Ex-elections director still owes victim

Remember David Bruun?

He's the disbarred attorney whose criminal history came haunting several years ago when he went to work for his friend, Kane County Clerk Jack Cunningham.

It's been three years now since Bruun resigned from his taxpayer-funded job as director of elections in the wake of headlines highlighting his conviction for stealing half a million dollars from a disabled man's trust in 1998 and his subsequent eight-year prison term. But he's once again in court, this time fending off prosecutors who say he hasn't made a restitution payment in nearly two years.

According to court records, Judge Phillip DiMarzio ordered Bruun in August 2006 to pay $450 a month toward restitution totaling some $254,000 to his victim, a St. Charles man. In 2007, the amount was reduced to $300 a month after Bruun filed a motion claiming he was unemployed and without income.

Bruun was never expected to pay the full amount within the maximum time frame of five years for criminal restitution. But he was expected to continue paying until June 14, 2011, when less than $30,000 would have accumulated. His last payment was Oct. 23, 2008, according to court records.

Now Bruun is looking at potentially being held in civil contempt of court for violating a judge's orders, said First Assistant State's Attorney Jody Gleason. Bruun is scheduled to appear in front of Judge T. Jordan Gallagher on Nov. 19.

Bruun, 70, of Elgin Township, could not be reached for comment, and his former attorney did not return a message.

Cunningham, who hired Bruun knowing about his past, said Friday he “hasn't heard from him since he left office.

“It really has nothing to do with me, Cunningham said.

Rapist sentenced

An Aurora man was sentenced to nine years in prison last week for sexually assaulting a teenage girl after plying her with alcohol and drugs.

Justin J. Gonzalez, 19, was convicted in August of one count of criminal sexual assault by Kane County Circuit Judge Thomas E. Mueller, who sentenced him Wednesday.

The victim was one of two girls younger than 17 whom Gonzalez and two other men supplied with tequila and marijuana at an Aug. 3 gathering on the 400 block of East Street. Afterward, prosecutors said, Gonzalez forced himself upon her.

In sentencing Gonzalez, who had faced up to 15 years in prison, Mueller cited his lengthy criminal history, which dates back to the age of 14 and includes weapons and auto theft charges.

In addition, authorities said, Gonzalez is awaiting trial on attempted murder charges related to a March 2009 case in Aurora. By law, he must serve at least 85 percent of his nine-year sentence, or a little more than 7½ years.

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