Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • Page 2-3

3 NCHICAGO TRIBUNE METRO SECTION2 Two Chicago men were charged with murder Wednesday in the death of a Douglas County deputy who was shot last month while trying to stop a crime spree. William B. Thompson, 26, and Yusef Kareem Brown, 23, each was charged with three counts of first-degree murder after the death of Chief Deputy Tom Martin, said Diana Eveland, a spokeswoman for Douglas County Atty. Kevin Nolan. Nolan is considering whether to seek the death penalty, Eveland said.

Martin, 59, died in an Urbana hospital around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday, said Champaign County Coroner Duane Northrup. Martin had been hospitalized since he was shot in the face and torso June 21 while responding to a report of a burglary in progress. An autopsy is planned. Thompson and Brown already were charged with attempted murder and other crimes.

Thompson also faces charges of taking hostages at a bank in Arcola, a small Douglas County town about 150 miles south of Chicago. All the hostages were safely released. Thompson and Brown last week pleaded not guilty to all charges. Authorities said the crimes began when Brown and Thompson fled a traffic stop on Interstate Highway 57. The two then are alleged to have burglarized a house and stolen a truck and van before one of them shot was responding to the they drove past him.

The suspects then are alleged to have abandoned the truck and driven away in the van. CHAMPAIGN 2 men charged in death Evanston police on Wednesday were looking for suspects in the theft of more than $200 from a church collection box, authorities said. A worker at the St. Athanasius Catholic Church, 1615 Lincoln discovered the cash was missing Sunday when he went to empty a metal collection box in the church sanctuary, police said. Authorities said the 70-year-old church is usually open during the day, and there were no signs of forced entry.

Police believe the theft was committed sometime between July 8 and Sunday. EVANSTON $200 reportedly taken from church sanctuary Former Chicago Ald. Arenda Troutman and two associates pleaded not guilty Wednesday to federal corruption charges that accuse her of using her public office to shake down real estate developers for cash and favors. Troutman lost her re-election bid for the 20th Ward in February, just weeks after the U.S. office filed an initial complaint charging that she alone had influenced a development in her ward.

Last week, an indictment accused Troutman of shaking down half a dozen developers looking for her support on projects and added charges against Steven Boone, who is a former Troutman aide, and Vince Gilbert, her one-time political adviser. All three pleaded not guilty in U.S. District Judge Ruben courtroom in the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago. Sam Adam attorney, contended the new indictment allege that the former alderman anything are going to fight it, and I believe we are going to be Adam said outside the courtroom.

Troutman is charged with 13 counts of extortion, bribery, mail fraud and income tax evasion. Boone is charged with four counts of bribery, mail fraud and lying to the FBI. Gilbert is charged with one count of extortion. CHICAGO Troutman, 2 others plead not guilty to corruption The blood supply at largest blood center is at an alarming level, with only a one-day supplyofsome blood types, officials said Wednesday. A major trauma could quickly deplete the existing supply oftype blood, which is known as the universal donor because it is most frequently used in emergencies and to LifeSource, the largest blood center in Illinois.

The center is asking residentsto donate blood as soon as possible, especially those with the O-, A-or B- blood types. LifeSource has 23 donor centers in the Chicago area. next 10 days are Life- Source spokesman Mike Desmond said. least 2,000 units of these blood types are needed above the regular collections in order to bring the blood supply to a stable The centeris asking donors to arrange a visit by contacting LifeSource at 877-LIFESOURCE (877-543-3768) or go online to www.lifesource.org. CHICAGO AREA Blood supply dwindling; call goes out for donors METROPOLITAN DIGEST Tribune photo by Chuck Berman Hats off Iesha Clarke (left) and Danielle Roscoe try on handmade hats by Sastin Hats and Tonya Gross Millinery during a sidewalk sale Wednesday at Daley Plaza.

The Department of Cultural Affairs event features local boutiques and designers. By Gary Washburn and David Heinzmann Tribune staff reporters Mayor Richard Daley on Wednesday defended the Chicago Police Department and its troubled Special Operations Section after revelations that officers in the unit have been the subject of hundreds of citizen complaints. have a very good police Daley declared. cannot say there are a few bad apples and write them off just like the media does. have a few bad apples as he told reporters.

