Bettendorf Castle visitor claims harassment by neighbor
“All was not well in the kingdom of Concord Avenue” according to a federal lawsuit filed in September, yet another twist in the ongoing saga of Bettendorf Castle in Fox River Grove.
In the lawsuit filed Sept. 8 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, castle visitor Ralph Casten and his attorney Robert Hanlon state that resident Diana Durso, who lives near the castle on Concord Avenue, obtained personal information from license plates numbers and used it to harass visitors of the castle.
The lawsuit states that Durso obtained information on at least 50 people beginning Jan. 1 by giving their license plate numbers to a woman who works for the Chicago Police Department. Casten and his grandchildren attended an Easter Egg Hunt at the castle, the lawsuit says.
The Chicago police employee then obtained information about the vehicles' owners — such as names, addresses and driver's license numbers — through the Law Enforcement Agencies Data System; Durso then contacted some of those individuals and harassed or intimidated them, the lawsuit states. In some instances, Durso asked neighbors, including children, to write down plate numbers, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit names “known and unknown co-conspirators” and seeks class status and damages of $2,500 for each instance Durso obtained personal information through license plates.
Hanlon said he's hopeful the matter can be settled. He admitted he took the chance to get creative with the lawsuit's wording, which also reads: “(Durso) elected to engage in a campaign to discover the ‘holy grail' of knowledge related to who had visited Bettendorf Castle.”
“Sometimes (a lawsuit) lends itself to looking at things a little differently,” he said.
Durso declined to comment, and directed questions to her attorney, Vincent Mancini, of the law firm Ekl, Williams & Provenzale LLC. Mancini did not return requests for comment.
A status hearing is scheduled for Nov. 9 in federal court in Rockford.
Durso is among about 20 residents of Concord Avenue who have opposed castle owner Michael Strohl's plans to turn his home into a space for tours and events. Durso was cited by the village for obstructing traffic during a bus tour of Bettendorf Castle held in July. The citation later was dismissed.
The village of Fox River Grove maintains that bus tours cannot take place in residential areas; Strohl is challenging that, and a McHenry County judge is scheduled to rule on the matter next month. Durso said she testified on behalf of the village of Fox River Grove at a hearing in October.