Wanted Huntley man finally arrested in South Elgin
Huntley police have finally arrested a local businessman who had been on the run since February on insurance fraud charges, Chief John Perkins announced Friday afternoon.
But Russell Palermo, 46, of 11300 block of Douglas Avenue, who already has been charged in connection with several schemes that police say involved his brokerage firm, apparently didn’t run very far.
After a two-day stakeout at a South Elgin apartment complex on Woodridge Circle, officers on Friday caught him about noon getting a nicotine fix, Perkins said.
“He came out on the balcony with a cigarette, and our guys saw him, so they got him,” Perkins said.
Police say Palermo’s daughter lived there and that he’d been at the house less than two weeks. Perkins declined to say where Palermo had been hiding before South Elgin.
Police were acting on information someone left on the department’s anonymous crime tip line.
Officers tried to arrest Palermo earlier this month in Huntley, but he was nowhere to be found. Police said 21 people had come forward who had lost between $18,000 and $20,000 total as a result of Palermo’s actions. Perkins said another six have contacted police with similar stories.
Police say Palermo acted as an agent for his customers when he secured insurance policies issued by Zurich Group-Orlando, One Beacon and Hartford — Palermo found insurance policies for businesses and individuals.
He maintained those policies and collected premiums from his clients on them, but at some point he stopped paying for the policies and they were canceled, police said. Yet for several years Palermo continued to take money from customers on the canceled policies before anyone ever found out the policies no longer existed, police said.
Victims started coming forward last September. Two said they contacted police after seeing suspicious activity with the accounts they had through the Huntley insurance agency. One of them contacted police after Palermo took money as a down payment for an insurance policy and didn’t show a record of receiving the payment, police said.
The other one discovered Palermo’s insurance license had been revoked in 2009, which should have kept him from selling insurance. This policy was opened for a real estate company in 2006 and canceled the following year due to nonpayment.
In October, police executed a search warrant at the Huntley business on the 11100 block of Dundee Road and seized documents and computers.
On Feb. 15, warrants were issued for Palermo’s arrest, but police couldn’t find him.
Palermo has been charged with 29 counts: 14 counts for financial responsibility, nine counts for issuing insurance without a license, three counts for theft, one count for forgery, one count for deceptive practice and one count for unlawful use of weapons.
He’s is being processed at the Huntley police station and will be held on $75,000 bail at the McHenry County jail, Perkins said. He needs $7,500 to secure his release while the case is pending.
If you think you were a victim in this case, police ask that you call detective Joe Willard at (847) 515-5311.