Hate In Our Community - Marengo Illinois

 

Last week, two 18 year old high school students sneaked into a yard to tepee what they thought was a friend’s house at 3 in the morning. One of them was shot three times in the back by the owner of the house, Jerry Sweat, who then went back to bed without calling the police. The teen was badly injured. Two bullets hit him in the back, one in the hand. He will require multiple surgeries on his hand and has been home in bed ill and in pain. Jerry Sweat was arrested for the shooting.

What has been the response in our community to this incident?

Our county newspaper, the Northwest Herald, was quick to write an uninformed article about the incident, which had many glaring errors. One of these was that they were unable to get in touch with the family in question, which wasn’t true. They never tried. Another of those was that the two teens attempted to break into the car, also untrue. Neither the teens nor Sweat gave this information to the police originally, though Sweat might have tried to change his story later after he acquired a lawyer. The paper also stated that the Marengo Police might seek charges later against the two teens, but the incident occurred outside of Marengo and was handled by the Sheriff’s department. It was not in the Marengo Police jurisdiction. Based on this article, filled with glaring errors, the columnist Brian Sepulski wrote an essay further condemning the actions of these young men and glorifying what Jerry Sweat did.

Needless to say, this article was glaring and shocking to the family of the injured young man. It came at a bad time, when they already had a lot of stressful occurrences. Combined with the glaring lies in the article, it added to their pain and stress.

This was bad enough in itself. But it gets worse. The Northwest Herald has an online discussion area that is visited by the whole of McHenry County. The above article was put in this discussion area, and people from Marengo and beyond started posting their comments and opinions.

What was going on at this time? Well, the young man in question had one of several surgeries on his hand, to remove the bullet. He will require more surgery to fix torn nerves, broken bones, and muscles. Currently he is unable to move the fingers on the hand that the bullet went into. After the surgery he became very ill and this was reported by friends of the family on the Northwest Herald discussion board. Not to arouse sympathy, but so that the people who have been making commentary would know what is going on. The response has been truly amazing. Here are some of the hate filled comments from that site:

 

“barbara wrote on December 16, 2006 9:54 AM: "I would rather pay 30% of my childs medical bills than for his funeral……he was wrong to frighten Mr. Sweat at 4 a.m. I hope he has learned his lesson, but I doubt it. With all these adults condoning his behavior and painting him as a blameless victim, they are basically socializing him to become a reckless and irresponsible adult.”

braveheart wrote on December 16, 2006 8:59 AM: "You can paint Patrick as a poor, defenseless victim as much as you'd like. While we all specualate as to whether or not he broke into Sweat's car, or was merely up to mischief, there is one fact to this case that is completely UNDENIABLE.Patrick Gaughan was shot by Jerry Sweat while in the middle of committing a criminal act. Try to refute that. CGBear hit the nail on the head. He had no business being in Sweat's yard at 4AM, whether breaking into the car or simply vandalizing the property. Understand that Patrick's careless behavior and lack of respect for the property and belongings of others are in direct correlation with his now being seriously injured. Can you get that trough YOUR thick head?"

CGBear wrote on December 15, 2006 8:21 PM: "Why does everybody from Marengo make it about poor Patrick??! I don't care who it is! If you are on my property at 4 am I will call the cops, I will let the dog out to say hello, and I will come out and say hello."

I have not printed these comments in full, and there are many more. When some of Patrick’s friends from high school went on the discussion board and bravely stood up for his defense, not only were they accused of being ME, but here is what many people replied to them:

braveheart wrote on December 15, 2006 6:09 PM: "Leave her alone, Mom, you're confusing her by presenting actual facts……. She' a clueless, semi-literate little snitch. I'm sure her parents are very proud of her. Maybe her tune will change once charges are also filed against Patrick........and they will be filed against him."

Needless to say, we have taken action against this. We have not only gone on the discussion board in question and attempted to respond, but have contacted the Northwest Herald. They have decided that their discussion board is much more important to them (for publicity purposes, I imagine), then the fact that the family in question has lies, slander, and hate directed against them. One of the people posting on that discussion board has in fact contacted us after signing up on our Marengo Message Board and being banned for slander (she accused me of being a pedophile because I wanted to help the Gaughan boys). Her name is Barbara Behnke, the Barbara who posted the comments above, and here is what she wrote to us:

“How on earth is stating my opinion slanderous? You have just reaffirmed my opinion that this message board seems to be run by a bunch of lunatics. I hope you all enroll in some classes at the local community college and educate yourselves about what exactly slander is and also take a class in ethics.”

and

“Please do the world a favor and take some classes at the local community college and educate yourself on what exactly slander is and what ethical behavior is……..”