Daley said that he is concerned about the professional conduct of any police officer or public but lauded officers who have gotten thousands of guns off the streets. The Special Operations Section works in the toughest neighborhoods, dealing with gang members, drug dealers and weapons offenses. have seized more and 15,000 the mayor said. you want them to stop seizing guns, then write an The Tribune, which obtained a list of complaints against officers department- wide over the last five years, reported in editions that 30 officers from the section have been subjects of a total of 862 allegations of brutality and other wrongdoing. The list revealed that the 10 officers with the most complaints in Special Operations had a total of 408 lodged against them.

Of those complaints, only three were sustained by the Office of Professional Standards, and just one resulted in a suspension. want to commit any abuse whatsoever to anyone in the city of Chicago, so a lot of people file Daley said. are one of the few cities that registers complaints. severe complaints or less severe complaints. Like anything else, you evaluate each In recent police corruption cases in which officers robbed drug dealers and made false arrests, investigations have revealed the officers had dozens of complaints lodged against them with the Office of Professional Standards over several years that mirrored their crimes.

But some veteran officers objected Wednesday to the no- tion that a high number of OPS complaints for police who make many drug and gang arrests reflects a bad cop. Gang members and drug dealers routinely lodge bogus complaints against those who arrest them as a defense tactic, said two former Special Operations officers who did not want their names published. One of the men, who worked in the unit before the time frame covered in the records, said he typically had six to eight OPS complaints a year, especially when he was working drug investigations in public housing complexes. None of them was sustained because the complaints were not valid, he said. Daley defends elite police unit Tribune photo by Milbert O.

Brown Mayor Richard Daley talks to reporters Wednesday at Kennedy-King College. Most complaints against officers unjustified, he says By Carlos Sadovi Tribune staff reporter Barry Zuckerman stopped working for Chicago Public Schools in June, but for nearly amonth he had been waiting for his last paycheck to be deposited in his bank account. Zuckerman, who spent the last year working as a special education teacher at Lincoln Park High School, is among hundreds of teachers who have complained about pay delays. Since the district first installed a new payroll software system on March 26, 377 teachers have filed grievances through the Chicago Teachers Union alleging that they have not been paid by the district. School officials said though there were initial glitches with the system, which cost nearly $17 million, they have been working with teachers to resolve any problems.

For many teachers like Zuckerman, the delay caused them to eat into their savings. He said he is owed about $1,000 and has been in constant contact with school officials who have pinned the blame on the program. The last day of school was June 15 and checks were supposed to be deposited on June 29, he said. On July 9, he found only $500, a third of what he was owed, had been deposited in his account. Since then he and his family have moved to Hilton Head, S.C., shelled out more than $1,000 on moving expenses and have bills due.

could give me a definitive answer. All they could say is that this is happening to thousands of teachers, that the payroll system was all messed Zuckerman said. live paycheck to paycheck, but we live like any American Colleen Dykas, grievance coordinator for the teachers union, said hundreds of teachers have complained about not getting paid since the payroll system was installed. She said that in addition to the 377 teachers who filed payroll grievances, many others have had their problems resolved. She said that along with payroll checks, teachers also have had difficulty obtaining reimbursements from the district for travel stipends and other items.

She said that payments have come an average of 1 1 2 months after grievances are filed. Chicago Public Schools spokesman Michael Vaughn said district officials sent checks late last week to employees who did not receive full paychecks. He said every pay period the district pays more than 46,000 people. worked very hard to get the teachers and the other employees paid as quickly as possible for the right said Vaughn. there are errors, we work as quickly as possible to address The district has a paycheck question hot line at 773-5536110.

