Former paramedic sentenced to prison for ambulance sex assault news-gazette.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from news-gazette.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The paramedic was accused of forcing a 49-year-old suicidal woman to perform oral sex on him in an ambulance. There was also evidence linking him to sexually inappropriate conduct with a 10-year-old girl, a woman who called for an ambulance and an 89-year-old woman with dementia.
Court stenographer Melissa Clagg, shown Wednesday in the Champaign County Courthouse in Urbana, is set to retire at the yearâs end after a career of more than 30 years. Robin Scholz/The News-Gazette
URBANA â You might not think the silent person in a court of law would be the most powerful person present.
But court stenographer Melissa Clagg, who has been keeping a verbatim record of whatâs said for 36 years, begs to differ.
âOur record has to go to the higher court if itâs appealed, so we have to be accurate,â Clagg said.
After 33 years of sitting quietly while working furiously at the Champaign County Courthouse, the 56-year-old Urbana woman is going to retire from the physically and mentally challenging daily grind. Her last day at the courthouse is Thursday.
URBANA â An Urbana man who had previously been to prison for possessing a loaded gun has pleaded guilty to the same offense for a longer sentence.
Tahj L. Brown, 25, who listed an address in the 1500 block of East Washington Street, was sentenced Tuesday to 5.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon.
Brown admitted that on Aug. 27, he was carrying a gun in the pocket of his sweatpants. University of Illinois police stopped the vehicle Brown was driving at First and Healey streets in Champaign because it did not have its headlights on. The officer could smell cannabis and asked Brown to get out. The officer saw the gun as Brown exited.