What I found fascinating is that other than the two brave kids from the high school, who have posted despite being ridiculed and demeaned, is that people have allowed their hate of the family in question to fill page after page of the discussion area. As you see, they have no sympathy, empathy, or caring in their hearts. Someone is sick this Christmas, a family’s peace of mind has been destroyed by a reckless gunman, but who do these people care about more? Why the gunman, of course. Poor Jerry Sweat! Someone was in his yard in the dark, he got frightened and had a frightening experience, he was “forced” to shoot someone because of his fright, now he has all these legal fees and, God forbid, might even wind up going to jail. There should not be any people out there who want to defend the boy who is now sick and in pain, they need to be put in their place because of their misplaced sympathy. Why, I have heard that there will even be a fundraiser in town to help pay Jerry Sweat’s legal fees! And this is a person who shoots a person, sees he hit them, doesn’t call the police or the ambulance, but goes right back to bed and falls asleep.

What else is really scary about the way the discussion in the NW Herald is being handled?

Well, I imagine that the newspaper can one day be held responsible for promoting the death of teenagers. Yes, the death of teenagers. There is post after post detailing that people should have the right to shoot anyone on their property and ask questions later. That teenagers who are out late at night deserve to get shot. That the teen in question is a “dog” and should be “shot like a dog”, which was thankfully removed from the site after several days. It is not only sickening, it’s scary. Here, people are advocating that homeowners shoot whoever is on their property in the middle of the night, for the whole county to read. One day a police officer, a mother whose car broke down at night, or a neighbor coming to a house for an emergency may well get shot. Many posts are also spreading hate of the family in question, which might lead to violence against them. No one at the Northwest Herald at this time took any responsibility for these issues or taken any actions to correct the misinformation in the original article.

As a last word, here is what a famous novelist, Peter Senese, thinks about thisMcHenry
County matter. Here is an article from his personal website:

December 15th, 2006: "Friendship" One of my closest friends, Brian of the Chicagoland area continues to deal with some of the strangest behavior by a growing group of radical right-winged idiots. As I shared a few days ago, Patrick Gaughan, Brian's son and my pal, was shot three times while walking on a neighboring property of his friend he was intending to play a youthful trick on (tee-peeing his house, something I did often enough in my youth). Patrick is a teenage boy who possesses qualaties others should hope to obtain: he is respectful, honest, considerate to others, and good natured. So less than two weeks ago, Patrick gets shot by a rifle, has his body riddled with bullets, and a group of idiots out of McHenry County, Illinois have stated on a handful of websites that the shooter had the right to fire his rifle at anyone on his property! Where in the world are we going as a society if this thinking pervails! I mean, last night I was watching a group of Christmas Carollers strolling a jazzy little neighborhood, and I said to myself, 'what if the home owner doesn't want these festive singers on his property?' The use of firearms in most any circumstance is simply wrong.

More can be found here:
The Official Site of Peter Senese - On My Mind

Crazy Marengo Man Sees Enemies, Marengo Illinois

 

Jerry Sweat from Marengo Illinois, I noticed, had beenenjoying a lot of support. People think that it is all right for Mr. Sweat toshoot to kill two young men, both 18 years of age, who were passing through hisproperty on the way to tepee a friend’s house. Mr. Sweat originally told thepolice who arrested him that the reason he shot one of the men was because hethought he was one of the people he had a dispute with, since he had many enemies.

So, what did he do? He emptied a whole clip of his .22, sawhe hit “the enemy” in question, then he went back to bed without so much ascalling the police. This is the story he gave the police when he was firstarrested. Later on, he thought of a better story, and decided that the kidswhom he shot were going to break into his unlocked car. However, nothing wasstolen out of the car and the two kids dropped rolls of toilet paper on the wayout of his yard while fleeing. So, it seems unlikely to me that someone wouldgo drive to steal things from someone’s car while carrying rolls of toiletpaper with them. Would be rather inconvenient, wouldn’t you think?

Jerry Sweat is a coward. He shot a person who was fleeing inthe back. He is cold blooded. After he was done, he went right back to bed, noteven caring for the welfare of the person he shot.

Now, what has happened afterwards?

People have come out of the woodworks to make accusations ofthe victim. He was in the wrong place and the wrong time, so that is why he gotshot. He deserved it. ALL of his family are evil, they don’t deserve people’srespect. I have noticed that people do not care about the damage they cause,spreading false information, making false assumptions, or just talking garbage.Why?