Teacher payday long time coming Chicago system glitches hold up checks By Carolyn Rusin Special to the Tribune A task force charged with solving high-profile violent crimes, launched a decade ago amid criticism of how police handled the Chicken massacre investigation, is getting a new leader. The new director of the Major Crimes Assistance Teamis expected to be chosen Friday by police chiefs of the 19 of them in the northwest support the group with funds and personnel. Finding a replacement for Kevin who resigned after taking a job with the Illinois attorney office, easy because staffing is tight for some of the agencies that participate, officials say. The position is unpaid, with the director typically working for one of the local departments while running MCAT. 54, was a Des Plaines police commander under Police Chief Jim Pran- dini, a member of the search committee that will recommend the replacement.

a time-consuming Prandini said. nell, who was director for four years, be gone for five days a leaving duties behind. You need a good support staff for the time he is away. a lot of smaller departments that do The task force was started in 1997 in response to criticism of the investigation of the mass slayings at a Chicken restaurant in Palatine in 1993. Juan Luna was found guilty in May of killing seven people in the restaurant.

His friend James Degorski is awaiting trial. During trial, his defense team repeatedly focused on what it called shoddy po- licework, including the loss of some evidence and testimony that chicken examined for DNA in 1994 was destroyed in the testing process. After investigating the police response to the slayings, the Better Government Association concluded in 1997 that work by the Palatine police was shoddy. Three years later, an Illinois State Crime Commission report said police had thoroughly and professionally investigated the crime. The crime so horrible and so overwhelming it simply demonstrated the need for a more formal response to said Rolling Meadows Police Chief Steve Williams.

Before 1997, informal mutual-aid agreements often stemmed from long-term relationships one police chief had with another, he said. were always dependent on the goodwill of your Williams said. had a team that never worked together, who never trained together. There a lot of The idea now is to assemble a team of detectives on short notice to gather evidence and chase down leads after a major violent crime. With MCAT, authorities can bring 40 investigators to the scene in 45 minutes, Williams said.

The task force comprises 82 detectives, including Cook County police and Illinois State Police. cover a lot of ground in days, opposed to what could take some departments said. The task force makes an arrest in 82 percent of the homicides it investigates, nell said.The task force also investigates some cases such as serial rape, serial arson, bombingsand school violence involving guns. As chief of investigations for Atty. Gen.

Lisa office, supervises about 20 investigators. He was a Des Plaines police officer for 30 years before he resigned last month. Crimes task force to get new leader By Jo Napolitano Tribune staff reporter A Will County judge on Wednesday dismissed the divorce case between Craig Stebic and his wife, Lisa, a Plainfield mother who has been missing for more than 2 1 2 months. Craig attorney, Dion Davi, said that the divorce could not proceed without Lisa and that the case could prove costly to both parties. hoped Lisa would return and we could proceed, but that Davi said.

Plainfield police last week said Stebic is a of in his disappear- ance.Stebic maintains his innocence. The missing attorney, Glenn Kahn, objected to the motion for dismissal, but Judge Joseph Polito sided with Davi in a hearing that lasted just a few minutes. Kahn said he surprised by request, noting is not much the court can do on the matter without Lisa Melanie Greenberg, cousin and spokeswoman for her family, said she was confused by motion for dismissal. understand exactly what the purpose is of these political she said. this is really a side issue.

The main issue is that had a woman go missing for 10 The last reported sighting of Lisa Stebic, 37, a mother of two, was by her husband at the family home in Plainfield on April 30. Now that the divorce case is over, Davi said he will focus his attention on the investigation. He dismissed the notion that his client has failed to cooperate with investigators, as Police Chief Donald Bennett said last week. Davi said he advised Craig Stebic to turn down requests to have the children interviewed by the Will County Advocacy Center. not in the picture Davi said.

He said last week that he was skeptical of the tactics. But Davi added on Wednesday that he was not open to the idea of having the children interviewed by an advocacy center in another county, as was suggested by authorities and by family. has become the tactic of the Plainfield police to attack my client instead of investigating the Davi said. is my responsibility to protect him and the Greenberg said her family is urging Stebic to comply with the police requests. make sure the children dragged into an intimidating courtroom and traumatized by having to testify in front of a grand she said.

Legal experts say issuing a grand jury subpoena would be a way to compel the children, ages 10 and 12, to answer questions against their wishes. Tribune photo by John Smierciak With Craig attorney, Dion Davi, looking on, Glenn Kahn, attorney for Lisa Stebic, talks to reporters Wednesday. Missing divorce case dismissed by judge Product: CTMETRO PubDate: 07-19-2007 Zone: Edition: HD Page: METROP3-3 User: bfletcher Time: Color:.