An online group known for catching sexual predators in online schemes to meet juveniles is now done.

The leader of KTS Predator Hunters, LLC, Kyle P. Swanson, entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the Madison County State’s Attorney’s Office last week after he was indicted by a grand jury back on May 6th.

The 31-year old Swanson had been charged with unlawful restraint and obstructing justice — both felonies — and misdemeanor assault after a January 12th incident.

According to the Alton Telegraph, Swanson agreed to discontinue any predator sex stings in Madison County. Prosecutors agreed to dismiss the case against Swanson but reserved the right to reinstate the case if he does not meet the terms of the agreement.

State’s Attorney Thomas Haine also took into account Swanson’s prior military service, and as a stipulation to the case, has required Swanson to participate in 20 hours of community service, to provide proof of treatment for his self-disclosed post-traumatic stress disorder, and to cooperate with any investigations or pending criminal cases concerning his sting operations in Madison County — including providing all digital evidence if requested.

According to Madison County Court documents, on Jan. 12, Swanson detained and threatened a man he “enticed” into his vehicle, and then tried to destroy cell phone videos that were evidence.

The Alton Telegraph reports that Swanson has been living in Fort Worth, Texas since his indictment. Swanson has until May 6, 2022, to comply with all terms of the deferred prosecution agreement.

LINKS

https://www.myjournalcourier.com/news/article/Agreement-spells-end-for-online-predator-16594349.php

https://www.riverbender.com/articles/details/deferred-prosecution-agreement-negotiated-with-former-kts-predator-hunters-leader-kyle-swanson-54455.cfm

A Quincy woman who killed four people from Rushville including three children in a car crash could seek an insanity defense.

The Quincy Herald-Whig reports that 37-year-old Natasha L. McBride’s attorneys filed the motion in the Adams County Circuit Court on October 14th.

McBride faces four counts of first-degree murder in the August 14, 2020 deaths of 54-year-old Jenniffer Hendricks of Rushville, 6-year-old Dakota Corrick, 4-year-old Archer Corrick, and 1-year-old Ransom Corrick. The boys were Hendricks’ grandchildren and lived in Kirksville, Missouri.

McBride also faces four counts of leaving the scene of a personal injury accident, four counts of reckless homicide, and four counts of driving while license revoked.

According to WGEM in Quincy, the insanity defense comes as funds were approved earlier this year to pay for a psychiatric evaluation of McBride for her defense. The Adams County state’s attorney’s office also hired an expert to review the report.

During a status hearing yesterday in Adams County Circuit Court, WGEM reports that First Assistant State’s Attorney Todd Eyler said the expert hired by the office has only received half of the records they needed to complete their review, and a delay is required. McBride’s defense teams say they are ready to go to trial for the set date in December.

Adams County Circuit Judge Robert Adrian is expected to make a ruling on the motions by the state to delay the trial in a pre-trial conference set for November 12th. McBride remains held at the Adams County Jail on a $5 million bond.

It appears that a new job opportunity for an Illinois state representative not seeking re-election to the General Assembly has lined up.

Springfield media outlets reported this morning that current 99^th District Representative Mike Murphy has been named the new CEO of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce. Murphy announced last week he was seeking the job while doubling down on his announcement that he would not primary against current fellow Republican lawmaker Avery Bourne, who currently serves in the 95^th District.

Bourne and Murphy were drawn together into the new 108^th legislative District that stretches from Menard County down to Staunton in southern Macoupin County.

Murphy told the State Journal Register that he was excited and humbled to receive the new job and that he looks forward to helping continue to build and promote the Springfield business community.

According to the SJ-R, Murphy served six years on the board before leaving in 2020. Murphy replaces Chris Hembrough who announced on August 17^th he was taking on a new business development role with Peerless Cleaning. Hembrough had served as CEO for the Springfield Chamber for 6 years.

According to a Springfield Chamber press release, Murphy beat out 36 other candidates for the position.

South Jacksonville continues efforts to draw in people and welcome them to the village.

The Board of Trustees were presented with ideas last week during a Committee of the Whole meeting on a new state-of-the-art welcome sign that’s been five years in the making.

Tourism Committee head Paula Belobradjic-Stewart says that plans have been in the works of putting the sign on the north side of Michigan Avenue: “The sign [project] actually started in 2016, and the original site was going to be on South Main and Michigan Avenue. It was catty-corner from Dairy Queen where it’s the little [HD] Ice location now. Phil Wiegand owned it at the time, and we were going to buy [the location] from him, or rent it, or something because Michigan Avenue is our border. It ended up that it fell through because he had a deal to sell the land and we didn’t want to buy it. Sometimes things work out for the best. Now, we have – Mike [Broaddus] went back with me…well, go back to 2017, Dick Samples and I went to Prairieland and presented to their board the idea of using Prairieland property because they are our biggest event in the village. People don’t know where our border is, so putting a sign on Prairieland property would benefit both of us.”

