Latest news with #KaneCountySheriff'sOffice
Chicago Tribune
17-07-2025
- Chicago Tribune
St. Charles man charged with possessing and disseminating child pornography, per officials
A St. Charles man has been charged with possessing and disseminating child pornography, the Kane County State's Attorney's Office and Kane County Sheriff's Office said in a news release Thursday. Corey J. McDonald, 29, of St. Charles was arrested at his residence on Monday, the news release said, following an investigation by the Kane County Child Exploitation Unit, an initiative the State's Attorney's Office and Kane County Sheriff's Office started in 2022 aiming to keep children in the state safe from sexual exploitation. This investigation began as a result of a CyberTip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. State's Attorney Jamie Mosser is alleging that, in January, McDonald disseminated multiple images containing child sexual abuse material to a chat group on Kik, an instant messaging platform, the release said. Mosser is also alleging that McDonald violated the Sex Offender Registration Act. According to Kane County court records, McDonald was convicted on child pornography-related charges in 2019. The complaint accuses McDonald of failing to notify the St. Charles Police Department that he was using the instant messaging identity, leading to the charge of violating the Sex Offender Registration Act. McDonald is being charged with eight counts of possessing child pornography, eight counts of disseminating child pornography and two counts of violating the Sex Offender Registration Act, according to the news release. He is being detained in the Kane County jail while he awaits his pretrial hearing, the release noted, with his next court appearance set for July 24.
Chicago Tribune
08-07-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Kane County Sheriff's Office taking part in statewide crackdown on speeding
Drivers in Kane County can expect to see increased police patrols this month as part of a statewide crackdown on speeding. The Kane County Sheriff's Office is partnering with the Illinois Department of Transportation, Illinois State Police and more than 200 local law enforcement agencies on the campaign, which started Tuesday, according to a news release from the sheriff's office. Residents can expect to see increased patrols throughout Kane County and Illinois during the campaign, the release said. Officers will be intensifying speed limit enforcement and stopping and ticketing offenders, particularly in areas with high numbers of speed-related crashes. The initiative is set to extend through July 31. The Kendall County Sheriff's Office is also participating in the anti-speeding initiative, according to a press release from the office on Monday. The initiative is part of the 'Speeding Catches Up With You' campaign, which is funded through federal highway safety funds administered by IDOT, according to the news release. The speed enforcement effort also supports IDOT's 'It's Not a Game' media campaign.
Chicago Tribune
30-06-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Eddie Perez announces run for Illinois State Senate 42nd District seat
Edgardo 'Eddie' Perez, a U.S. Air Force veteran who currently works at the Kane County Sheriff's Office, announced Monday that in the 2026 general election he will be running as a Republican for Illinois State Senate in the 42nd District. State Senate District 42 covers a large chuck of Aurora as well as parts of other towns along the Fox River from St. Charles to Yorkville. Currently serving as the state senator for the district is Linda Holmes, a Democrat who has held the seat since she was first elected in 2006. A news release from the Senate Republican Victory Fund that announced Perez's candidacy said he vows to be a 'strong voice for public safety, children and families, and holding the line on taxes.' Fighting tax hikes and pushing for financial relief will be among Perez's top priorities if elected, the news release said. Those priorities and others will be centered around helping families who are struggling to keep up with rising costs, he said in the release. 'As a father, veteran and lifelong public servant, I've seen how high taxes and out-of-touch policies are making it harder for families to get ahead,' Perez said in the news release. 'I know what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck, and I'm running to put families first and fight for real relief that makes life more affordable.' Perez has served in a variety of roles in different organizations across his 30-year career in law enforcement, including as an undercover narcotics officer with the FBI's Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force, an inspector with the Illinois State Police's North Central Narcotics Task Force, a DEA consultant, and a commander with the Batavia Police Department, where he worked before retiring in 2016, according to the news release. Currently, Perez serves as the defensive tactics coordinator for the Kane County Sheriff's Tactical Operations Division. Outside of his career in law enforcement, Perez founded a martial arts school focused on training both children and adults in self-defense, created the Martial Arts Gang Intervention Club to offer martial arts training to at-risk youth and, in 2015, launched Kicking for Heroes, later renamed Kicking for Kids, which is a fundraising initiative that has raised over $46,300 for children in need, according to the release. Perez is a lifelong resident of Illinois and currently lives in state Senate District 42 with his wife and two children. According to the Illinois State Board of Elections, candidates seeking nomination in the 2026 general primary election can begin circulating petitions on Aug. 5 and must file nominating documents between Oct. 27 and Nov. 3.
