3 years for Elgin woman who brought drugs into DuPage County jail
A former Elgin hairdresser has been sentenced to three years in prison for smuggling Xanax into the DuPage County jail while she was on probation related to another felony case.
Judge John Kinsella said he took into consideration Jenifer Perik's bipolar diagnosis when sentencing her to the "rock-solid minimum consequence." But he wasn't buying her excuse that she didn't know bringing drugs to jail was illegal.
Perik, 44, of the 300 block of Gladstone Lane, completed a 120-day jail sentence last August for using a 93-year-old woman's credit card to buy fertility drugs and other items.
Immediately upon her release, Perik was charged with bringing drugs into the jail.
Prosecutors said deputies discovered 15 Xanax pills in Perik's cell on Aug. 3, 2016, when they were gathering her belongings to move her to a different pod in the jail. They said Perik admitted to bringing in 24 Xanax pills when she surrendered on July 8 of that year by concealing them under her breast.
"You've been arrested 28 times in your life. To suggest you didn't know it was illegal to hide drugs in jail is not a very convincing argument," Kinsella said. "You knew it was wrong. You were hiding it."
Assistant State's Attorney Diane Michalak detailed Perik's extensive history of theft and forgery arrests dating to 1990 and pointed out Perik had never gone to jail, instead always receiving probation or court supervision.
"The justice system has enabled this behavior in the defendant long enough and it appears she knows there is a very real possibility of that coming to an end here and now," Michalak said during Wednesday's sentencing hearing.
Prior to receiving her sentence, Perik told Kinsella she sneaked the drugs in to avoid "going crazy."
"I just wanted to be there for my husband and daughter. I didn't want to go crazy (while serving the 60-day sentence)," she said. "Throwing me in jail is not going to better me. I have mental issues and I need help with them."
According to court documents, Perik suffers from "depression with suicidal tendencies, which has been aggravated by postnatal/postpartum depression."
Between August and December 2014, Perik used the elderly woman's credit card 39 times to ring up nearly $6,100 in charges.
Perik spent more than $3,000 on cellphone and communication services. The remaining $3,000, Michalak said, was spent on fertility vitamins and donor sperm from a Virginia-based fertility website.
Perik gave birth to a daughter on Nov. 17, 2015, as a result of one of the five sperm samples she purchased with the victim's credit card.
Michalak said Perik had been styling both the victim's and the victim's daughter's hair for several years. The victim's daughter noticed the charges in April 2015 and called police.
The single largest charge to the Virginia clinic - $2,200 - was made on Christmas Day, 2014.
"Evidently she thought she was entitled to a Christmas present from the victim," Michalak argued during the sentencing hearing.
Perik must serve half the sentence before being eligible for parole. She receives credit for 15 days.