Belobradjic-Stewart says that a traffic study done back in 2017 determined that the intersection of Lincoln and Michigan is the busiest intersection besides Main and Michigan; so plans are to put the sign at the corner at Lincoln and Michigan, replacing the tractor and possibly moving the fence on the Prairieland grounds so the sign sits unobstructed and in view by traffic.

Belobradjic-Stewart says the sign has been budgeted for by the village for a number of years: “We had budgeted $75,000. This sign is $63,513.01. [Ace Sign Company] told me, that even though it’s been so many years ago, they are still going to honor this price, which really surprised me. I thought the price would go up quite a bit. We raised the allocation to $75,000 because we were talking about doing some kind of landscaping. You just don’t want to throw in a sign and not have it landscaped.”

The new, all-weather sign would have an L.E.D. Display for time, temperature, village and South Elementary events, as well as Prairieland events. Belobradjic-Stewart says that the agreement with Prairieland’s board was not to sell any business advertisements on the sign or its announcements.

With final board approval and any further approval from Prairieland’s board, the project would take between 14 and 16 weeks to complete due to supply chain issues brought on by COVID-19. The sign’s final approval is expected during the village’s next business meeting on Thursday.

Illinois’ Open Enrollment Period for the Affordable Care Act kicked off yesterday.

The enrollment period will run until January 15^th. For this year, the number of health insurance carriers offered on the Marketplace increased this year to 11.

Molina Healthcare of Illinois, Oscar Health Plans, and UnitedHealthcare of Illinois are the new carriers. There are 275 plans to choose from. There is an average of a 3% decrease in premiums statewide for the Silver and Gold benchmark plans this year.

More than 291,000 Illinois residents enrolled in the ACA Marketplace during open enrollment last year, with over 54,000 more people purchasing plans during the special Covid enrollment period.

To enroll or find out more information, visit getcoveredIllinois.gov.

Rural water customers in Scott County on the Village of South Jacksonville line may be getting some good news today.

Rural water customers along Phillips Ferry Road to Cox Lane up to and including Illinois Route 100 have been without potable water since Thursday due to a busted water main at the back of the Village of South Jacksonville’s water plant near Oxville.

Utility Superintendent John Green and his department had been working at the site but couldn’t get to the water main due to 11 inches of water causing holes to fill up rapidly. Crews were also still dealing with severe storm damage within the village left over from the previous weekend.

Village President Michael Broaddus says he personally went to the site Monday after equipment and supplies arrived that had been ordered last week: “We were out there [Monday]. I actually lent a hand on it. We had a big – almost a 4 foot long crack in the pipe. We had to dig down to get to it. Our main problem was that since it’s rained so much, the sides [of the hole] kept caving in on us. Then, when we finally got it done, we had a big hole that we had to fill in later, but we got it fixed. The line is flushed, and [Tuesday], we were getting the water tested at Petersburg. We took a sample in to get the boil order lifted.”

Broaddus says he is personally thankful for the rural water customers’ patience and understanding through the ordeal. Broaddus also personally thanked the City of Jacksonville for their assistance both during this current issue with the water main as well as the clean up in the aftermath of the previous weekend’s storms.

The village hopes to announce the lifting of the boil order later today or tomorrow morning once their samples are approved by the Illinois EPA.

A state economic growth tool says Illinois’ economy has slowed down over the last month.

The University of Illinois Flash Index in October fell by a half a point over the month. The index uses various metrics, including corporate earnings, consumer spending, and personal income, to measure the level of economic activity around the state. Any reading above 100 indicates growth. Last month’s reading was 105.4, down from 106 in September.

U of I economists say the decline in Illinois followed the broader national pattern of a slowing recovery from the short, but sharp COVID-19 recession of 2020. U of I economist J. Fred Giertz says that the drop is also likely the result of the return of some restrictions because of the emergence of the Delta variant, along with supply chain bottlenecks. Giertz says that supply chain problems are also expected to ease, although more slowly than anticipated.

Giertz says the rest of 2021 remains clouded, but room for optimism with the state’s economic growth remains for next year.

Brown County Sheriff’s Deputies arrested a man on Thursday at the Adams County Courthouse in Quincy on warrants for child sexual assault.

37 year old Ryan D. Johnson of Mt. Sterling was arrested on two counts of Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Child. According to charging documents, one of the counts dates back to March of 2011 and December of 2013 and again on or between November of 2016 and December of 2018 Johnson allegedly sexually assaulted two separate victims.

Johnson is being held at the Schuyler County Jail pending a first appearance in court this afternoon. If convicted of both charges, Johnson could face natural life in prison.