Stories from surrounding communities, closest first.
Lake and McHenry County Scanner · Round Lake, IL
Nearby: Round Lake, ILThe legal team for a Round Lake mother held by ICE in a Kentucky jail for more than 15 months over two old retail theft cases said in an update Tuesday that she was granted a $7,500 bond and is awaiting release. Beata Siemionkowicz, 57, of Round Lake, has been held by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for more than 15 months, mostly at the Campbell County Detention Center in Newport, Kentucky. Siemionkowicz was granted bond at a hearing before an immigration judge Friday and the bond was set at $7,500, ACLU of Illinois Director of Communications and Public Policy Ed Yohnka said Tuesday. “We continue to await her release,” Yohnka told Lake and McHenry County Scanner. Siemionkowicz was still listed at the Campbell County Detention Center Tuesday morning, according to ICE’s online detainee locator. It was not immediately known when she would be released.
Lake and McHenry County Scanner · McHenry, IL
Nearby: McHenry, ILA Crystal Lake man already serving a federal prison sentence for an $8 million Ponzi scheme was sentenced to four years in prison Thursday after pleading guilty to stealing from a McHenry veterans group while he was its commander. Alan J. Hanke, 62, of Crystal Lake, pleaded guilty Thursday to one count of theft of property valued between $10,000 and $100,000, a Class 2 felony, as part of a negotiated plea agreement, court records show. McHenry County Judge Tiffany Davis sentenced Hanke to four years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, followed by one year of mandatory supervised release. Davis ordered the sentence to run concurrently with the federal prison sentence Hanke is serving for his role in an $8 million Ponzi scheme. Truth-in-sentencing guidelines require the sentence to be served at 50%, court documents show. Hanke was given credit for 268 days already spent in custody, which covers one day in September 2024 and every day since February 19.
Lake and McHenry County Scanner · McHenry, IL
Nearby: McHenry, ILAn insurer is suing to avoid paying for the crash that killed a U.S. Marine veteran on the Fox River near McHenry and records show the accused boater swore he could not pay his lawyers months after his family’s firm paid $454K for his pontoon. Richard M. Stevenson, 45, of Lisle, who is also known as Ricky Stevenson, is charged with first-degree murder in the July 25 death of Magdalena Jablonska, 48, of Des Plaines, along with four counts each of aggravated driving under the influence and operating a watercraft under the influence, which are Class 2 felonies. Stevenson is also the defendant in a wrongful death lawsuit filed in August by Michelle Macias, the special administrator of the estate of her sister, Jablonska, and Jablonska’s fiancé, Alan Telmini, who was injured in the crash. McHenry County Judge Joel D.
Lake and McHenry County Scanner · McHenry, IL
Nearby: McHenry, ILThe Chicago deep dish chain Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria is expanding to McHenry with a carryout, delivery and catering location set to open next spring that city officials called “a great addition to our community.” Lou Malnati’s will occupy a 1,630-square-foot space at 1777 North Richmond Road in the McHenry Grounds shopping center, the company said in a statement. The McHenry store will be the company’s 71st location and will offer carryout, delivery and catering, giving McHenry-area residents a closer way to get the chain’s signature deep dish pizza and other menu favorites, the company said. “As we continue to grow throughout the Chicagoland area, we’re focused on bringing Lou Malnati’s to more communities where we have unmet customer demand,” Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria CEO Julie Younglove-Webb said.
Lake and McHenry County Scanner · Union Grove, WI
Nearby: Union Grove, WIA 26-year-old Wisconsin man was arrested Thursday for allegedly recording a woman in her underwear and another person’s exposed intimate parts in a changing room at the Target in Crystal Lake. Jacob S. Schuster, 26, of Union Grove, Wisconsin, was charged with three counts of unauthorized video recording, a Class 4 felony. Schuster allegedly made the recordings around 2:25 p.m. on October 4 while three people were inside a changing room at Target, 5580 Northwest Highway in Crystal Lake. A criminal complaint signed by a Crystal Lake Police Department officer said Schuster knowingly made a video recording of the intimate parts of one person without that person’s consent “for the purpose of viewing the body” of that person. He is also accused of making a video recording of a second person without that person’s consent while the person was in the changing room.
Lake and McHenry County Scanner · Waukegan, IL
Nearby: Waukegan, ILA car that ran out of gas and stopped on Waukegan Road was rear-ended, resulting in a five-vehicle crash that sent two people to the hospital and completely shut down the road near Waukegan early Monday. The Waukegan Fire Department, North Chicago Fire Department and Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded just before 5:50 a.m. Monday to Waukegan Road and Buckley Road near Waukegan for a report of a crash with injuries. An ambulance crew that arrived reported the crash was in the southbound lanes of Waukegan Road north of Buckley Road and south of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, according to fire department radio traffic. Crews reported finding four vehicles, one with heavy damage and three with moderate damage, radio traffic indicated. Firefighters requested more ambulances as they prepared to transport multiple patients and reported that Waukegan Road was completely shut down.
Lake and McHenry County Scanner · Waukegan, IL
Nearby: Waukegan, ILA parolee threatened to shoot and stab a 13-year-old boy, struck him repeatedly in the face, leaving a wound that needed stitches, and stole his phone and wallet, then robbed a woman at a bus stop the next day in Waukegan, prosecutors said. Ishmael M. Lewis, 28, of Waukegan, was indicted last week on one count of armed robbery, a Class X felony, along with two counts of aggravated robbery, a Class 1 felony, two counts of robbery, a Class 2 felony, and two counts of aggravated battery, a Class 3 felony. The Waukegan Police Department responded around 4:19 p.m. on October 20 to the 2000 block of North Lewis Avenue for a report of a robbery. A 13-year-old boy told officers he had gone to a nearby Dollar General and was walking after leaving the store when Lewis approached him, Lake County Assistant State’s Attorney Lourdes Jimenez said. The boy described him as being in his 30s with face, neck and hand tattoos and said he wore black gym shoes and carried a duffle bag across his body.
Lake and McHenry County Scanner · Mundelein, IL
Nearby: Mundelein, ILPolice officers in riot gear lined up outside the Mundelein Village Hall as protesters left a board meeting where the family of a woman fatally shot by a police sergeant again demanded he be fired. The Village of Mundelein held its regular board meeting at 7 p.m. Monday at the village hall two weeks after protesters shut down the board’s October 26 meeting and 11 days after they forced a recess at a rescheduled meeting held under heavy police security on October 29. The family of Mary Alice Love, 37, of Mundelein, and their supporters are demanding the firing of Mundelein Police Sgt. Christopher Brigano, who fatally shot Love at her family’s home on May 11. Video published by the Lake County chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) shows at least 10 police officers wearing helmets, several with face shields, standing in a line outside the village hall in the dark as protesters carrying signs walk past them.
Lake and McHenry County Scanner · Green Oaks, IL
Nearby: Green Oaks, ILThe coroner has released the identity of a 29-year-old Waukegan man who died after his SUV drifted onto the center median and struck a concrete barrier in Green Oaks early Sunday morning. Lake County Coroner Jennifer Banek identified the driver on Monday as Fernando Alvarado-Reyes, 29, of Waukegan. An autopsy was completed and preliminary results indicate Alvarado-Reyes died from blunt force injuries as a result of the crash, Banek said. The Libertyville Fire Department and Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded around 4:10 a.m. Sunday to the area of Route 137, also known as Buckley Road, just east of Interstate 94 in Green Oaks for a report of a single-vehicle crash with injuries. Fire department radio traffic indicated the crash was in the westbound lanes of Buckley Road at the ramp to northbound Interstate 94.
