Politicians' falls from grace highlight the year in courts and crime
For several prominent suburban leaders, 2015 was marked by spectacular falls from grace. But none received more attention than the arrest of retired U.S. House Speaker Dennis Hastert in May on charges he violated federal banking laws in the course of paying $1.7 million in hush money to cover up past misconduct.
Federal authorities have not revealed the nature of that wrongdoing, but The Associated Press reported Hastert made the payments to suppress allegations of sexual misconduct that occurred when he taught and coached at Yorkville High School.
The former speaker made 15 $50,000 withdrawals between 2010 and 2012. After bank representatives confronted him, Hastert, 73, began withdrawing amounts in increments less than $10,000 to avoid federal reporting requirements.
Hastert pleaded guilty in October in exchange for a recommended prison sentence of zero to six months when he is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 29, 2016. However, U.S. District Judge Thomas M. Durkin is not bound by that agreement, and news last week that Hastert had suffered a stroke in November left it unclear whether sentencing would take place as scheduled.
Another disgraced politician, former state Rep. Keith Farnham of Elgin, pleaded guilty to child pornography charges in March and was sentenced to eight years in prison. Farnham resigned his House seat in 2014 after federal agents raided his home and office, where authorities said they recovered more than 2,700 computer images of children engaged in sex acts.
As a condition of his plea, Farnham must register as a sex offender, and his conviction stripped him of his state pension.
Also arrested this year was Mohammad Abdullah Saleem, 73, of Gilberts. A renowned Muslim cleric who founded The Institute of Islamic Education, a private Elgin school for children in sixth through 12th grade, Saleem was charged in February with sexually abusing a 22-year-old office worker at the school. In October, prosecutors filed new charges against Saleem, accusing him of sexually abusing a then 14-year-old girl between 2001 and 2003, when she was a student at the school. Saleem has pleaded not guilty to the charges and the cases are pending.
Murder charges
The year began with the death of 14-year-old Patrick Boswell of Des Plaines, who police say was shot in the back of the head Jan. 2 in a gangway near the Allstate Arena in Rosemont. Cesar Garay, 20, of Rosemont is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting, which authorities say followed an argument between street gang members and Garay, whose attorney claims does not belong to a gang.
Police say Garay went home after the dispute, got a .380-caliber handgun, then returned and fired at least two shots. He is being held without bail at the Cook County Jail. His trial is scheduled to begin next year.
In March, deadly violence struck in a place of healing when, authorities say a 42-year-old woman was murdered by her estranged husband at Alexian Brothers Medical Center in Elk Grove Village.
Authorities say Francisca Quintero-Montoya of Burlington, Wisconsin, was with family members visiting her brother in the cardiac care unit when her husband, Javier Bahena-Arellano of McHenry, arrived and confronted her about text messages he believed showed she was unfaithful. Prosecutors say Bahena-Arellano, 43, followed her to a restroom, locked the door and proceeded to stab her multiple times with a screwdriver as horrified family members listened. He is being held without bail at the Cook County Jail.
In one of the year's most emotional cases, a Schaumburg woman was charged with first-degree murder following what police described as a failed murder-suicide attempt involving her severely disabled daughter. Bonnie Liltz, 55, was charged with first-degree murder after authorities say she fed herself and 28-year-old Courtney a combination of prescription and over-the-counter medication in May.
Liltz's attorney said his client has persistent health problems, including a recent recurrence of cancer, which she first contracted at age 19. She feared Courtney - who had cerebral palsy, was confined to a bed or wheelchair and required 24-hour care - would be relegated to a state institution if she (Bonnie) died, Liltz's attorney said.
"If I go first, what will happen to her?" Liltz wrote in a note found by police. "I don't want her to live in an institution for the rest of her life."
A verdict disappoints
A not-guilty verdict in July for the man whose punch caused the death of 26-year-old Ryan Flannigan left Flannigan's close-knit family reeling. Family members sobbed when the court clerk announced jurors had acquitted Michael Platt, 36, of first-degree murder in the July 2014 death of the Palatine resident.