Because it is not them. By attacking someone else, someonewhom they can hold as example, they then can then feel good about themselves.They can assure themselves that their own kids would never cross someone’s yardin the middle of the night, or argue with someone at the carnival, so it wouldnever happen to them. It can’t. It only happens to the Gaughans. Therefore, itmust be their fault.

To me, this kind of thinking is evil. It can causeimmeasurable harm, and in fact is doing just that, to the Gaughan kids, totheir family. Rather than making yourselves look good by accusing someone else,sometimes it might be better to mind your own business.

Marengo Illinois

"They didn't know the guy [who did the shooting] and weren't there to do anything to his house," O'Reilly said. "They were just cutting through his yard."The early-morning toilet paper raid is what "high school kids do," O'Reilly said. "Should they get shot for it? No."

Marengo Message Forum - NW Herald Gets it Wrong Again

(click on the pic)

I’d like to ask you, Judge Condon, why you think Kroncke and Schroeder are good officers? Just because you and only you made the decision that we all knew you were going to make, to allow the coerced, fake confession as evidence? Of course, YOU are on the prosecution’s side, judge, you all know each other, go to the same parties, so it is not surprising that you would not want to ruin their case. Its political, that’s why. It would be bad politics to go against the prosecution.

Where is your sense of shame? Did you not see the whole tape? You did not see Kevin Gaughan jump back at one point or the way he was sitting, clearly frightened? You did not see Kroncke jump, run around the room, slam papers, point his finger, throw Kevin into a cell, punch a guy out? You saw Kroncke brush Kevin’s shoulder?? Please! Watch the tape again, judge. Or did you even bother to watch it, since you obviously decided to make this decision ahead of time?

Look at all the cases that you and Bianchi and Owens presided over that were turned over on appeal. Look at the shameful ways you behave, not caring about justice or right and wrong. You would put any person in jail, no matter if he’s innocent and guilty, just to win a case! You should all be disbarred. Don’t worry, by the time this is all over with, I am sure the FBI will get involved in your wrongdoings. This will not go on.

And shame on you reporters of the Northwest Herald. What a crappy article! Just the other day was an article and a website where one can view the tape for oneself. Are you saying you saw this tape and still believe the lies that Condon and Bianchi stated to you people? What is this? You don’t do any of your own investigating, but just print whatever the people you interview tell you, true or false? Just the day before there was an article where the events on the very same tape were discussed in a contradictory manner.
All lies. From the prosecutors to the judge to our community paper. You people have no shame!

WOODSTOCK ILLINOIS
OCTOBER 15, 2006

MCHENRY COUNTY ILLINOIS NICHOLE OWENS

We Americans believe that we have the most just system of law in the world. People are “assumed innocent” until proven guilty and have a right to a trial by a jury of their peers. Prosecutors are supposed to prosecute those against whom there is evidence and who they themselves believe to be guilty. This is the ideal upon what our justice system in this country is based. In fact, more than an ideal, we, the citizens of this country, believe that if we are falsely accused of a crime, then this will be caught and remedied. Supposedly, innocent people do not wind up in jail in the United States.

This has, unfortunately, not been the case in McHenry County. There’s justice for the rest of the country and there’s “McHenry County justice”. Meaning what?
- People are falsely arrested and then indicted by a grand jury because of false evidence given against them.
- The prosecutor, Nichole Owens, is ambitious and willing to see innocent people go to jail for crimes they did not commit in an effort to forward her own agenda.
- There are few judges and they make decisions that are pro- prosecution, and are later turned over by an appeals court.
- State investigators lie on the stand in order to protect themselves and their friends.
- People are beat up and arrested if they complain about the system.

