The Illinois State Police are investigating an inmate death at the Morgan County Detention Facility.
Yesterday, Division of Criminal Investigation for the State Police was contacted by the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office to investigate a death that occurred at the jail. Morgan County Jail Correctional Officers located 40 year old Brian C. Downs in need of medical attention early in the morning. Downs was transported by ambulance to an area hospital, where he was later pronounced deceased.
Downs was booked into the Morgan County Jail at 2:21 Saturday afternoon for possession of a controlled substance and resisting a peace officer. He was being held in lieu of $1,000 bond.
An autopsy on Downs was performed in Springfield yesterday and is still pending toxicology reports. ISP says that results may take several weeks.
ISP DCI Zone 4 will be continuing the death investigation. There is no additional information available at this time as this is an active and on-going investigation.
The Morgan County Sheriff’s Office has not responded to a request for comment.
The Pittsfield Police Department arrested two individuals last Thursday after a drug and theft investigation.
Pittsfield Police Chief Michael Starman says that officers executed the court-authorized warrant in the 500 block of North Dutton Street. During the execution of the warrant, officers allegedly located and seized methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, and stolen property.
Subsequent to the execution of the warrant, officers arrested 55 year old James R. “Rick” Merryman of Pittsfield for Possession of Methamphetamine, and two counts of Theft. Merryman is currently lodged in the Morgan County Jail in lieu of $30,000 bond.
Officers also arrested 36 year old Ashley E. Niffen of Pittsfield for Possession of Methamphetamine, and one count of Theft. Niffen is currently lodged in the Pike County Jail in lieu of $20,000 bond.
Starman says the investigation is active and ongoing.
Congresswoman Mary Miller will be getting help from former President Donald Trump tomorrow in her fundraising efforts.
The Decatur Herald-Review reports that Trump is hosting a fundraiser at his Mar-A-Lago resort in Florida tomorrow. Miller is in the midst of a heated primary battle against fellow incumbent Republican Congressman Rodney Davis for the newly drawn 15th Congressional District.
Trump announced his endorsement of Miller in January. The fundraiser may help Miller’s coffers, as Davis has out raised her almost 2-1. As of the end of March, Davis had more than $1.9 million cash on hand compared with Miller’s $510,795 according to federal election commission reports.
According to an invitation to the Florida fundraiser obtained by Lee Enterprises, tickets start at $1,000 per person and go up to $25,000 per person, with the highest-paying donors entitled to a photo with Trump and Miller. According to campaign finance records, Miller’s re-election committee made two separate payments to Mar-A-Lago Club LLC for “event venue and catering” last month for more than $17,000 for the event.
The Decatur Herald-Review says rumors of an in-district with Miller and Trump down the line may also be in the works.
The 7th Judicial Circuit will have a new resident judge in Sangamon County.
Supreme Court Justice Rita Garman’s Office announced today the appointment of Robin L. Schmidt to the bench.
Schmidt replaces retiring Judge John Belz in July. Schmidt’s appointment takes effect on June 8th and will conclude on December 5th, when the vacancy will be filled by the General Election in November. Schmidt is currently running unopposed for the seat.
Schmidt is currently an Assistant State’s Attorney in Sangamon County where she serves as a Felony Prosecutor. Prior to this, she was an administrative hearings representative/prosecutor for the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office and had served from 1999 to 2006 as Chief Administrative Law Judge and Administrative Law Judge with the Illinois Department of Public Health. She has been an elected trustee of the Springfield Park Board since 2013.
The 7th Judicial Circuit encompasses Jersey, Macoupin, Greene, Scott, Morgan, and Sangamon counties.
Triopia and Beardstown are completing a trade – but not of the baseball sort.
Triopia Principal Josh Sorrells is leaving to return to Beardstown School District, where he will take over the position of high school principal.
Sorrells leaves Triopia at the end of the school year to take up his new position after 3 years.
The Journal Courier reports that Sorrells joined the staff at Triopia in 2019, replacing Adam Dean, who was promoted to school district superintendent.
Sorrells originally joined Beardstown in 2007 as a P.E. Teacher after graduating from Illinois College. He took two years off and returned to Beardstown in 2011 to become a high school assistant principal and athletic director.
Triopia hopes to fill their principal opening by July 1st.
WGEM reports that John Wood Community College is raising tuition to $7 per credit hour beginning this Fall.
Dean of Admissions Tracy Orne says the reason for the increase is due to declining enrollment due to Covid-19. Orne told WGEM that the college has applied for $2.2 million grants to bring students back to the classroom.
It’s the first time the college has raised tuition in $5. The John Wood Community College Board approved the hike on Thursday.
A former Greenfield High School assistant baseball coach and IHSA Sports Official was in Greene County Court on Friday for a pre-trial hearing on grooming charges.
State’s Attorney Caleb Briscoe called Police Chief John Goode of the Greenfield Police Department to the stand to show cause for the charges. Goode testified that Assistant Police Chief Nate Alderfer was contacted shortly after midnight on September 18, 2021 by 23 year old Austin L. Bishop of Greenfield to allegedly disclose he had been text messaging and soliciting photographs and “twerking” videos from a 13 year old minor female. Bishop allegedly came to Alderfer’s personal residence to disclose the situation.
