Hearing delayed for man charged with trading public service hours for sex, money
A hearing for a Lake County probation coordinator accused of trading court-ordered public service hours for money or sex was delayed after an appellate prosecutor failed to appear in court as required.
Judge Victoria Rossetti ordered that appellate court prosecutors follow court rules when filing motions and appear at the next hearing for Anselmo Magana, 44, of Lindenhurst.
Appellate prosecutors have been called in to prosecute the case against Magana after officials from the Lake County State's Attorney's Office said they had a conflict of interest. However, appellate court prosecutors were unable to attend Magana's hearing Thursday, and asked the state's attorneys office to appear in their place at the hearing.
Defense attorney Jed Stone objected to the substitution.
"I just want these prosecutors to play by the rules," Stone said afterward.
Magana is charged with 10 felony counts of official misconduct for allegedly trading money or sex from people on probation in exchange for public service hours between August 2012 and January 2014.
The clients of adult probation who had been unlawfully awarded these hours had not actually completed the hours assigned by the court, officials said.
The charges were filed after an internal investigation into the allegations was launched in January 2014 by the Lake County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigation Division, officials said.
Magana is free from Lake County jail after posting the required 10 percent of his $250,000 bail.
The circuit court is in charge of Lake County court services, including the probation department and juvenile counselors.
Rossetti ordered appellate court prosecutors to attend Magana's next court hearing July 8.