Why is this happening? Because of two people who are here to put criminals behind bars and protect the rest of us in McHenry county are more concerned about getting ahead then about truth and justice. Nichole Owens has screwed up case after case in Boone County. The people who she prosecuted and who were found guilty, and the decisions made in her cases, were later overturned in Appellate court. She was booted out of there and is now in our McHenry County. She likewise has started prosecuting the innocent while those who belong in jail go free. In the Gaughan case, there was evidence from the beginning that Brian and Kevin Gaughan were not guilty of any of the charges brought against them by her office. It was and still is obvious to anyone looking at that case that Officer Crawford of Marengo beat up one of the Gaughans, who was injured. Crawford was the one against whom charges should have been brought against. Instead, Owens wants to prosecute people she knows are not guilty, as dropping the charges now would mean admitting some very obvious mistakes. There are 23 witnesses for the Gaughans and a videotape showing how Kevin Gaughan was hit and interrogated in order to get him to drop his complaint. The witnesses against the Gaughans? Crawford and Given, both forced to resign from Marengo PD. In fact, not only Crawford, but Given should have been prosecuted as well. She has stolen confidential information and given it to the NW Herald, yet has been allowed to get away with her crimes. Owens also insists on prosecuting the police officers involved in an altercation with Ron Hallet. The only reason charges are being brought up against these officers in the first place, was so State Investigator Kroncke could show that he wasn’t biased toward the police in the Gaughan case. So, four innocent people are prosecuted for crimes they did not commit, the videotapes which are essential, same as in the Gaughan case, have “mysteriously disappeared”. I am certain that if there are guilty charges in these cases, they, like the Boone County cases, will be overturned later by the Appellate Court.
The sad thing is that nothing is being done about Owens and Bianchi. They are allowed to go on their rampage, putting innocent people in jail and costing them hundreds of thousands of dollars to defend themselves. State’s Attorney Lisa Madigan, nor anyone else, wants to get involved or cares about what is going on in this county. The only hope that I can see coming is to have people like you and me get together to try to fight some of the injustices. Because next time it might be you whose being falsely accused and tried. Next time you who read this might have a state officer like William Kroncke lie about you on the stand. Until people decide to take action, nothing will be accomplished. We are lucky that people like the Gaughans have decided to fight these injustices. In the end, I hope to see Owens and Bianchi make enough mistakes, so that they are forced to pay for their actions.

Woodstock Illinois Sept 29, 2006

Illinois State Police William Kroncke’s Lies Exposed

William Kroncke, who is a Illinois State Police investigator, has been in the process of lying so often, that it is safe to say he must either be a habitual liar, or a ruthless individual concerned less with the law then with doing favors for friends and abusing various people.

Take a look at some of what William Kroncke has done: - He was caught on tape punching a prisoner in handcuffs and slapping Kevin Gaughan, who came in to file a complaint. - He has lied and covered up facts of an investigation he supposedly conducted into the shooting of a suspect by a Marengo police officer. - He has lied on the stand constantly and repeatedly. Under oath. - He has even stolen evidence that was supposed to be handed over to the defense in a case!

Considering all these facts, it shouldn’t surprise us that William Kroncke would lie about his military service record as well. Since getting transferred to Chicago, Kroncke has told people, including possible suspects, that he was an Army Ranger, who had fought in various wars and held many medals. However, Kroncke appears to be just like Jack Genot. When his military record is examined, it shows that Kroncke did not serve in the Army at all or been anywhere near a battlefield. Instead, he was a financial officer without any clearances in the National Guard! In other words, while Kroncke was able to commend respect from his superiors in the
Chicago area because of his military and war service, the fact is that he never even served! I imagine that if his superiors, many of whom are themselves real military heroes and real Rangers, knew that Kroncke lied about being a Ranger and was just a piddly financial officer, a clerk, then he would get a lot less respect. Maybe they wouldn’t stand up to protect this liar and poor excuse of a human being when he habitually lies, hits people, and does wrong. Maybe they will look the other way when all these lies finally catch up with him. I would think at the very least, this must be very embarrassing for Kroncke himself, as there is no excuse for this kind of lie.

Jack Genot has made a public apology and a fellow alderman asked him in Council to resign. Though he did not do so. Maybe we should all demand that the Illinois State Police finally get rid of William Kroncke. It is not safe or wise to give a habitual liar and violent individual, who also covers up for his lies, a badge and especially, a gun. I would write the Illinois State Police Headquarters in
Chicago and demand Kroncke’s resignation. We will all be safer in the future. Especially those of us in Marengo.

