GOP congressional candidate’s 2001 theft case was dismissed and arrest was expunged, documents show
A Republican candidate in Illinois’ 9th Congressional District was arrested and charged with felony theft in Hawaii more than 20 years ago — but the case subsequently was dismissed and the arrest was expunged, public records and legal documents show.
John Elleson, an Arlington Heights resident and pastor, made no mention of the 2001 case when asked in a Daily Herald candidate questionnaire if he’d ever been arrested or convicted of a crime. When fellow candidate Rocio Cleveland of Island Lake abruptly confronted him about the matter during a recent group interview with the Daily Herald, Elleson insisted he didn’t have an arrest record.
“There’s nothing there,” he said. “Look it up. I have no record. None.”
Under Hawaii law, people who’ve had arrests expunged legitimately can state they have clean records, said attorney Sam King, who represented Elleson in the case.
“(It’s) like it never happened,” King said.
Elleson acknowledged the case when presented with newspaper reports about it.
“I did plead no contest. That’s true,” he said. “But that wasn’t the end of the story.”
Elleson, who leads the Lakewood Chapel congregation in Arlington Heights, and Cleveland are among four candidates seeking the Republican Party nomination in the 9th District. The others are Chicagoans Paul Friedman and Mark Su.
Fourteen Democrats are running in that party’s primary race for the seat. Democratic U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston isn’t seeking reelection.
Elleson and his wife, Suzanne, were running a nonprofit, Christian-oriented drug-and-alcohol rehabilitation program for teens in Hawaii in 2001 when they were indicted on multiple theft charges concerning their clients’ food stamp benefits, The Associated Press reported at the time.
The Ellesons pleaded no contest to reduced charges in 2002, court records show. John Elleson was ordered to pay $49,000 in restitution on behalf of the program, records show, and the couple was granted deferrals of those pleas.
That means the judge refused to immediately accept the Ellesons’ pleas. In such situations, if a prescribed time period ends without a defendant getting into legal trouble and if a defendant follows specific conditions, a case can be dismissed, arrest records can be expunged and court records can be sealed, King explained.
John Elleson’s plea was deferred five years, records show, and the case against him was dismissed in 2008. Suzanne Elleson’s plea was deferred three years, and her case was dismissed in 2004, records show.
Looking back, King called the case against the Ellesons “pretty marginal.” He described Elleson as a man whose heart “was in the right place.”
The 9th District includes parts of Cook, Lake and McHenry counties. The primary election is March 17.