Bicyclist fatally hit by car
A bicyclist was fatally struck by a car Wednesday night in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the West Side.
At 10: 38 p. m., a Chevrolet Cruze was driving north on Sacramento when the car struck a man riding a bicycle west on Division, according to Chicago Police.
The 34- year- old man was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office. His name was not released.
The driver of the Cruze, a 36- year- old man, stayed at the scene, police said. No citations have been issued.
Sun- Times Wire
Female stole vehicle, immediately crashed
Someone stole a vehicle left running with its keys inside Thursday morning in the Portage Park neighborhood, but crashed it on the same Northwest Side block.
About 8: 30 a. m., the owner left his vehicle warming up in the 4800 block of West Warwick, and a female got inside and drove off, according to Chicago Police.
She struck five parked vehicles on the same block before crashing into a house, according to police.
The suspect was taken into custody. Charges are pending, police said. No injuries were reported.
Jordan Owen
Former Lincoln Park teacher gets probation for abuse of teenage boy
A former Lincoln Park High School teacher accused of having a sexual relationship with an underage boy was sentenced to probation Wednesday.
Benjamin Zollo, 34, pleaded guilty Wednesday to one count of indecent solicitation/ aggravated criminal sexual abuse before Judge Thomas V. Gainer Jr., according to Cook County court records. Other charges against him were dropped.
Zollo, who taught at Lincoln Park for a year and was a cross country and track coach, met the boy on the “Kik” instant messaging application between September and October 2015, authorities said at the time. The victim was not a student at the school.
The boy told Zollo he was 15. Zollo told the boy he was 26, and the pair exchanged pictures, authorities said. Zollo also used a fake name for his profile. After a month of corresponding on the internet, the two agreed to meet in person, authorities said. The boy came to Zollo’s home in the 1900 block of North Oakley. For the next three months, the two allegedly met every two weeks at Zollo’s home for the sexual trysts, authorities said. On New Year’s 2015, the boy told his parents what had happened, authorities said.
Police contacted the school’s assistant principal, and Zollo was escorted out of the school Jan. 13, 2016, according to a police report.
Gainer sentenced Zollo to two years of probation Thursday, according to court records. Jordan Owen
Man gets 5 years in prison for trafficking guns
A Chicago man has been sentenced to more than five years in federal prison for illegally possessing and trafficking two dozen handguns, most of which were stolen from a train on the South Side in 2015.
Warren Gates, 49, had 24 stolen firearms, according to a statement from the U. S. attorney’s office.
Seventeen of the firearms were illegally purchased from co- defendants who stole about 111 firearms from a South Side rail yard on April 12, 2015, according to the statement. Gates admitted he bought the handguns so he could resell them for a profit. Law enforcement have recovered 16 of the 111 stolen firearms.
Gates pleaded guilty last year to one count of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person, according to the U. S. attorney’s office. He was sentenced Wednesday to 63 months in federal prison by U. S. District Judge John Jr.J. Tharp
Jacob Wittich
Man shot in Ukrainian Village
A man was shot late Wednesday in the Ukrainian Village neighborhood.
The 21- year- old was sitting in the front passenger seat of a vehicle at 11: 24 p. m, stopped at a light in the 2100 block of West Chicago when someone fired shots from a dark- colored SUV nearby, according to Chicago Police.
The man suffered a gunshot wound to the left shoulder and showed up at Norwegian American Hospital, where his condition was stabilized, police said.
Sun- Times Wire
$ 85,000 in hunter fines
SPRINGFIELD — Conservation officers in Illinois and Indiana said they’ve issued more than $ 85,000 in fines to hunters who falsely claimed residency in either state to get a hunting permit at a cheaper rate. Both states have laws that say a person may only claim residency in one state at a time when buying a resident hunting or fishing license.