Crime and Courts

A Downers Grove South High School teacher pleaded not guilty Monday to sexually abusing and sexually assaulting a student.

Two men pleaded guilty last week in connection with a duffle bag filled with more than $400,000 of cocaine and fentanyl in a Super 8 Motel in McHenry last year.

A 20-year-old man was accused of punching a Joliet police officer in the face and later kicked an officer as they attempting to handcuff him. 

A correctional deputy charged with predatory sexual assault of a child and possession of child sex abuse materials has been fired, according to the Will County Sheriff’s Office.

A motion was denied Wednesday to detain pre-trial a Hanover Park cleaning woman charged with stealing more than $20,000 worth of jewelry from three clients’ homes, prosecutors said.

A Loves Park woman has been sentenced to probation after she arranged to meet a man in his Woodstock home and then robbed him with an accomplice.

A Lake in the Hills man is charged with disseminating photographs of child sex abuse and of engaging in a sex act with a dog, court records say.

A smash-and-grab crew burglarized multiple businesses in Mokena, Frankfort and Tinley Park before fleeing to Chicago to evade the authorities.

The 2024 crime rate for each Kankakee, Bourbonnais and Bradley police departments showed each trending down.

A Crystal Lake man has been charged with hitting and abusing a woman over 60 as a caregiver, according to court records.

Fox Lake has approved a pension settlement with Melodie Gliniewicz, the widow of Fox Lake police officer Joe Gliniewicz, who infamously staged his suicide to look like a line-of-duty killing.

A thief stole $1,900 worth of cigarettes from a gas station in New Lenox, according to police.

A New Lenox resident lost $3,900 after a scammer posing as a police officer called them and claimed they had an arrest warrant.

A 21-year-old man was arrested in New Lenox after he allegedly admitted to using a gun to fire warning shots in the air following a fight with another man, police said.

Luther Head, who played six seasons in the NBA, made an appearance Thursday, April 10, 2025, in Lee County Circuit Court. An extradition hearing is set for April 17 in Lee County.

A Crystal Lake man has been charged with aggravated assault after he allegedly charged at a police officer with a ukulele, according to court records.

A Will County Sheriff’s Office correctional deputy now faces a charge of possessing a video of child sex abuse material in addition to charges of predatory sexual assault of a child and criminal sexual assault.

A Chicago man has been sentenced to 12 years in prison in a plea deal after he was charged with bringing in 17 kilograms of cocaine into a Super 8 Motel in McHenry.

A teen detainee of the River Valley Juvenile Detention Center in Joliet has been charged with the 2024 attempted murder of a detainee who suffered traumatic brain injury in an attack, prosecutors said.

A teen detainee of the River Valley Juvenile Detention Center in Joliet has been charged with the 2024 attempted murder of a detainee who suffered traumatic brain injury in an attack, prosecutors said.

Jonathon Gounaris, 32, is charged with four counts of attempted first-degree murder, three counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm, three counts of aggravated battery and two counts of possession of a firearm without a firearm owner’s identification card.

Attorneys contend a former Bolingbrook police sergeant’s mental state seems to have deteriorated further since last year as they deal with his bid to vacate his murder conviction. 

Treatment to begin while he is held in the Ogle County Jail.

James L. Ballard’s plea comes less than two months after the state appellate court upheld a Lee County Circuit Court decision to keep Ballard in jail under the Pretrial Fairness Act, known as the SAFE-T Act

No arrests have been made in the investigation of a masked man who stole about $300 in robbery at a Subway restaurant in Joliet’s far west side, police said. 

In 2022, Wilma Alex shared with the Northwest Herald her story of the abuse she said she suffered at the hands of her husband, whom she’d met on a Philippine dating site.

In just about an hour Monday, Mark Alex was found guilty of attempting to kill his wife when he hit her with a hatchet and hammer in her Crystal Lake apartment in 2022.

A special prosecutor has been reviewing a case where a Will County Sheriff’s Office correctional deputy was alleged to have used “excessive force while on duty,” court records show.

A Whiteside County judge has directed the Illinois State Police to videotape blood and DNA testing to be carried out at the state crime lab in connection with a Rock Falls fatal stabbing case.

Andrew Emberson, 19, was released from custody April 3 after his defense attorney said he suffers from “cognitive issues” and needs mental evaluations rather than incarceration.

In a bitterly divided 5-4 decision, the court said the administration must give Venezuelans who it claims are gang members “reasonable time” to go to court

A Joliet West High School student was arrested after he was accused of inadvertently bringing an empty rifle magazine and a steak knife to school, police said.

A Ringwood man who pleaded guilty in March to aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a girl he met on Snapchat turned himself into the county jail Thursday to begin his five-year prison sentence.

Will County correctional officer Daniel Herod is still employed, but sheriff's spokesman says office plans to terminate deputy arrested by Homeland Security.

John D. Carew, 26, was denied release March 26 following a detention hearing.

The state has rested in the trial for a man who admits he struck her with a hammer and hatchet in her Crystal Lake apartment, but denies he was trying to kill her.

The Downers Grove South High School teacher accused of sexually abusing a student wrote what police called a “memoir” about the matter on her phone.

Walter Moist, who ran for Crystal Lake-based District 155 school board this week, was charged with violating an order of protection taken out against him, court records show.

A Will County obscenity case was dismissed against a Republican political consultant. A defense attorney said the case was "yet another example of a criminal prosecution intended to silence political speech."

Attorneys for a former Plainfield Township landlord convicted of the hate crime murder of a Muslim child want a judge to overturn the jury’s verdict by claiming he did not receive a fair trial and prosecutors made prejudicial statements against him. 

A woman who police said was drunk when she crashed into another vehicle in Huntley ejecting her 4-year-old passenger was sentenced to one year in prison.

A Wisconsin man has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting a child under the age of 13 in McHenry County – an allegation dating back 10 years.

The shelter-in-place was activated Friday morning by Joliet Police Department as a special operations team executed a warrant at a local house.

Mark Alex doesn't deny he attacked his wife in her Crystal Lake apartment, but his lawyer said he wasn't trying to kill her and isn't guilty of attempted murder.

A Neuqua Valley High School teacher has been arrested on accusations he groomed and sexually abused a student.

A Texas man admitted to soliciting a McHenry County child via Snapchat to send him sexually explicit pictures and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Kyle Cooper appears in court for a hearing Friday, April 4, 2025, in Whiteside County. Cooper is charged with first-degree murder in the Feb. 14 stabbing death of Daniel Gordon of Rock Falls.

A Joliet man has been charged with recklessly firing a gun during an incident where he allegedly grabbed a woman's neck, court records show.

A Sterling woman has been charged with multiple traffic offenses, including two felonies, after police say she attempted to elude authorities in Rock Falls and ended up hitting a parked vehicle.

Michael W.T. Bennett Jr. will be moved from the Kane County Juvenile Justice Center in St. Charles to the Whiteside County Jail in Morrison on May 17, the day he turns 18.