Look like I missed a great opportunity to learn a little about the next Kane County Sheriff last night. According to the Kane County Chronicle, there was a “forum” that covered all sorts of interesting stuff. Compelling topics like who was hired by who’s dad to be a deputy in the Sheriff’s Office in the 1970’s, and how many degrees everybody has:
Kane County
Come on, Daily Herald. You can do better.
When I think of local papers who don’t care about actually “reporting” local court news but would rather cut-and-paste from State’s Attorney press releases, I don’t normally think of the Daily Herald. They’re doing everything they can to change that, though. When catching up on my local crime news today, I first came across this article about a man in Geneva who, the paper says, admit to some fairly serious sex crimes and underage porn charges:
The Daily Herald article:
A Geneva man admitted Friday to videotaping sexual acts between him and a minor during a six-month period starting in late 2012.
Robert R. Schamne, 23, of the 1000 block of Manchester Course, pleaded guilty to child pornography and criminal sexual assault, according to the Kane County state’s attorney’s office.
Judge John A. Barsanti accepted the plea.
Schamne, who must register for life as a sex offender, faces up to 45 years in prison. His next court date is Nov. 14, but it is not known if he will be sentenced then.
Schamne videotaped sexual acts between himself and the victim between November 2012 and April 2013, according to the state’s attorney.
Schamne remains in Kane County jail on $300,000 bail.
The Kane County Prosecutor’s press release:
The Revolution Will Not Be Twittervised, Apparently.
I like twitter. It’s fun. Not just fun because you can “interact” with Nancy Grace, but also fun because you can “interact” with Sheriff Joe Arpaio. I like to think he gets as much out of our exchanges as I do. I could be wrong, though. .@RealSheriffJoe @Riggs4AZgov nobody cares. — Matthew J. Haiduk (@haiduklaw) … Read More
Drugs, Schools, Parks and completely random drug/school/parks laws.
Sometimes a drug deal in Elgin is just a drug deal.
I’ve given up reading some of the local papers each day to catch up on my crime news. At this point, I’d rather go straight to the source- the police and State’s Attorney’s media releases. After all, if they’re accurate and objective enough for the newspaper, they must be good enough for me, right? So, allow me, if you will, to do what I often see in some of the news outlets by cutting and pasting part of the Kane County State’s Attorney’s latest media release as though it’s real news:
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ELGIN MAN GETS 15-YEAR SENTENCE FOR COCAINE SALE
April 18, 2014 – An Elgin man with a history of violent offenses has been sent to prison for selling cocaine near a public park. Samuel E. Span, 31 (d.o.b. 7-27-1983), of the 300 block of North Liberty Street, Elgin, was sentenced late Thursday, April 17, 2014, by Circuit Judge John A. Barsanti to 15 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Span was convicted Feb. 28, 2014, by Judge Barsanti of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a park, a Class X felony, and unlawful delivery of a controlled substance, a Class 1 felony.
On Feb. 22, 2013, Span and co-defendant Mateo Cedillo, 26 (d.o.b. 6-3-1987) of the 200 block of South State Street, Elgin, sold 5.5 grams of cocaine to an undercover officer at Cedillo’s home. The home is within 1,000 feet of Ryerson Park in the 300 block of Ryerson Avenue on Elgin’s near west side…[/section_alt]
Of course that’s not the entire press release. I cut it off before it got too boring. I also took the liberty of highlighting the silly parts- that this man’s house is an especially bad place to sell drugs, and its especially worse because it’s within 1000 feet of a park or school.
Now, I know you’re confused because you think I just said that people should be able to sell drugs by schools. That’s not true. What is true is that the 1000 feet is a completely arbitrary distance with no real significance.
Police ask to meet drug dealers within 1000 feet of parks all the time.
Mental Illness v. Public Safety.
I don’t know how I initially missed this story, but it’s very sad. Apparently a suicidal man in Batavia township managed to find himself on top of a house with a rifle. Obviously the police were called. It sounds like there may have even been a shot fired before they arrived: No charges in officer-related shooting … Read More