Illinois
State Police


Woodstock Illinois Marengo
Illinois

October 4, 2006

The Northwest Herald printed that the arrest rate is up, but that crime is down. Hmmm…
I wonder if this is because of all the people who have been falsely arrested and tried by the State’s Attorney’s Office.
Supposedly, Marengo was one of the communities that has seen a decrease of crime since last year….
Marengo, huh? I wonder if this is because now that Crawford and his girlfriend Given were forced to resign, there are a lot less false arrests and fake crimes being committed. What about the murder of the 83 year old women? Was that solved? We’ll never find out, as the possible suspect was shot. Maybe the serious crimes, like drug dealing and murder did not go down, just that there were a lot less false arrests this year?
Lou Bianchi says that there is a lot of work to do and arrests to make. Why? I wonder..
The increase in workloads is because Nichole Owens is trying very hard to make a name for herself here in this county, and people are getting falsely arrested. The innocent are sent to prison, even if they are police officers, while bad police officers go unpunished and are able to get a job in other counties. True crime is being ignored..
I wonder how many of these arrests led to convictions and how many of the convictions are going to be overturned in the appeal process?
Bianchi also states that there will be a lot more work for the State’s attorney’s office.
I am sure there would be a lot less work without the false arrests. Look at Nichole Owens record in Boone county. People were falsely arrested and charged, and if convictions were obtained, they were overturned in appellate court. The same process is now occurring here in McHenry County. It is only a matter of time before Nichole Owens will find herself out of a job because of prosecutorial misconduct.
And what are supposedly our biggest problems in McHenry County? Sexual abuse and alcohol misuse!! What? Did I hear that right?
Is that what we need to worry about while there are meth use and other problems, with many people in the county living in poverty?
McHenry County judges have huge caseloads, according to Bianchi.
Maybe we need some new judges, as the ones who are handling the current cases seem to agree with the prosecutors, issue bad judgments, and then have those judgments turned over in an appeal.
What is the situation here in McHenry County?
Because of Nichole Owens, case after case is being prosecuted, whether the suspect is innocent or guilty. Owens doesn’t care about little things like innocence or guilt. She wants to make a name for herself. She will keep prosecuting people, engaging in misconduct, and sending innocent people to jail by using investigators who lie on the stand and other forms of ruthless actions, unless something is done.

K.C.’s Cabin Spring Grove IL

Ryan Hallett admitted that he drank as many as 14 drinks at other places before he arrived at K.C.’s Cabin which lead to a beating from an off duty officer after pulling out a pocket knife and holding a woman hostage.

 

Ryan Hallett was no saint.

Ryan Hallett admitted that he intentionally walked by the officers and exchanged words which provoked the incident.

Ryan Hallett admitted he took out his pocket knife and waved it at an off duty officer.

Ryan Hallett kicked one police officer in the nuts.

Ryan Hallett threatens life Jessica Thelen and others.

Ryan Hallett was a drunk and out of control.

All liars: William Kroncke, Virgil Schroeder, Joe Perez, Nichole Owens, “Big Daddy” Lou Bianchi

Illinois State Police William Kroncke, Virgil Schroeder, Joe Perez, and Nichole Owens more than likely had these witnesses Heather Miller, Melissa Cross, and Greg Fisher lie on the stand. This is not the first time that these four have used their magical charms.

I thought that Nichole Owens was a head hunting witch for drilling Jessica Thelen on the stand like that. Nichole Owens yelled and harassed her the whole time. Jessica Thelan did what she had to in order to get away from the drunken madman, Ryan Hallett.

Questions

William Kroncke, who coached the accused before their Grand Jury proceedings? Seriously, the accused were told what questions they were going to be asked and how they should answer them. What! Nichole Owens, is that legal? I am questioning your creditability, like I do not think you ever had any.

Why did the McHenry County Presiding Judge Sharon Prather refused to allow testimony from a defense expert? Was it because he was expected to say that the former police officers were justified in their use of force to defend themselves from a knife-wielding Hallett? I though the jury should have heard the statements. Is the system here in McHenryCounty so corrupt that they knew this expert could have had some influence on the jury?

Wow! Is this a misleading article! Talk about the NW Herald being too cowardly to tell the truth but yet still writing something just to say “they covered it”.
1. Watch the tape. What do you see? I see State Police Officer Kroncke punching Hedio and knocking him out for 43 minutes. And believe me, I’ve watched the tape many, many times. I also see Kevin Gaughan jumping back the moment Kroncke hits Hedio.
Also, I certainly wouldn’t say anything to protect Officers DiGiovanni and Mahlke, who were holding Hedio against the wall. I certainly have nothing at all good to say about the MPD or those two, but they didn’t punch Hedio out!! Just watch the tape!
It is interesting. In this case, its actually NOT the Marengo Police who are mostly at fault for what happened. I certainly wouldn’t be saying this to protect them.
Why did the NW Herald say that they did? Because of fear of lawsuits and pressure from State Police lawyers who are protecting Kroncke. They are cowards. They should have not even come up with an article at all, rather than one that has false information in it!
2. Nowhere it is mentioned that Kevin Gaughan was slapped two times. Why? Because Kroncke slapped him. And the NW Herald cannot mention Kroncke’s name or actions, because of fear of lawsuits.
3. Kroncke and Schroeder’s names aren’t mentioned at all, in fact. Again, fear of lawsuits by the cowardly NW Herald.
4. Yes, very true. Hedio was not provided with medical attention and everyone ignored him and went about their business. However, I should mention that, again, if you watch the tape, you can see that Mahlke kicks Hedio into the cell, not really nudges him with his foot. Again, I’ve watched the tape more than once, many times. But you can see it for yourselves.
5. Let me ask this one. If the NW Herald is such an honest, independent source of news in McHenry County, why won’t they come out with the truth?
And why is it that the Gaughans were not allowed to take out a small ad a year and a half ago looking for other people with cases against the MPD, but William Kaper is allowed two full page ads every single week for his very obvious political agenda against the City of Cary?
I think we need to all question this supposed independent source of news for our County. Because most of the time we are not getting the full story.

