Investigator goes to federal conference on sex crimes

An investigator for the Lake County state's attorney's office recently attended a training session for federal officers investigating online child exploitation cases.

Lou Archbold spent three days in St. Louis last month at the Project Safe Childhood national conference.

The conference, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Justice, was designed to strengthen the partnerships of local, state and federal law enforcement agencies in combating sex offenders on the Internet.

Sessions included lectures by some of the leading experts in sexual predator behavior and an address by Attorney General Michael Mukasey.

Archbold, who along with fellow investigator Dean Kharasch is a member of a regional task force combating cyber crimes, said the training was invaluable.

"We have been working with federal and state people for some time now, and the teams have access to an amazing array of resources," Archbold said. "There are just so many things that they can get done quickly at the federal level that it would take us much longer to accomplish locally."

Judicial candidates:ŒThe circuit judges of Lake County have chosen two finalists for the associate judge vacancy created by the retirement of Judge Donald Geiger.

Chief Judge David Hall said attorneys Michael Betar and Christopher Morozin have been selected to advance to the final round.

Betar, a Lindenhurst resident, is a sole practitioner with offices in Waukegan, while Morozin, who lives in Libertyville, is a partner in the Fox Lake firm of Soffietti, Johnson, Teegen, Phillips, Morozin and Argueta Ltd.

Hall said the judges will now vote for the person to be appointed by secret ballot and he will announce the name of the winner after the ballots are certified by the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts.

Judicial fundraiser: The Citizens to Elect David Weinstein has scheduled a fundraiser to support the Gurnee attorney's bid for a circuit judge post.

Weinstein is running in the Democratic primary for the right to oppose Circuit Judge Valerie Ceckowski, a Republican, on the fall ballot in the second judicial subcircuit.

The subcircuit includes Gurnee, North Chicago, Park City and portions of Beach Park, Great Lakes, Grayslake, Green Oaks, Lake villa, Libertyville, Third Lake, Wadsworth and Waukegan.

The event is scheduled for 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Highland Park Community House, 1991 Sheridan Road in Highland Park.

Tickets are $75 and can be obtained by calling (847) 336-4343.

Heard in the hallway: Belated congratulations to Diana Velasco and James Cronkrite on the Dec. 6 birth of their son, Michael James Cronkrite.