his DUI training, the name of the assisting officer or “any signs of impairment with the way Mr. Shelton appeared physically.”

“The officer could not say whether Shelton had any physical injuries that would affect his ability to perform field sobriety tests, the sequence of field sobriety tests performed, nor the results of the field sobriety tests,” he said.

The officer also did not obtain a warrant to collect a blood sample that could have been used to test his blood alcohol level, Kenneally said.

He added that the investigating officer’s body camera inexplicably “stopped” working 20 minutes into the investigation and the squad car was not equipped with a dashboard camera.

After court, Walsh, Shelton’s attorney, said, “The lack of evidence has been there since day one and I’m happy that the state’s attorney did the ethical thing and dismissed it before the trial.”

After being sworn into office in 2021, Shelton acted on his campaign promise to reduce the police department’s staff and budget.

He reduced the department by five full-time officers and three part-time officers.

The reduction and Shelton’s arrest was done under previous Police Chief Rich Donlea who has since left the department.

However, Kenneally said the incompetency of Shelton’s arrest is not related to the reduction in the police force.

After learning news of charges being dismissed against Shelton, Gumble, who was sworn in Jan. 30, said the incompetency of Shelton’s arrest does not represent the department as a whole.

Since her hiring, she has been hiring police officers and reorganizing and securing the office and its evidence vault that recently came under fire from the Illinois State Police.

“Chris was asked to resign for just cause, unrelated to Shelton,” she said. “Every member of the police department works on an honor system. If trust is broken, by proof, that officer must go.”

At the time Robert resigned, he was working under Police Chief Ramtin Sabet, who has since taken a job in Florida.