Bartlett man gets boot camp in drug case

Cook County Judge Kay Hanlon acknowledged she was acting out of character when she ordered a 21-year-old Bartlett man into the Cook County Sheriff Department’s boot camp in exchange for his guilty plea to delivery of a controlled substance.

Hanlon said she does not typically sentence defendants charged with class 1 felonies to boot camp.

“I am taking a chance on you,” Hanlon told Rolando Lopez, who pleaded guilty Thursday to selling an undercover Hoffman Estates police officer 2.6 grams of cocaine for $130 on April 15.

Lopez also pleaded guilty to violating the 24 months probation Hanlon placed him on last November after he pleaded guilty to unlawful restraint.

He thanked Hanlon for sending him to boot camp instead of prison.

“I greatly appreciate it,” Lopez said.

Also known as the impact incarceration program, boot camp consists of 18 weeks of military-style physical training, counseling, vocational training and educational assistance, followed by an eight-month post-release supervision. Hanlon informed the defendant that if he fails to complete the program, she will send him to prison for at least four years, the minimum for a class 1 felony.

“I hope I don’t see you back here,” she said.