Elgin woman charged in Carol Stream hotel fire
An Elgin woman is being held on $50,000 bail related to charges she set a Carol Stream hotel room on fire April 15. Sonja Bell, 55, appeared before DuPage County Judge John Kinsella last week.
The charges were filed Nov. 21.
She is accused of starting a fire in a room at the WoodSprings Suites extended-stay hotel, 1160 N. Gary Ave.
Prosecutors say she set a mattress on fire and blocked the door to the room. Firefighters had to break in to the room and pry her away from a stove. The fire caused about $138,000 in damage, prosecutors say.
Bell's next court date is Dec. 16.
In other DuPage County court news:
Todd Heidenthal
Bail was reduced Nov. 21 to $100,000 for Todd Heidenthal, a Lombard man charged with reckless homicide in the death of a woman in a car crash.
Prosecutors objected to the bond reduction, and also asked DuPage County Judge George Bakalis to order Heidenthal to refrain from driving. Bakalis denied the request.
Bail was initially set at $250,000.
Heidenthal is accused of passing in a no-passing zone on Nov. 8 along 35th Street in Oak Brook and hitting another car head-on, killing 78-year-old Frances Hsiao.
Heidenthal's next court date is Friday.
Michael Jania
St. Charles resident Michael P. Jania was indicted Nov. 19 on several new charges concerning allegations he stole from Diamond Envelope and related companies in Aurora.
Besides charges of theft, Jania now also faces four counts of forgery. The indictments allege:
• That Jania forged the 2016 financial report of Diamond Plus 2 Ltd;
• That he delivered the forged report to an accountant;
• That he delivered a forged bank register, for a Diamond Plus 2 account, for the year 2016; and
• That he sent a letter, on Diamond Plus 2 letterhead, to a bank employee, indicating Diamond Plus 2 had disbursed $45,000 to the bank, with a signature of a Diamond accounting worker.
Jania's next court date is Dec. 16.
Christopher Partin
A Naperville man was sentenced Nov. 20 to 11 years in prison, in connection with a Naperville shooting.
Christopher Partin pleaded guilty to a charge of being a felon in possession or use of a firearm — previous conviction.
Partin and Trinny Thomas, of Woodridge, were arrested June 15, 2018, at a fight on the 500 block of Fessler Avenue. The victim's arm was grazed by a bullet.
Thomas pleaded guilty in March to aggravated discharge of a weapon, and was sentenced to six years in prison.
Stephen Dowjotas
A Lisle man faces an additional charge of theft, according to an indictment handed down Thursday.
The additional count accuses Stephen J. Dowjotas of stealing between $500 and $10,000 on Jan. 24, 2019, from a man.
Dowjotas also was indicted on a charge of theft that accuses him of stealing money that was meant to go to New Wave Volleyball/Club Fusion in Darien. Dowjotas was an employee.
His next court date is Monday.