Marengo IL

July 10, 2006

This week, both CBS and the Northwest Herald were given very interesting information. A tape of a State Police officer punching, yelling, slapping, and intimidating people in the Marengo Police Department was handed to them, as well as an interview with Brian Gaughan Sr., and Kevin Gaughan concerning the events on the tape. But because of threats of lawsuits from State Police lawyers, CBS producers decided to show a watered down version of what they originally planned. They neither mentioned the State Police officer’s name, William Kroncke, nor described in detail what happened on the tape that they ran. The Northwest Herald was even more cowardly, refusing to run an article already written and planned for Friday morning due to fears of lawsuits by the State Police and pressure by the State’s Attorney’s Office. The article that did come out on Saturday morning was not much more than a watered down version of the original. It even had a quote on top implying that the State Police did not believe the video was what it seemed. Now, our Marengo Gazette is a small, online enterprise connected with our Marengo Message Board. We do not give in to pressure from town governments, State’s Attorney’s offices, or threats of lawsuits. Therefore, I will put parts of the tape online for all of you to look over and to see for yourselves what really happened. Now, first of all, the two State Police officers on the tape are William Kroncke and Virgil Schroeder. From what I understand, Kroncke is a millionaire whose father-in-law has a lot of political clout. This is how he is able to commit crimes that you see on this tape and get away with it. I did not see Schroeder do anything particularly exciting on the tape other than to sit at his desk and stare off into space. However, he made no move to stop his partner or to prevent Kevin Gaughan from being mistreated for 5 and a half hour. The tape contains footage which makes it pretty clear what has transpired during the 5 hour interrogation. You can watch parts of it and see for yourselves. First of all, there is the scene where Kroncke slaps Kevin Gaughan. It is interesting to watch, as there is very little to excuse these actions. Kevin Gaughan was there to make a complaint of police brutality against Scott Crawford. He wasn’t there because he committing any sort of crime or did anything wrong. This is important to note, because the State Police asked him to come down to the Marengo Police Station in order so they could take the complaint and investigate Crawford, not to be interrogated. This is not what happened. William Kroncke attempted to force him to sign a false confession, claiming that Kevin committed the car burglaries in Doral Ridge. He was yelled at, harassed, and slapped in the face, told that his father would lose his job and would go to jail and that his whole family would suffer if he did not sign the document in front of him, dropping the complaint against Crawford. Needless to say, this was not an investigation of Crawford, this was an attempt to cover up his crimes. I need not say, I’m sure, that if the State Police really wanted to conduct an investigation into the complaint, they would have met with Kevin Gaughan in an independent setting and not in the Marengo Police Station, where the Officer in question still was employed. Obviously they were not interested in seriously investigating the incidents with Crawford in the first place, otherwise why meet there? It seems clear that the only reason Kroncke and Schroeder were brought in was because the Marengo Police Department wanted a way to cover up Crawford’s crimes. After all, Sgt. Joe Perez, who is head of the investigation, was a long time resident of Marengo and friends with those in the department, so it seems that this must not have been too hard to arrange.

