A different graduating class in Kane

This past weekend, more than 1,000 St. Charles High School students walked across the stage at the Sears Centre to receive diplomas.

But earlier this month a different kind of graduation was held in St. Charles. This class size was significantly smaller, however, and it took months to graduate instead of four years.

Two teenagers — a male and female — graduated last week from the Kane County Juvenile Drug Court.

“It’s just a fantastic program,” said Paul McCurtain, a member of the drug court’s advisory committee and the St. Charles Police Department’s public information officer. “It’s difficult to make it through this. It’s a major thing when we have kids that graduate and are successful.”

The program aims to reduce recidivism and thus taxpayer costs by providing an alternative to jail and a focus on sobriety.

It is for nonviolent offenders between ages 14 and 17 who are monitored through random drug screens up to three times a week and placed in intensive counseling.

McCurtain said graduating classes often range from one to three people and that many defendants opt to take their chances in the regular court system once they hear what juvenile drug court entails.

Sentence reduced: A 40-year-old Aurora man recently had four years chopped off a 19-year sentence for criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a teenager he knew.Guillermo S. Guerrero was charged in 2007 and convicted in a bench trial by now-retired Judge Philip DiMarzio in 2008.Guerrero, who is serving his sentence at the Hill Correctional Center, appealed his conviction, arguing that he was misinformed by a judge and his defense attorneys that he was eligible for probation.Guerrero argued that if he knew he was not eligible for probation, he would have tried to cut a plea agreement with prosecutors instead of going to trial.The appellate court panel didn#146;t grant Guerrero#146;s request for a new trial, but did reverse one count of criminal sexual assault and the four-year sentence it carried. Guerrero also must register as a sex offender when he is released from prison.Condolences: A 10frac12;-year-old German shepherd named Lars, who spent seven years as a police dog for the St. Charles Police Department, recently died.Lars retired from the department in fall 2008 at age 9.Some highlights of his career included sniffing out some 50 pounds of marijuana that were hidden in a shrink-wrapped Styrofoam container covered in caulk and axle grease, and locating a drunk woman who abandoned her car on Route 38 and fell off a wall, knocking herself unconscious.hhitzeman@dailyherald.com