Hoffman Estates official: Trustee abused power at hearing

Responding to an e-mail attacking his conduct, Hoffman Estates Trustee Cary Collins said he did nothing wrong last week when he asked police about several tickets issued to teenagers for loitering.

"I didn't circumvent anything," Collins said of the charge that he improperly interfered in the process.

The tickets, issued to as many as eight teens, were never heard at the July 19 adjudication hearing at the new police station. With the teens and their parents at his side, Collins spoke to a police officer the night of the hearing in the hallway outside the hearing room to say he thought the tickets should be dismissed.

He never entered the room and the tickets never came up at the hearing. That angered Cheryl Axley, the village's hearing officer. Axley, who couldn't be reached for comment, fired off an e-mail to Mayor William McLeod the night of the hearing ripping Collins.

"This is a total abuse of his power as a trustee, and as an attorney, he is an officer of the court, and has just undermined the adjudication process, for whatever personal agenda," Axley wrote.

Axley wrote that Collins' actions were "direct interference in the adjudication process." Collins should have intervened on the teens' behalf inside the hearing room if he was so inclined, she wrote.

"I want you to know that one of the officers present tonight actually saw some of the kids walking out (of) the station with their arms up, with fists, like they had just won a huge victory," Axley wrote to McLeod.

McLeod said the tickets haven't disappeared. They will be heard at the next adjudication hearing Monday at the new police station. He deemed the allegations serious and said he has asked Police Chief Clinton Herdegen to investigate the matter.

"This kind of stuff isn't supposed to happen," McLeod said.

The teens were unfairly ticketed, Collins said, adding that it was a civil rights issue.

"It was harassment," he said.

Collins said he became involved after one of the teens' mothers called him, telling him her son had been cited for loitering while standing in his front yard, north of the Barrington Square Mall, on Cheltenham Place. A police officer entered the home without permission or a search warrant, Collins said.

Miscommunication was to blame for the e-mail from Axley, Collins said on Friday. He said that all he did was talk to police Lt. J.C. Páez outside the hearing room and question why the tickets were issued. Collins said the tickets should have been pulled inside the hearing room. But they were not and Axley wasn't notified what had happened until after the hearing roll was called for the night.

Assistant Village Attorney Dominick T. DiMaggio handles the hearings on the village's behalf, but the tickets never reached him. DiMaggio did not return phone calls seeking comment. Chief Herdegen also couldn't be reached.

McLeod was reluctant to comment on what happened. He preferred to wait for Herdegen's findings.

"There's something going on right now; let's let the police do their work," he said.

McLeod said he's spoken with Collins, but didn't know why Collins stepped in.

The adjudication process, which allows residents to contest village citations such as loitering and traffic violations, was set up three years ago. Axley is a former Republican state senator representing the 33rd District from Mount Prospect. She was appointed to the post, but lost the office in the 2006 election. The village retained her at an hourly rate in 2007 when the adjudication hearing process was set up. Hearings convene twice a month at night at the police station.