Wauconda man pleads not guilty to home invasion

A Wauconda man accused of forcing his way into a house and attacking the man and woman inside pleaded not guilty to home invasion Wednesday in Lake County circuit court.

Jeffery R. Sielck, 45, was shot three times during the Dec. 26 incident and lost his left eye as a result.

Assistant State's Attorney James Newman said Sielck, of the 100 block of Liberty St., was accompanied by his 15-year-old son during the incident. The boy also was shot three times, Newman said.

According to a statement Newman said the boy gave police, Sielck received a phone call on the afternoon of Dec. 26 and after hanging up, told the boy they were going out.

Sielck took a 9-inch-by-11-inch metal plate that was about 1/8-inch thick and put it under his shirt before taking the boy out to his car, Newman said.

They drove to a house in the 300 block of Indian Ridge Trail, Newman said, and Sielck, who is a Boy Scout leader, put on his Scout cap before approaching the house.

Sielck knocked on the door, Newman said, and when the 51-year-old man inside opened the door, announced he had come for his 16-year-old son.

The man inside tried to close the door, Newman said, but Sielck shouldered his way into the house and tackled the man.

The man's 53-year-old wife told police Sielck hit her in the face and choked her, and her husband retrieved a shotgun and a .380-caliber pistol.

The man fired the pistol six times, Newman said, striking each Sielck three times.

The boy was wounded in the calf and foot, Newman said, and was treated and released from Advocate Good Shepard Hospital in Barrington.

Sielck was hit in the right bicep, the chest and had a bullet enter his head near his left cheek. It careened up into his skull, where it destroyed his left eye, and exited at the top of his head.

He spent weeks at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge as a result of the shooting, Newman said.

Police found both Sielck and the boy, who was not charged in the incident, outside of the house, Newman said.

Sielck's older son was located later at a house a few blocks away, Newman said, and told police his father knew where he was.

Circuit Judge John Phillips told Sielck he faces a prison sentence of between six and 30 years if convicted and ordered him to appear in court again April 6.