ILLINOIS HOUSE VOTES TO LIMIT GANG- CONTACT BUSTS
The Illinois House passed a bill Thursday that would mean police could no longer arrest parolees just for having contact with a gang member.
By a 67- to- 48 bipartisan vote, the House moved to change the law so parolees would need to be involved in gang- related activity to face arrest. The measure now goes to the Senate.
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, a Chicago Democrat, is the chief sponsor of the bill.
The Chicago Sun- Times reported Sunday that in recent years Chicago police have arrested thousands of parolees for having contact with alleged gang members. In communities with large populations of ex- offenders, many parolees have been locked up after walking down the street, visiting with neighbors or getting rides, though they were accused of no other criminal activity.
The police say the law has allowed them to ensure that felons are following the terms of their release from prison. But Cassidy and others say the law unfairly targets parolees trying to get back on their feet. Mick Dumke
Man charged with sexually abusing teen on bus
Carlos De La Torre, 79, has been charged with sexually abusing a teenage girl on a bus Wednesday morning in the Logan Square neighborhood on the Northwest Side.
The 14- year- old girl was riding the bus about 9: 40 a. m. in the 2400 block of North Milwaukee Avenue when De La Torre approached and sexually abused her, police said. He then got off the bus and ran west on Milwaukee Avenue. Sun- Times Wire
Mentally ill woman gets 22 years for killing husband
Julia L. Gutierrez, 54, has been sentenced to 22 years in prison after pleading guilty but mentally ill to killing her husband with a sedative- laced smoothie last year in their Geneva home.
Sometime between Jan. 26 and Jan. 28, 2016, Gutierrez mixed a lethal amount of the sedative Temazepam into a smoothie and gave it to her husband, 53- year- old Eduardo Gutierrez, prosecutors said.
After poisoning her husband, Julia Gutierrez sent a package to friends in Rock City, Illinois, that contained $ 40,000 in cash and a $ 5,000 check, along with a letter explaining how she believed Eduardo had suffered for many years because of her, prosecutors said. Sun- Times Wire
Man charged in fatal hit- and- run in Hanover Pk.
Ramon M. Barajas, 83, has been charged with a hit- andrun crash that left a motorcyclist dead Monday night in Hanover Park.
The crash between the car and motorcycle happened at 8: 22 p. m. Monday at Army Trail and County Farm roads in Hanover Park, police said. The car headed south on County Farm Road after striking the motorcycle.
Officers found the motorcyclist, 30- year- old Christina Jankowski, lying in the road unresponsive. Sun- Times Wire