Chicago Tribune
11-06-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
Kane County Board approves sheriff's officers' contract, electronic home monitoring service and ‘robot dog' purchase
Three public safety-related items were approved by the Kane County Board at its monthly meeting on Tuesday. They include a new contract and raises for sheriff's officers, a new electronic home monitoring service and the purchase of a 'robot dog' for the Kane County Sheriff's Office for use by its bomb squad and other units. All three items were approved by the board Tuesday as part of the consent agenda. The new collective bargaining agreement for Kane County sheriff's officers approved Tuesday includes 6% raises for the 2024-25 fiscal year and 4% raises for the following two fiscal years, according to past reporting. The previous collective bargaining agreement — which is between the sheriff, county and the Metropolitan Alliance of Police Chapter 735 — expired in November, and the parties have since been engaged in negotiations. The raises will not require additional money from the county until the 2026-27 fiscal year, Sheriff Ron Hain previously said, when the office is set to request upwards of $3 million for the salary increases. Hain previously attributed the increase then to the office's expectation that a number of officers will have reached greater seniority by then and will therefore be receiving higher salaries. The sheriff's office will also be entering into an agreement with Sentinel Offender Services for electronic home monitoring services in the county, used for both detainees awaiting trial who are released and some other offenders. The county has had an electronic monitoring system for more than five years, according to past reporting, after having discontinued its previous program at the end of 2017 over budget concerns. Andrew Schwab, a sergeant in the Kane County Sheriff's Office who oversees court operations, said that there were 'shortcomings' in the current system related to the software, ease of use, app and alerts at the May Kane County Board Judicial and Public Safety Committee meeting. He said that the office researched other options and has tested the winning provider, Sentinel. At the May committee meeting, the sheriff's office noted that the new monitors have a long battery life, are easy to use and are able to send voice alerts and audible alerts. Per the resolution, the contract with the current provider expired on April 30. Hain told The Beacon-News that the current contract was extended month-by-month until the new agreement was approved by the board. The new contract will last for two years, with the option for up to three one-year extensions, according to the resolution. Per the resolution and sheriff's office, the system will be paid for via the office's corrections detainee food budget and through the payments made by participants in the monitoring program. Also, the sheriff's office will be purchasing a Boston Dynamics Spot robot to be used for bomb detection operations, and also by the SWAT team and other teams, following county board approval of the purchase on Tuesday. The Kane County Sheriff's Office has said the current bomb robot being used by the office is 27 years old, and that updating it would have cost $250,000 and wouldn't have enhanced the current device's capabilities. The new robot, which is designed to resemble a dog, will have integrations from FlyMotion, the resolution said. It can open doors, use stairs and essentially go wherever a person would go, the sheriff's office said in May when the matter was brought to a County Board committee, and will have a disruptor that can make an explosive inert on-scene. The new 'robot dog' will be paid for using money from the sheriff's office new vehicle fund, per the resolution, and is set to come in at just over $350,000.
Chicago Tribune
06-06-2025
- Chicago Tribune
Charges filed against three men in connection with armed robbery in Aurora Township
Charges have been filed against three men in connection with an armed robbery in Aurora Township on Monday, the Kane County Sheriff's Office said in a news release on Friday. The Sheriff's Office responded to a report of an armed robbery with shots fired on Monday evening on the 800 block of Konen Avenue in Aurora Township, according to past reporting. According to a preliminary investigation, three people had approached a red Mitsubishi Outlander and demanded its driver, a man from Aurora, give them his money and cell phone. One of the individuals fired a weapon and injured the Aurora man's right leg, officials said. The man was taken to Rush Copley Medical Center in Aurora with non-life-threatening injuries and later released, according to past reporting. The individuals involved ran north from the scene of the incident, the Sheriff's Office previously said. Those who remained at the scene were detained, with one released with no charges and another held for further investigation and questioning, according to past reporting. Police dogs and a drone were deployed to locate evidence and the individuals involved, officials said. Charges have now been filed against three men in connection with the incident – Ellis A. Pryor, 20, 1700 block of Molitor Road in Aurora; Demeir L. Miller, 23, 800 block of North May Street in Aurora; and Francis E. Whitaker, 21, of the 800 block of Konen Avenue in Aurora, according to the press release. All three men face charges including armed robbery with a firearm; armed robbery, discharged firearm causing great bodily harm or death; aggravated battery involving a discharged firearm; armed violence, committing a felony with a Category I weapon; aggravated unlawful restraint; mob action violence; aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon; and unlawful restraint. Whitaker also faces a charge of unlawful possession of a weapon in a vehicle with a previous conviction, the release stated.
