2012 Ends with Crime on a Roll: Cops and Courts-Top Stories

Four of the top 10 police and courthouse stories of 2012 occurred in the last month. Maybe there's something in the water or maybe the Lincoln-Way communities have come of age in terms of crime.

April 4

Mokena Man Charged With Sexual Abuse of Children: John L. Tarrant, 72, of Mokena, was charged with predatory criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual assault. He awaited a bond hearing Wednesday.

John L. Tarrant, of the 20000 block of Briar Wood Lane in Mokena, was charged with predatory criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual assault. Both are Class X felonies that carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison. Read more.   

April 25

Woman Assaulted on Mokena Forest Preserve Path: A woman was walking a trail through the Hickory Creek Preserve when a man ran at her, grabbing at her before fleeing the scene, according to Forest Preserve District of Will County Police. Read more.

April 26

Boy Taken to Hospital After Alleged Belt Beating: Alleged child beating case against a Mokena woman caught the ire of the community.

Charges filed against Mokena woman after a boy came to school with bruises and welts to his face and back. Bail was set at $25,000 on Thursday for a Mokena woman accused of beating a 10-year-old boy with a belt, sending him to the hospital later with bruises and welts on his face and back.

Korie Kellogg, 30, of the 11200 block of Pin Oak Circle was charged with one count of aggravated battery, a Class 3 felony carrying a possible sentence of two to five years in jail.

Prosecutors allege that on Tuesday, inside her home, Kellogg swung a belt at the boy between 15 and 20 times. Read more.

May 19

Police: Mob Attacked Specific Group of People Inside Tinley Park Restaurant: Ten people were injured in the Saturday afternoon attack. Three were hospitalized. The group of about 15 people dressed all in black who reportedly attacked a group of people around 12:45 p.m. inside Ashford House fled in three vehicles, police said. One vehicle was stopped five minutes after the attack near 159th and Harlem while the remaining vehicles managed to get away. Read more.

May 22

UPDATED: Sheriff's Office Investigating Former L-W East Music Dept. Head: Clifton Smith, head of Lincoln-Way East High School's music department, resigned this month for "personal reasons." A Will County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman will not say why he's being investigated.

The longtime head of Lincoln-Way East High School's music department is being investigated by the Will County Sheriff's Office, a spokeswoman said Monday. Read more.  

July 27

Frankfort Cop Arrested for Battery in Mokena: Mokena police said Frankfort Police Officer Donald Walsh choked and head-butted a woman, leading to a charge of domestic battery on July 25.

Mokena police said they responded to a 9-1-1 call at 3:48 a.m. on the 11500 block of Stratford Road, from a 9-year-old girl who heard her mother screaming. When officers arrived on the scene, the victim, a 31-year-old woman with whom Walsh had an on-and-off dating relationship, approached them from a neighbor's home and told them that Walsh was inside the woman's home with a gun to his head and that he had threatened to kill himself, Mokena police said. Read more.

Nov. 26

Blame it on Drew Peterson, Says Killer Chris Vaughn's Lawyer: The Drew Peterson media circus prevented Vaughn from getting a fair trial, his lawyer said, and the wife-killer's attorneys didn't help things either.

First, he killed one wife, then he was named a suspect in the disappearance of another, and now Drew Peterson's very existence has mucked up Christopher Vaughn's murder trial, the Oswego man's lawyer said Monday. Read more.

Dec. 18

Scenes From a Manhunt (Photo Gallery): Patch captured the images from Tuesday's search in Tinley Park and the surrounding area by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies for two men who escaped a downtown Chicago prison complex.

Jose Banks, 37, and Kenneth Conley, 38, are both convicted bank robbers, and should be considered armed and dangerous, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. 

The bank robbers staged a daring escape from their downtown cells in the Metropolitan Correctional Center in the Loop—one of the world's only skyscraper prisons. Authorities discovered a knotted rope or bed sheet dangling from a window high above the street. Homeland Security and U.S. Marshal's Service agents, according to AP, were trying to find security camera footage from businesses neighboring the jail. Randy Cohen, owner of the Royal Jewelry and Loans store, said he didn't think his cameras were pointed in the right direction to record the escape.

Dec. 20

Woman Dead in Possible Domestic Incident (Updated): An individual is in custody as Tinley Park Police are investigating the death of a woman in the Brookside Glen subdivision. The incident poses no danger to the community, police say. .

• Read more about the events that led up to his arrest here.

 Dec. 20

Former L-Way Teacher Allegedly Threatened to Shoot School Officials (Update): A former Lincoln-Way Central High School teacher who checked himself into a Chicago hospital for psychiatric care faces a felony charge of telephone harassment in connection with alleged threats against school district officials. Read more.

Tthis police blotter information is provided by the Mokena Police, Tinley Park Police, Frankfort Police and Will County Sheriff's Police. Charges are not evidence of guilt. They are a record of police actions taken on a given day, and persons charged with a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty in court. If you or a family member are charged or cited and the case is subsequently adjudicated, we encourage you to notify the editor. We will verify and report the outcome. If you have information about an unsolved crime, call the Investigations Unit at 815-462-6100.