(Click a video to play)

The scene where Kroncke hits Kevin is very hard to misconstrue. Watch it for yourselves. I believe Kroncke’s lawyer said that Kroncke was brushing the lint off of Kevin’s shoulder! Well, as you can see, he actually does hit him. And just in case there is any doubt about that, Kevin puts a hand to his face afterward. It is also interesting to watch what Kroncke’s partner Schroeder does: he gets up and walks nowhere, just making a complete circle. It’s obvious that he suddenly stood up like this because he simply could not believe what his partner just did. If you watch the clip as a whole several times, it will become very obvious what took place. Kroncke’s lawyer’s excuses sound just like what they are - excuses to cover up his crimes. The most interesting part of the tape, of course, is the part where Kroncke punched out the prisoner that the Marengo Police brought in, Orest Hideo. What you can see is Hideo being brought out of the police car, into the police department, where he clearly starts saying something to Kevin before the Marengo Police put him against the wall. What he told Kevin was not to talk to the police without a lawyer. Kroncke then got off his chair and punched the handcuffed prisoner out. After Hideo is on the floor, Officer Mahlke kicks him into his cell. There is no mistaking this action either. You can see it yourselves right on the tape, regardless of what anyone might say. Just so all of you know, Officer Mahlke is also the Chief of Wonder Lake. I would think the citizens of Wonder Lake might be interested to know that their new Chief approves of prisoners in custody being punched, and that he kicks them when they’re down.

(Click a video to play)

Also, note the time on the bottom of the screen right after Orest Hideo is punched out. He is unconscious in his cell for 43 minutes. His hands are cuffed behind his back and no one calls for medical attention. Afterward, you can see the Marengo Police cleaning up his blood off the floor.

 

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Later on the tape, there is yet an another interesting occurrence. There is an awful lot of blood. At one point, one of the Marengo Police Officers comes back and notices that it had not all been cleaned up. Officer Mahlke gets more paper towels and cleans up the rest of it. In fact, he grabs a whole bunch of towels from a paper towel dispenser, wipes the blood off with his feet, and throws the bloodied towels in the garbage. There is no way that you can watch this and not see what has taken place. And it is just as obvious who punches the prisoner out – William Kroncke. He gets up off his chair, walks up to the Marengo police officers, who are holding Hideo against the wall, raises his arm, punches, and then Hideo falls to the floor and there is blood. I cannot see what else could have possibly happened on the tape. It seems very obvious and hard to misconstrue. Of course, the Marengo Police are just as responsible for not protecting the prisoner who is in their custody. From what Kevin Gaughan has described, they laughed about the whole incident among themselves. You can also see Officer Mahlke kicking the unconscious prisoner into a cell after he is knocked out. Apparently, this is something that must have gone on quite often at the Marengo Police Department and no one thought anything of it. Certainly, no one was angry at Kroncke for knocking the prisoner. No one thought to check on Hideo while he was in the cell, handcuffed and unconscious, or to provide him with medical attention. What happens in some of the other scenes on the tape? Well, I watched the tape as a whole and unfortunately it is impossible to put it all online. However, I think watching the whole thing gives one a whole different perspective on what went on. Also on what kind of person William Kroncke is. For one, it becomes obvious how ridiculous the excuses the State Police lawyers make for Kroncke really are. It’s next to impossible to watch the whole tape and not see it as anything less than intimidation and further police brutality. William Kroncke is clearly a very scary and intimidating presence. But its even more than that – this is a person who seems almost as if he is insane and should not be given a gun and a badge! He should not be allowed to perform a job as an officer or an investigator after treating a witness who is supposed to have given him information about a police brutality incident in this way. Clearly, he isn’t investigating anyone, he’s breaking the law in order to help out the Marengo Police by forcing Kevin Gaughan to drop his complaint. For five and a half hour this person screams, makes gestures with his arms, threatens to do to Kevin what he has done to the prisoner in handcuffs, sticks Kevin into a jail cell, threatens Kevin’s family and friends. He picks up a chair that still has a coat on it, for goodness sakes, and swings it around over his head. What kind of normal person would do something like this? And he never lets up with the screaming, yelling, hand swinging, and holding out the paper for Kevin to sign for the whole 5 and a half hours. You can see Schroeder just sitting there staring off into space. He makes no gesture to stop the tirade, and is therefore also responsible for what happened. The most telling part was when Kevin asks to go the bathroom. You would think that after almost 5 hours Kroncke would rest and relax during this little break in order to get ready for more screaming and yelling? Nope. He goes up to the cell where Orest Hideo has now regained consciousness and starts harassing and baiting him until Hideo yells something back. Then Kroncke calls the Marengo police officers into the room, who threaten to pepper spray Hideo. It is apparent from Kroncke’s gestures that he tells them that Hideo had started yelling himself. However, when you watch the tape, you can see that Kroncke started baiting him first, when Hideo was just sitting quietly on the cot. But that’s even beside the point. Kroncke could not sit still for a few minutes while the person he was harassing for many hours went into the bathroom! What kind of person is this? Are we supposed to take this person’s word for what happened in any investigation at all, whether it’s the shooting conducted by a Marengo Police Officer or Crawford hurting people? He can’t even keep his temper after 5 hours of screaming! Needless to say, he also seems to have few morals, as he has no problem at all knocking out a prisoner completely unrelated to the case he was investigating just to intimidate Kevin Gaughan so that he would think something like this could happen to him. He has no trouble harassing the prisoner in question for no apparent reason whatsoever and then telling the police officers on duty that the prisoner was the one who caused the problem. Clearly, besides appearing to be mentally ill, William Kroncke lies and makes things up just to get his way in whatever matter is at hand. This much is obvious from his behavior on this tape.

