In September 2022, the Benton Police Department received information from a juvenile claiming to be the target of some form of sexual exploitation. Officers handling the complaint in Benton contacted Detectives from the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office and a coordinated investigation begun. The investigation resulted in a search warrant at the residence of the suspect, 28-year-old Garrett Biggerstaff of McLeansboro. Evidence was collected and examined by the Sheriff's Office member of the Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. From this work, a second juvenile victim was identified. Jefferson County Detectives, with the assistance of the McLeansboro Police Department and US Marshall's Service served the arrest warrant on January 5th. Biggerstaff was arrested on the warrant for two counts of Grooming, with bond set at $150,000. Congratulations to Kylar Porter on winning this year's Patriot's Pen essay contest. This year's theme is "My Pledge to
40-year-old Ray E. Tate, Jr., appeared in Wayne County Circuit Court for arraignment yesterday afternoon. He faces 38 counts in connection to the death of Wayne County Deputy Sean Riley in December: 36 counts of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated vehicular hijacking, and one count of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon. Tate pleaded not guilty to all counts, and a pre-trial conference in the case was set for March 15th at 2 p.m. at the Wayne County Courthouse. Governor J.B. Pritzker says Illinois is on track to lift the state's indoor mask mandate on February 28th. No masks will be needed in bars, restaurants, and grocery stores at that time thanks to a rapid decline in COVID-19 hospitalizations. He says the state will seek to keep the mandate in place for Illinois schools. Any federal or local mask mandates will continue to apply, so they will still be required in places like mass transit, healthcare settings, long-term care facilities, prisons, and daycares. The
Frontier Community College has announced its academic honor recipients for the Fall 2021 Semester. 76 students were named to the CEO/ Chancellor's List, requiring at least a 3.9 GPA. 42 students were named to the President's List with a GPA or 3.75 to 3.89, and 27 were named to the Dean's List for having a GPA between 3.5 and 3.74. A full list of honor recipients can be found in the following attachment: Honors-List-Fall-2021 49-year-old Rockford resident Eddie W. Thomasson was sentenced in Wayne County Circuit Court yesterday. He pleaded guilty to a Class 3 felony count of forgery and was sentenced to one year conditional discharge. He was also ordered to pay $1,018 in fines and court costs. 20-year-old Woodlawn resident Jonathan M. Richardson pleaded guilty in October to a Class 2 felony count of burglary. He was sentenced yesterday to two years probation. A separate case was dismissed, and he was ordered to pay $1,863.75 in fines, court costs, and restitution. Fairfie