Man wanted in petition forgery surrenders to police

One of two men charged with forging signatures on nominating petitions for State Sen. Terry Link was in police custody Friday.

Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Patricia Fix said Kenneth Davison, 50, of Waukegan, surrendered to sheriff's deputies at the Lake County jail.

Davison, along with Jerry Knight, 40, of Zion, are charged with forgery and perjury for allegedly falsifying information on petitions to put Link's name on the February primary ballot.

Officials said the pair were paid to collect signatures for Link and seven other Democratic candidates, although they will face criminal charges based only on Link's petitions.

They were indicted Wednesday by a Lake County grand jury.

The indictments charge Davison with forging 26 names on nine pages of nominating petitions, while Knight is accused of supplying 36 forged names on 11 pages.

Davison appeared before Associate Judge Raymond Collins on Friday morning, and Collins lowered the $100,000 bond set in the arrest warrant to $5,000.

Fix said Davison was still in custody as of Friday afternoon.

Knight remains at large, Fix said.

Both charges against the men are felonies that carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison.

Davison is scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 27 before Circuit Judge John Phillips. An arraignment for Knight is set for Aug. 28 in front of Circuit Judge Fred Foreman.