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Police investigate Woodstock bank robbery Suspect is same man linked to robbery in Crystal Lake NORTHWEST HERALD WOODSTOCK – The man suspected of robbing a Fifth Third Bank in Crystal Lake last month robbed a Fifth Third branch in Woodstock on Wednesday, the FBI said. The Woodstock robbery occurred at 10:50 a.m. Wednesday at the Fifth Third Bank at 1745 S. Eastwood Drive, FBI spokeswoman Diana Carbonara said. According to a Woodstock police news release, a white male handed a teller a note that demanded money. The teller complied with the re-
quest and gave the suspect an undisclosed amount of money. Police said no weapon was displayed or implied. The suspect then fled, possibly in an older model green Jeep Cherokee occupied by two female subjects, the release said. The FBI describes the man as white, between 5-foot-10 and 6 feet tall, and weighing around 180 pounds. A description from police indicates the man has facial hair and was wearing a Chicago Bears hat and sunglasses. The FBI suspects the same man
Police investigate the scene of a bank robbery at Fifth Third Bank on Wednesday in Woodstock.
of a robbery that occurred at 4:18 p.m. March 30 at the Fifth Third Bank branch at 265 W. Virginia St. in Crystal Lake. The suspect also did not show a weapon in that robbery and fled with an undisclosed amount of money. Woodstock police are actively working with the FBI, the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office and the Crystal Lake Police Department, the release said, adding numerous leads are being followed as the investigation continues. Anyone with information is asked to call the FBI at 312-421-6700.
Matthew Apgar – mapgar@ shawmedia.com
PUBLIC HEARING IN CRYSTAL LAKE
Bleachers get ‘no’ vote
Schock sued by political donor But lawsuit likely faces legal obstacles By JOHN O’CONNOR The Associated Press
Photos by Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
Crystal Lake resident Kim Gurba, whose family sued District 155 over the Crystal Lake South High School bleachers that abut her backyard, spoke Wednesday at the Crystal Lake Planning and Zoning Commission hearing at Crystal Lake City Hall.
Commission rejects D-155 request for permits, variances By EMILY K. COLEMAN ecoleman@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – The special use permits and variance requests for the Crystal Lake South High School bleachers were roundly rejected by the Crystal Lake Planning and Zoning Commission. The bleachers have been described as a “monstrosity” by the neighboring property owners, but Community High School District 155 staff said they give a seat to all the people that attend football games and graduation ceremonies. Both sides got to make their case to the commission at a meeting Tuesday evening that ran more than four hours, one that meant to consider the merits of the district’s request and not the lawsuit waiting to be heard by the Illinois Supreme Court. “The finding of facts just aren’t there, so I can’t support this petition,” Commissioner Allan Skluzacek said. The recommendation made by
Crystal Lake South principal Scott Shepard looks back at a screen showing photos of the bleachers during the Planning and Zoning Commission hearing. the commission to reject the district’s requests will be considered by the Crystal Lake City Council at an upcoming meeting. The nine-member commission weighed several different recommendations as it considered the
request from the Crystal Lakebased district for a special use permit and two variances. The staff recommendation, premised on the approval of the two variances and the relocation of the press box to the east side bleach-
ers, calls for more solid landscape screening between the bleachers and the houses that back up to the site, mounting the speaker system in an easterly direction, keeping noise levels below 90 decibels as measured five feet from the property line and requiring the relocation of the buses for certain events to make room for more parking. The district’s attorney, Lisa Waggoner, asked the commission to waive the decibel requirement and to allow the district to conduct a parking study to find out if the buses need to be relocated, something that costs the district $2,600 each time it’s done. The school can control the noise of the sound system, but it can’t control the noise of the crowd, which would be included in any decibel reading, she said, adding that relocating the speakers would cost about $100,000. The neighboring property owners had their own requests, varying from the removal of the west
SPRINGFIELD – Former U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock’s legal problems expanded Wednesday as a contributor sued to force the repayment of millions of campaign dollars, saying he was tricked into believing the young lawmaker who has since resigned amid questions about his spending was “a breath of fresh air” in a corruption-riddled state. The unusual lawsuit filed by Howard Foster, a Chicago lawyer who pitched in just $500 to Schock, cites Illinois’ long history of political and financial shenanigans – from a pre-Civil War governor to former U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s recent prison Aaron term for misusing Schock campaign funds – and plants Schock among them in claiming his fundraising arm was a corrupt racket. One election-law expert said he’s never seen such a lawsuit and predicted legal obstacles. Schock, a 33-year-old Republican from Peoria who resigned last month, had been a money-raising machine with shooting-star millennial appeal. The lawsuit targets all four of his fundraising accounts. In his main congressional fund alone, he collected nearly $11 million since 2008, according to Federal Election Commission records. Foster anted up “because he believed Mr. Schock was ethical, a breath of fresh air in Illinois politics, and had a bright future in Congress,” the lawsuit, filed in federal court in Chicago, states. “However, the opposite was true, and while Schock may have been a new, young face in Congress, he willingly followed well-tread paths of political sleaze for personal gain.” The complaint seeks class-action status and repayment of all contributions. It counts 7,130 contributors to Schock’s main fund alone – all potential plaintiffs, although Foster is the only one thus far.
See BLEACHERS, page A7 See SCHOCK, page A7
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