Ex-Hoffman Estates man charged in Florida hit-and-run deaths

After more than a year, Fort Lauderdale police have charged Ryan LeVin, formerly of Hoffman Estates, in the February 2009 hit-and-run deaths of two British tourists, published reports indicate.

LeVin, 35, reportedly claimed a friend was driving the Porsche that Florida authorities say was involved in the early morning crash that killed British businessmen Craig Lewis Elford, 39, and Kenneth Watkinson, 48.

Police say the men were struck when one of two speeding sports cars lost control and veered onto the sidewalk on which the men were walking. According to authorities, neither vehicle stopped, and a Porsche was later found abandoned on an expressway ramp. The car had damage consistent with a hit-and-run accident, police said.

The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reported that LeVin was charged today, Monday, with two counts of vehicular homicide and two counts of leaving the scene of an accident causing death.

His whereabouts today were unknown, the report said. Hoffman Estates police Lt. Rich Russo said his department had not been contacted by Florida authorities in making the arrest.

The Sun-Sentinel added that a friend of LeVin's, Derek W. Cook, 38, surrendered to authorities today and was being held in the Broward County Main Jail, charged with accessory after the fact and aggravated fleeing and eluding.

According to Illinois Department of Corrections records, LeVin was released on parole from Shawnee Correctional Center last August after serving several months for a probation violation for a 2006 felony conviction.

Police stopped LeVin in Chicago on July 30, 2006, for having no front license on his car, said a spokeswoman for the Cook County State's Attorney's Office. After refusing to show the arresting officer his driver's license, LeVin fled the scene, clipping a Chicago police officer in the process, the spokeswoman said.

Police pursued LeVin who proceeded to Kennedy Expressway where he caused a crash involving two police vehicles, the spokeswoman said. While on the expressway, he drove his vehicle in the opposite direction of traffic and eventually stopped on a grassy incline. Police apprehended him after he tried to flee on foot, the spokeswoman said.

LeVin pleaded guilty to aggravated fleeing in November 2007 and received 30 months probation and drug counseling, the spokeswoman said. He violated that probation by not complying with court orders and was taken into custody in February 2009. In May of that year, he was resentenced to two years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, the spokeswoman said. IDOC records indicate he was released on Aug. 21, 2009.

LeVin's family founded the Schaumburg-based company Jewels by Park Lane. In a statement released after the crash, the company expressed sympathy for the families of Elford and Watkinson. The same release also indicated that LeVin had not been involved in the company and was not currently employed there.

Officials from the costume jewelry company continued to distance themselves from LeVin. A man answering the phone on Monday at the Schaumburg office once again said LeVin had no association with the company his parents founded.

• Daily Herald staff writer Ashok Selvam, wire services and Daily Herald reports contributed to this story.