Flannigan was described as a peacemaker who was attempting to defuse a verbal altercation in which he had no part, when Platt "blindsided" and "sucker punched" him, authorities said.
Platt claimed he struck Flannigan because he feared for the safety of a friend.
Last month, Flannigan's friends and family dedicated a memorial to him in Ost Field, the Palatine park where he played football as a boy and ran as an adult.
A tragedy avoided
A 31-year-old Schaumburg woman who fired at police during a three-hour standoff in August, was charged with attempted murder, aggravated assault and aggravated discharge of a firearm.
But it could have been much worse, for her and the police officers at the scene.
Authorities say Tamekka Broyles became despondent Aug. 1 after her wife told her she wanted to end their relationship. Broyles began drinking and later called police telling them she had a weapon and intended to kill herself, prosecutors said. Broyles reportedly pointed her gun at officers and fired several shots from inside her apartment, but did not injure anyone.
Schaumburg officers and members of NIPAS, a suburban mutual aid policing agency, attempted to get Broyles to surrender. After several hours she fired at NIPAS officers stationed in the hallway. One returned fire, striking Broyles in the leg.
If convicted of the charges, Broyles faces a minimum 40-year prison sentence.
Terror attack thwarted
A pair of Aurora cousins pleaded guilty this month to conspiring to support a foreign terrorist organization, specifically ISIS.
Federal agents arrested 23-year-old Hasan Edmonds, a former member of the Army National Guard of Illinois, and Jonas Edmonds, 30, in March following a sting operation during which the cousins communicated online and in person with an undercover FBI agent they believed was an ISIS fighter in Libya.
Hasan Edmonds was arrested at Chicago Midway International Airport as he was about to board a flight to the Middle East with the intention of fighting with ISIS. Jonas Edmonds, who charges allege planned to stage an attack at his cousin's national guard base resulting in a "body count" of between 100 and 150 victims, was arrested a few hours later.
Hasan Edmonds faces a maximum 30 years in prison and Jonas Edmonds faces a maximum 23 years when they're sentenced next year.
Hazing prosecution concludes
In what DeKalb County authorities described as the largest prosecution of its kind in the nation's history, 22 young men pleaded guilty in May to misdemeanor hazing charges related to the 2012 alcohol-related death of Northern Illinois University freshman and Palatine native David Bogenberger.
Bogenberger, 19, was among 18 Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity pledges pressed by fraternity members and their guests to drink a copious amount of alcohol as part of a hazing ritual during an unsanctioned party at the fraternity's off-campus house.
Bogenberger passed out and was found unresponsive the following morning. He had a blood-alcohol level of 0.351, authorities said.
Five former Pike officers were ordered to pay $1,000 fines and perform 100 hours of community service as part of their guilty pleas to charges of reckless conduct, a Class A misdemeanor. Seventeen others pleaded guilty to misdemeanor hazing and were sentenced to supervision, plus a $500 fine and 100 hours of community service.
Animal cruelty charges
A Round Lake woman who was transporting 11 dogs in 90-degree heat from her home to downstate Streator, was charged with animal cruelty after a Palatine police officer spotted the overheated animals stacked in crates without water inside a van without air-conditioning.
Griselda Martinez, 41, claimed she and her boyfriend had stopped at an auto-parts store to purchase coolant to fix the vehicle's air-conditioning when the officer approached. At a subsequent hearing, an emergency veterinarian from Golf Rose Animal Hospital in Schaumburg testified the animals - mostly bulldogs and French bulldogs - suffered heatstroke, with some registering body temperatures above 108 degrees, a level called "incompatible with life." The animals also showed evidence of untreated skin and ear infections, congenital defects and prolonged exposure to urine and excrement, a vet said.
Two of the dogs died. A judge ordered Martinez to forfeit the nine surviving dogs, all of which have been adopted, authorities said.