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 Kroncke isn’t the only person committing crimes in this video. At the very end, Officer Riley and County Officer Umbenhower sit down with Kevin Gaughan and try to get him to admit to them that he was the one who committed the burglaries in Doral Ridge. Of course, both of these Officers knew that this wasn’t true, as they already had a suspect in custody who really did commit the burglaries. He is in the upper quadrant of the film, sitting in a jail cell. So, there was no reason for them to harass Kevin and try to get him to admit to crimes he did not commit. It should also be noted that this incident took place after Kevin Gaughan had been interrogated for over five and a half hours. I don’t know if Officer Riley was hoping that Kevin by this time would be worn out by all the screaming and yelling and would therefore confess, or what they hoped would happen. But it is clearly wrong for a police officer to accuse someone of something that they did not do, when the Officers in question know for sure that this person did not do it.

 

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One final interesting look at an another incident that transpired: While Kevin was locked up in the jail cell, Orest Hideo was taken out of his cell. Watch the cardboard that is put up to block Kevin’s view of what is about to take place. Why do you think they needed to do that? I can only imagine. But a Marengo Officer notices it and looks at it in great confusion, after which the cardboard is taken back down again. Apparently Kroncke and the others think better of it. Why is this of any significance? Well, in November of last year, Orest Hideo was arrested by the Marengo Police, brought to the police department, and then wound up in the hospital for days. I wonder if beatings are a regular occurrence in the Marengo Police Department? The cardboard seems to indicate so. This is something that one would expect to find in a third world country, not in the United States. We should all be ashamed and outraged that our police department lets these things go on and that the people in this town go and defend the police department regardless of these doings.

Originally, I expected that people in our town - Marengo, IL, would jump in to offer support for the Gaughan family once they saw the injustice of the situation and how much the Gaughans need their help now. Five years ago, when we first started running the Marengo Message Board http://lenasbooks.proboards28.com/index.cgi, a case had come up with a local resident, Paul Shirmer. Paul fell asleep while driving a semi truck in the state of Georgia. He crashed his truck into a UPS truck, killing both the driver and his own son. He was charged with manslaughter by the Georgia prosecutors. People in Marengo poured in with their support.
What happened with the Gaughan case? People do not want to get involved. The prosecutors in this case are local and the officials who are against the Gaughans are town officials. It doesn’t sit well with people and I have been unable to gather any sort of support for the Gaughans and their situation.
I first became involved with the Gaughans in a somewhat unusual way. The father, Brian Gaughan Sr., got in contact with us through our message board and told us a very strange story which I was reluctant to believe. He said his sons were falsely arrested by Officer Scott Crawford, who beat up his older son and put his face through a wall. That now they faced various charges against them, and that he, as a former police officer himself, could not believe what kinds of crimes are being perpetrated in Marengo. I felt bad for the person who contacted me, but did not at first believe much of what he told me. The following week I talked to a friend in town who had connections with the Police Chief and town government officials. I asked her who this person was. I only had his first name and very little other information, yet she was able to tell me who it was and to please stay far away from him, as the whole town is against him and whoever has anything to do with him will have a lot of problems of their own. In the following months, I was able to find out that many more people have been attacked by Officer Crawford and had false charges brought against them. The only difference is that not one of them fought back. They all took the easy way out and pleaded guilty to lesser charges.
Because the Gaughans chose to fight the false charges that were made against them. Because of this they have faced arrests, intimidation - look at the video on this website for instance, http://marengogazette.blogspot.com/, and false arrest for further charges that the State’s Attorney’s Office managed to dig up. We in Marengo really need your help. There is little help from people of this town, who simply deride our efforts and complain about our ongoing support of the Gaughan family. Please write to Lisa Madigan, Attorney General in Illinois to have her look into this situation:

Lisa Madigan
IL Attorney Generals Office
100 W. Randolf St
Chicago, IL 60601
312-814-3000
www.illinoisattorneygeneral.gov

Marengo, IL
July 9, 2006