Maday skips this court appearance

Robert Maday did not appear in federal court for a status hearing Tuesday.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Burke said the former Elk Grove Village man was "under extreme security" and, with the manpower required to transport him, asked that his need to attend be waived for the day. With Park Ridge defense attorney Anthony Sassan making no objection, Judge William Hibbler agreed.

Hibbler said his court would have to have "been in a cocoon" for him not to know about Maday's 26-hour escape from custody two weeks ago, when he overpowered two Cook County State's attorney investigators who were driving him from Kankakee to a court appearance in Rolling Meadows.

Otherwise, it was a routine hearing at the Dirksen Federal Building in Chicago on Tuesday on parole-violation charges stemming from Maday's return to robbery last year. The hearing was continued to Nov. 18, after an Oct. 30 sentencing hearing on his spree of bank robberies in the Northwest suburbs a year ago.

Maday, 39, had already reached an agreement to plea guilty to those charges, and Sassan said he expects it to hold, although federal prosecutors could opt to pull back credit granted to Maday for agreeing to the charges, in light of his escape.

The U.S. Attorney's Office has not yet filed any additional charges concerning that escape, and with Maday in federal custody they've made it clear there's no rush. Maday faces possible charges on allegations of escape, bank robbery and carjacking, among others, for the spree that began on the morning of Sept. 17.

"We're expecting something," Sassan said, "but we don't know when."

Nick Argentine and Joe Fallon, the two officers who Maday escaped from, have also been put on notice that they face administrative charges. Lisle attorney Terry Ekl, who represents Argentine, said his client maintains the handcuff belt used on Maday was defective, and that they were using an official vehicle ill-equipped to transport prisoners, a car they had not selected themselves.

Argentine and Fallon have been suspended, with pay.