Stripper sought for Vaughn case
One of Christopher Vaughn’s prosecutors said authorities would try again to subpoena an elusive dancer visited by Vaughn at a strip club days before he allegedly murdered his wife and three kids.
Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Fitzgerald told Judge Daniel Rozak that Chrystal Miller agreed to a Wednesday meeting where she might accept a subpoena. But Miller agreed to attend a similar meeting May 30, prosecutors have said, and failed to show.
Attorneys in the Vaughn case will return to Rozak’s courtroom Monday, and that is when it likely become clear whether Miller plans to cooperate.
The Will County state’s attorney’s office called for a hearing last week to make sure Miller testifies at Vaughn’s trial. They said a staff investigator tried three times since March to serve her with a subpoena, but she avoided him.
Prosecutors said Vaughn, of Oswego, visited Miller at a gentleman’s club June 11 and 12, 2007 — days before he allegedly shot and killed his wife, Kimberly, and their three children, Abigayle, Cassandra and Blake, on June 14, 2007, along Interstate 55 near Channahon.
According to a motion filed in 2010 by former Vaughn defense attorneys, Vaughn told Miller he was a single man from Naperville with no children. She said he spent “large sums of money” at the club and “more or less just wanted to talk to her.” Miller said she had a “strange feeling” about Vaughn, according to his attorneys’ motion. She said he made a comment about knowing what would happen in the future. Forest theater is going back to prison after admitting Wednesday he forged documents allowing him to do business with the south suburban village.
Kenneth Arron, 50, pleaded guilty to forgery, admitting he applied for a business license in Park Forest using a fake name since he knew his lengthy criminal record would bar him from getting one.
The Lombard man, who spent 23 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections on a variety of theft and fraud cases and a few more in an Arizona prison, took out a license as Kenny Yochelson in February 2010. Assistant State’s Attorney Kathryn Morrissey said.
He then operated the revamped Holiday Star Theater, 340 Main St., for months until a woman filed a battery complaint against him in August 2010. Police tracked Arron down in September 2010 through his license plates after they couldn’t find any public records of a Kenny Yochelson. They also discovered he had been collecting unemployment since January 2010 despite a theater salary of $40,000 a year plus theater profits. Those charges were dropped as part of his plea agreement.
Arron’s attorney tried to get him probation on the felony forgery charge, saying Arron had stayed out of trouble for many years. Judge Michele Simmons refused and sentenced him to two years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. into the Chicago River Wednesday afternoon downtown and held him until emergency crews arrived.
The man apparently fell into the Chicago River about 2:45 p.m. near North Clark, police Marine Unit Sgt. Karl Hajdu said.
A kayaker prevented the man from drowning until a police Marine Unit boat with four officers onboard got to the scene, Hajdu said. “There is no denying the kayaker had a lot to do with [the rescue],” Hajdu said. Once on the boat, other Marine Unit officers performed “chest compressions.” He was taken to a local hospital in critical condition, Hajdu said. Side plans to file a federal lawsuit Thursday against Chicago Police, her attorney said.
Tiffany Rent claims she was eight months pregnant when Chicago Police officers Tasered her June 5 after a parking ticket dispute, her attorney, Keenan J. Saulter, said in a statement.
Last week, police said Rent just had been ticketed for parking in a disabled spot at East 103rd Street and South Michigan. Rent “tore up the ticket and threw it in the police officer’s face,” police said.
When the officer asked Rent for her state ID so he could write her a second ticket for littering, Rent refused, and shouted “several expletives and refused to comply,” police said. Rent then tried to put her car in gear and leave, and the officer deployed his Taser, police added.