Wife admits she went along on husband's trashing of sheriff's lot

A Buffalo Grove woman pleaded guilty Monday to allegations she went along with her husband's trashing of the McHenry County Sheriff's impound lot last year.

Stephanie D. Szura, 31, admitted guilt to a misdemeanor charge of criminal trespass to government supported property as part of a deal that allows her to avoid the same fate as her husband, who is serving three years in prison for the incident.

Instead, Szura was placed on one year of probation and ordered to pay a share of the $7,323 in damages caused by her husband. She also received a 26-day jail sentence, but already has served that time.

Szura initially was charged with felony burglary for going with her husband, Michael D. Szura, to the sheriff's impound lot near Woodstock in the early morning hours of June 6, 2007.

Once there, authorities said, Michael Szura broke into the compound, smashed windows on 11 vehicles and set a 12th vehicle on fire. He was caught on the scene by deputies responding to a burglar alarm.

Stephanie Szura's attorney, Dane Loizzo, said his client was not aware of her husband's intentions when she reluctantly agreed to drive with him to the impound lot. She since has filed for divorce, Loizzo said.

"She truly was in the wrong place at the wrong time," he said. "She was just sitting there waiting in the car, and the next thing she knows there's smoke (from the lot) and sirens blaring."

Michael Szura, 43, was sentenced to three years in prison after pleading guilty last December to a burglary charge.

Police said Michael Szura, who at the time lived in Crystal Lake with his wife, was angry after a sheriff's deputy impounded his pickup truck a few days earlier after a traffic stop in which phony police badges, handcuffs and a Cook County sheriff's uniform were found in the vehicle.