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Visitors driver’s licenses issued 134 undocumented immigrants now legally behind the wheel in DeKalb County By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com DeKALB – More than 130 undocumented immigrants have secured Illinois driver’s licenses in DeKalb County, according to recent figures from the Illinois Secretary of State’s office. Undocumented immigrants became eligible to receive drivers licenses in December when the program rolled out at 36 facilities across Illinois. The DeKalb office started accepting appointments Jan. 16 and has since issued 134 licenses, Secretary
of State’s Office spokesman Henry Haupt said. Across the state, 9,300 temporary visitors driver’s licenses have been issued. Illinois was one of 10 states in 2013 to implement laws allowing undocumented immigrants to receive licenses. Illinois is the largest state to enact the law. Ivonne Uquillas, a junior at Northern Illinois University and student coordinator for the DREAM Action Center, said the driver’s licenses are important to undocumented students and parents she knows.
Police: Cortland man made child porn
“Now parents are going to be able to drive to work and take their kids to school without fear of getting stopped and with that possibly deported,” Uquillas said. “It creates a lot of security and safety.” The $30 licenses have a purple border rather than the red border on standard Illinois licenses. They are only valid in Illinois, and are valid for three years. Over the next 90 days, 676 appointments are scheduled at the DeKalb office, Haupt said. Applicants are required to schedule an appointment by
phone or through the Secretary of State’s website. During appointments, applicants take a vision, written and road exam. They are required to show identification as well as proof of insurance and that they have lived in Illinois for at least one year. Open appointments are scarce at the DeKalb facility, said American Family Insurance agent Kim Barrios. Barrios helps undocumented immigrants interested in obtaining their license by trying to set up appointments and shepherding them through the insurance process.
She has scheduled about 20 appointments, which stretch until June. “They will pay to have this privilege to drive and be safe,” Barrios said. “And I think this will be a good thing for all of my customers, because it will mean less hit-and-run accidents. I think the big fear was getting caught by the police and taken to jail.” Driving without a valid driver’s license is a jailable offense for which the DeKalb County Sheriff’s police cited 206 people in 2013, according
“Now parents are going to be able to drive to work and take their kids to school without fear of getting stopped and with that possibly deported.” Ivonne Uquillas Junior at Northern Illinois University
See LICENSES, page A6
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Suspect also faces blackmail charge By JILLIAN DUCHNOWSKI jduchnowski@shawmedia.com Authorities said they were investigating allegations that a Cortland man blackmailed a woman into making a pornographic movie for him when they also discovered he had made child pornography. Thomas A. Holbrook, of the 100 block of West Benson Avenue in Cortland, is accused of convicing a DeKalb County teenage girl to allow him to record a porThomas nographic video Holbrook of her, DeKalb County Sheriff’s Chief Deputy Gary Dumdie said. Holbrook was charged this week with three counts of child pornography, the more serious two counts are punishable with between six and 30 years in prison. Holbrook likely won’t be arrested on those charges until a criminal case against him in Kansas is resolved. In June, a woman in Dodge City, Kan., told police there that she was being stalked by a man she met through an online dating service while she attended college in Illinois, said Michael Robbins, a detective with the Dodge City Police Department. Through his investigation, Robbins said he learned that Holbrook had created fake online identities to interact with the woman, who had ended romantic relationship with Holbrook after two dates. The woman moved back to Dodge City in May 2012. Using one of his fake identities, Holbrook convinced the woman to send nude photographs of herself to him. He later threatened to email those photographs to her mother’s business contacts unless she
See BLACKMAIL, page A6
Monica Maschak - mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Catering Chef Seth Deathrage puts chicken in the oven Feb 19 at the Voluntary Action Center. Deathrage and three other chefs make dinners for the inmates at the DeKalb County Jail everyday. By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – Bethany Rowan, DeKalb County Sheriff’s corrections deputy, said inmates at the DeKalb County Jail are a little spoiled when it comes to their food. “A lot of other jails don’t have as much variety on food,” Rowan said. The Voluntary Action Center has been providing all the meals – breakfast, lunch and dinner – for the jail since 1994. Before then, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s wife cooked the meals at the jail. Now, VAC transports about 250 meals a day to feed inmates, which is fewer meals than they used to provide since inmates are being held in other county jails, said Ellen Rogers, VAC associate director.
VAC employees cook the food and drive it to the jail, where deputies distribute it to each cell block. VAC has a contract with the sheriff’s office that is adjusted annually according to the cost of meals. The sheriff’s office has budgeted $194,000 for next year’s food service, but that number could increase if the jail population increases, DeKalb County Sheriff Roger Scott. VAC has remained fair pricewise over the years considering the service they provide, Scott said. Costs so far for 2014 are $2.70 an inmate for lunches and dinners, and $2.16 an inmate for breakfast. In 1995, breakfast cost $1.20 an inmate, lunch was $1.70 and dinner was $1.55. VAC also provides meals for seniors and the disabled through its Meals on Wheels program. “I thought if the food is good enough for se-
niors, then it should be more than good enough for our inmates,” Scott said. Inmates are served breakfast at 6:30 a.m., lunch at 11:30 a.m. and dinner at 4:30 p.m. Food has to meet state standards, which includes providing one hot meal every day, providing between 1,800 to 2,000 calories for adults each day, and having meals available for those with special diets because of health conditions such as diabetes. Nutritional standards include having the food look pleasing to the eye, said DeKalb County Sheriff’s Lt. Joyce Klein. “Food is important to inmates,” Klein said. “There’s not many things they have in jail. When any of their rights cause them to be upset, it can become a problem very quickly.”
See SERVICE, page A6
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