Bishop (Courtesy of Greene County Sheriff’s Office)
According to Goode’s testimony, shortly after his conversation with Bishop, Alderfer contacted Chief Goode about the situation. Then, Goode says he was contacted by Bishop by phone, who explained he had “done wrong” and had “other problems” which the situation had brought to light. Goode also acknowledged to the court that he was acquainted with Bishop prior to the incident in question.
Pre-trial records indicate that a search warrant for phone & data records from AT&T for Bishop’s cell phone had not been returned as completed as of Friday. Goode indicated to Bishop’s defense counsel David Leefers that he has also had not completed a “data dump” of Bishop’s phone, which was subpoenaed in a search warrant issued by Greene County Judge Zachary Schmidt in June. Leefers then asked Goode if he was aware that Judge Schmidt had been substituted out from the case at the time for the request of the warrant. Goode indicated he was not made aware of the judicial substitution at that time.
Greene County State’s Attorney Caleb Briscoe says that not getting quick cooperation from AT&T is not surprising: “Unfortunately, in dealing with these companies, it’s not something that’s uncommon. When dealing with them, we are trying to jump through all of these hoops that they want you to. It seems like they always find ways to reject that or sometimes they just don’t even respond. I think we’ve had other cases here in Greene County lately where we see more and more active people that use their cellphones or technology to communicate [in crimes]. Unfortunately, we have a lot of experience, more than we want to, in subpoenaing or obtaining search warrants to various tech companies. It’s tough to obtain compliance.”
Chief Goode indicated in the report filed with the court that four pages of messages were obtained through screenshots to file the charges. However, Goode indicated in cross examination that the minor had never sent photos or videos to Bishop from the evidence he had seen.
Briscoe says that the state will have to prove that the messages exchanged were sexual in nature: “The nature or one of the elements of the charge indicates that if they make the offer to give something in exchange for [the materials]…that’s what the solicitation would be. So the fact that she didn’t end up sending anything wouldn’t necessarily prevent us from proving that allegation. It does have to be proven that the [materials] were sexual in nature.”
Bishop has pleaded not guilty and requested a trial by jury. Jersey County Judge Allison Lorton set a further pre-trial hearing in the case to June 17th.
Bishop potentially faces up to 1-3 years in prison, a monetary fine of up to $25,000, and have to register as a sex offender.
Members of the Greene County community and staff of the Greene County Health Department took to the highways and bi-ways to clean up litter for Earth Day on Friday
Health Department Administrator Molly Peters says the first annual event was a huge success: “It went great. We had quite a few community members join us early in the morning here in Carrollton. Then, about 1 o’clock to 3PM we went on U.S. 67 north and did a little bit of clean up there.”
Peters says they were going to weigh the amount of garbage they collected but ran out of time for the day with their volunteers from all over the county.
Peters says the hope is to make this an annual event: “Zoetis has sponsored us and they are willing to sponsor us again. I think that the community itself is going to continue to do pick-up of litter as they can. Hopefully this generates more community efforts.”
Boyd Healthcare Services, St. John’s Catholic School, North Greene School District, First Baptist Church in Carrollton, The Carrollton Square, the Illinois Extension office and the Illinois Master Naturalist Program, the Village of Kane, Carrollton High School, and the Greenfield Revitalization Project all took part in the clean up efforts throughout the county on Friday.
Peters says she hopes the county sees the health department’s holistic approach to healthcare by helping with the environment.
Beardstown Police, the Beardstown Fire Department, and Cass County Sheriff’s Deputies were called to a single-vehicle rollover crash in the 1300 block of Monroe Street in Beardstown this morning.
According to a report from the Beardstown Fire Department and Beardstown Police, a 2007 black Honda SUV with two women was traveling westbound on Monroe Street at approximately 1:40 this morning when it struck an unoccupied parked car causing their vehicle to rollover on its driver’s side.
Both women were extricated from the vehicle and treated at the scene for minor injuries.
The driver, 23 year old Hania Urquiza-Espinoza was cited for driving under the influence, driving under the influence of alcohol, aggravated driving under the influence, illegal transportation of alcohol, failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash, and driving with a suspended and/or revoked license.
Urguiza-Espinoza is currently lodged at the Schuyler County Jail.
The Illinois Department of Transportation had to shut down a major highway through Greene County on April 14th.
The Greene Prairie Press reports that traffic had to be re-routed off of U.S. 67 through the downtown square in Carrollton on Thursday, April 14th due to the threat of a building collapse near the highway.
U.S.67, which cuts through the eastern portion of Carrollton’s downtown square and business district, was blocked off for more than 4 hours because a building at the intersection on the northeast corner of U.S. 67 and Illinois Route 108 had begun to sway in the wind.
A few of the steel I-beams that were put in place to stabilize the structure.
The over 100-year old structure had recently been gutted by ownership with only the outer brick facade remaining without support. According to the Greene Prairie Press, the building owner’s contractors called Carrollton Public Works Director Steven Rosentreter to report that they feared the building may collapse due to high winds and asked that the local police department block off the roadway. Due to the road being a state highway, Carrollton Police Chief Mike McCartney told the contractors that IDOT would have to be contacted to authorize the road closure.
The road remain closed while the contractors installed steel i-beams to reinforce the building. The building’s owners declined comment to the Greene Prairie Press other than to say the situation was blown out of proportion.
