Crime & Safety

Regional Police Report: Man Killed Drifter After Playing Video Games with Him; 3 Die in Fiery Crash with Garbage Truck

The following police-related items were pulled from area Patches. An arrest is merely an accusation, not evidence of a conviction.

Woodstock

Man Killed Drifter After Playing Video Games With Him

A 29-year-old Woodstock man was sentenced Thursday to 30 years in prison for the brutal murder of a drifter who he'd bought drugs with earlier that day and who he murdered in his apartment after playing video games and drinking with him, according to the Northwest Herald. 

Kyle W. Morgan, 29, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to first-degree murder for the death of Robin Burton Jr., 28, according to the article. The Northwest Herald reports Morgan hit Burton in the head with a hammer and stabbed him 20 to 30 times on Jan. 18, 2009 after meeting him at a train station. 

Glenview

Three Die in Fiery Crash with Skokie Garbage Truck

A Village of Skokie garbage truck was involved in a brutal crash which killed three people at about 12:45 p.m.Tuesday at Harlem Avenue and Harrison Street in Glenview.

The driver of the garbage truck was heading to the Glenview transfer station and had the right-of-way in the two-way stop-sign intersection when the driver ignored the stop sign and drove into the intersection, where the garbage truck struck it, according to the Village of Skokie's website. Both vehicles caught fire, which the Glenview Fire Department extinguished.

Abclocal.go.com posted photos which show the truck's front wheels atop the mangled, charred wreckage of the vehicle.

The garbage truck driver, who is shaken but physically unharmed, has a 19-year record of good service as a Skokie employee, the village said in its statement. Required post-incident protocols are being followed, it said. 

Police are not releasing the names of the victims until families have been notified, according to Glenview Police Cmdr. Dave Sostak.

For more on this story click here.

Elmhurst

Man Charged with DUI for Sixth Time

Carlos Gonzalez, 74, 547 Lynn Court Apt. E, Glendale Heights, was arrested and charged with aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol, improper lane use and parking on the roadway after police said they found his vehicle parked over the curb on the sidewalk at North and Elm at 3:59 a.m. Sunday, Oct. 13.

It was his sixth DUI arrest, according to the police report. He was taken to DuPage County Jail, where he is being held on $25,000 bond. His vehicle is being held for forfeiture.

Naperville

Man Sentenced for Child Porn

A Naperville man was sentenced to jail Wednesday after pleading guilty to one count of child pornography, the Chicago Tribune reports

Renzo Barduagni, 50, of the 700 block of Violet Circle, has currently served 82 days in jail, but he will serve an additional eight days as well as a 120-day work release, according to the Chicago Tribune.  

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Barduagni was arrested in October 2012 at his home after police said they found more than 100 videos of children younger than 17 engaging in sexually explicit acts on Barduagni's computer.  

Police said they also found video footage of a naked neighbor child, according to the Daily Herald.

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"We did recover a few video recorders that appeared to have video tapes of children being videotaped by this gentleman," Naperville Sgt. John Westlove said last year.   

Barduagni most register as a sex offender and pay a $1,000 fine, according to the Tribune. 

Crystal Lake

Hospital Might be Treating Krokodil User

Centegra Health System may be treating the first case of the flesh-eating street drug,"Krokodil," in McHenry County. 

Centegra is warning residents about the illegal narcotic, pronounced "crocodile," an opiod that causes a user' s skin to turn scaly and green, according to a news release issued by Michelle Green, Centegra's senior public relations coordinator.

Eventually, the drug user's skin can rot and fall off, causing life-threatening damage. The drug can be made from commonly found ingredients including gasoline, Green stated in the release.

The drug mix started in Russia as a cheaper alternative to heroin. The first case of the drug was found in the United States about two weeks ago in Arizona. Last week, three Krokodil cases turned up in Joliet. 

“This drug is a serious concern because it is often injected by people who use intravenous heroin,” said Dr. Paul Berkowitz, a psychiatrist with Centegra Physician Care. 

“The patient we are treating is an IV drug user who has large skin lesions that have led us to believe the drug that was injected is Krokodil.”

For more on this story click here.

Geneva

Lavish Lifestyle Leads Feds to $74 Million Fraud Scheme

A former longtime Genevan and area motorcycle and recreational vehicle dealer and his accountant have been indicted on federal charges alleging a nearly $74 million fraudulent financing scheme.

Russell S. Ott, 50 — who was indicted along with nine others, including another Geneva resident — lived a lavish lifestyle that eventually led to the FBI investigation that uncovered the criminal activity.

According to a news release on FBI.com from the Chicago Civil Division, Ott, now of Oswego, was the owner of Emily Inc., which did business as Pro Source Motorsports, last located in Morris. Elburn neighbors told Patch that Ott also once owned a motorcycle shop on Kirk Road in Geneva, although there is no mention of that location in the FBI release.

Between 1995 and October 2008, Pro Source, the dealership at the center of the scheme, sold new and used motorcycles, luxury motor homes, recreational vehicles, all-terrain vehicles, boats, and jet skis. In 2007 and 2008, Ott also had ownership interests in Liberty Cycle in Libertyville and Huntley Chevrolet in Libertyville.

Ott was charged with one count each of bank fraud and tax evasion and was indicted along with nine other defendants, eight of whom allegedly acted as straw buyers in sham vehicle sales.

All 10 defendants were charged with at least one count of bank fraud, and eight of them were also charged with federal tax offenses in a 36-count indictment that was returned by a federal grand jury in August, federal law enforcement officials said.

The alleged bank fraud scheme involved two prongs: in one, the dealership fraudulently obtained more than $31.3 million in direct financing through five lines of credit from Fifth Third Bank, which lost more than $27.1 million; and, in the second, individual straw borrowers obtained some 200 fraudulent loans totaling nearly $42.4 million, which resulted in some 18 financial institutions losing more than $29.5 million.

For more on this story click here.

Patch reports on law enforcement activity, using information provided by official agencies. Persons charged with a crime, or issued a citation for violation of a local ordinance, are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.


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