Elgin man with violent history sentenced on cocaine charge

An Elgin man who once nearly beat a convenience store clerk to death was sentenced Thursday to prison for selling cocaine near a public park.

Kane County Circuit Judge John Barsanti sentenced Samuel E. Span, 31, of the 300 block of North Liberty Street, to 15 years in prison.

Barsanti convicted Span Feb. 28 of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance within 1,000 feet of a park and unlawful delivery of a controlled substance.

According to authorities, on Feb. 22, 2013, Span and co-defendant Mateo Cedillo, 26, sold 5.5 grams of cocaine to an undercover officer at Cedillo's home in the of the 200 block of South State Street, Elgin. The home is within 1,000 feet of Ryerson Park.

Span has multiple convictions between 2002 and 2006 for weapons offenses and other violent acts in Kane and Cook counties.

In 2008, a Cook County judge sentenced him to 25 years in prison for attempted armed robbery and aggravated battery, relating to a 2006 case in which Span beat a 7-Eleven clerk in the head, face and body with a pipe wrench. The man required months of hospitalization and therapy to recover.

The state appellate court, however, vacated the conviction for attempted armed robbery, and Span was resentenced just on the aggravated battery charge, which had a maximum sentence of 10 years.

According to Illinois law, Span is eligible for day-for-day sentencing. He receives credit for 420 days served in the Kane County jail, where he has been held since his arrest.

In 2004, he was convicted of shooting at a group of men he thought had shot some of his friends. In 2002, he was convicted of armed robbery.

On March 12, Cedillo agreed to a sentence of four years in prison in exchange for a guilty plea to unlawful delivery of a controlled substance.