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Second trial in sex case begins
PARK PLACE HOSTS AWARENESS EVENT
Combating heroin use
Ex-health worker accused of assault By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com
Photos by Sarah Nader – snader@shawmedia.com
While speaking Tuesday at a heroin awareness event at Park Place in Crystal Lake, Chelsea Laliberte, executive director and co-founder of Live4Lali organization, shows the heroin overdose antidote Narcan, which can be used in the event of an opiate overdose.
Speakers share stories, offer tips to prevent drug abuse By STEPHEN Di BENEDETTO sdibenedetto@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – Growing up in Crystal Lake, Tim Ryan admittedly couldn’t find his off-switch with drug and alcohol use, a pattern of behaviors that led him to a 12-year heroin addiction and multiple prison stints. On Tuesday, Ryan came back to his hometown to share his story with the addictive opiate and to connect residents with resources on a heroin epidemic that he said is festering in the Chicago suburbs. Detailing years of abuse with alcohol, marijuana, cocaine and ultimately heroin, Ryan described to a crowd at Park Place how heroin unleashed an inner monster and took him down “a 12-year road to hell.” “This disease will destroy your family,” Ryan said. “It will take away your heart and soul.” In those 12 years, he overdosed eight times, was labeled clinically dead three times, experienced two heart attacks and served two prison sentences. He recalled being high off heroin during Boy Scout meetings with children as a Cub Scout pack leader. He detailed how he used heroin with his son, Nick, who died last year from a heroin overdose at 20
Former Crystal Lake resident and recovering addict Tim Ryan speaks Tuesday at the heroin awareness event at Park Place. Ryan lost his 20-year-old son Nick to a heroin overdose last year. years old on Ryan’s 21-month sobriety date. After committing to sobriety, Ryan grounded himself in treatment, connecting with drug awareness groups and starting a foundation called A Man in Recovery, based in Naperville. The foundation helps recovering drug addicts who don’t have health insurance. Now sober for two and a half years, Ryan said his son’s death was the worst day of his life. He
explained how he later helped put 24 of his son’s friends into treatment. “Nick died a martyr but one death is too many,” Ryan said. About 40 people attended Ryan’s heroin awareness event in Crystal Lake, as Ryan and other speakers shared stories and tried to turn attention to how communities can combat heroin use locally through prevention. Naperville police officer Shaun Ferguson described the common
gateways, like marijuana and prescription pill abuse, to heroin, along with the effects and warning signs of heroin use. Police detective Rich Wistocki, also from Naperville, urged parents to take responsibility for their children’s actions. He showed attendees drug test kits and software that can monitor kids’ cellphone activity, as a means to discourage children from drug abuse. Chelsea Laliberte, executive director for Live4Lali in Arlington Heights, discussed the drug awareness group’s efforts to spread the use of Narcan, a treatment drug designed to reverse overdoses and save lives. Numerous police departments in McHenry County, including Algonquin, Huntley, Lake in the Hills and Crystal Lake, have equipped officers with Narcan, as heroin use has increased in the Chicago area. Derek Hyrkas, the deputy Crystal Lake police chief, told the crowd the department has responded to four overdose incidents related to heroin since acquiring Narcan 13 months ago. “We administered the nasal spray Narcan. The people recovered, and they survived,” Hyrkas said. “We’ve had success here in Crystal Lake.” The crowd applauded Hyrkas.
WOODSTOCK – For a second time, a former health care worker is standing trial on allegations of sexually assaulting a patient. The first trial for 26-year-old Angelo J. Bird abruptly ended in a mistrial after the prosecution’s first witness. Bird, formerly of Woodstock, was a certified nursing assistant at Crystal Pines Rehabilitation & Health Center in Crystal Lake when he was accused of sexually assaulting a 93-year-old resident. Jury selection was underway Tuesday. Opening arguments are expected Wednesday. The woman suffered from Alzheimer’s disease, dementia and delusions of persecution, Bird’s defense attorney Jamie Wombacher has said. The woman died in January 2012. The alleged assault happened in 2011, but the case has been stuck in the court system. A McHenry County judge previously ruled the dead woman’s statements to police were inadmissible hearsay. The matter went to the appellate court, which ultimately agreed with prosecutors that the alleged victim’s testimony can be introduced. On Tuesday, McHenry County Judge Michael Feetterer ruled the statements the woman made to a nurse at the hospital also are admissible. Earlier court appearances revealed the woman told her daughter and police that a man named “daddy long legs” had assaulted her. Two days before the alleged incident, the woman had been crying in the dining room and said she had been sexually abused as a girl. Assistant State’s Attorney Sharyl Eisenstein said Bird made admissions to police, saying he assaulted the woman because he was “curious.” Bird was 22 at the time. At Bird’s first trial in July 2014, the state’s first witness took that stand and mentioned the word “test,” referring to a polygraph test administered on Bird. Feetterer ordered testimony referring to the polygraph be barred. In Illinois courts, it’s a general rule that such testimony not be introduced, primarily because polygraph test results can be unreliable. The trial is expected to last throughout the week, but jury selection has been slow, so it could continue into Monday.
Business groups, employees weigh in on workers’ comp By SARA BURNETT The Associated Press SPRINGFIELD – Business groups and injured employees weighed in Tuesday as Illinois lawmakers began debating whether to revamp the state’s workers’ compensation insurance program to reduce costs for employers. Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan called a meeting of the Illinois House to hear testimony
on the issue, which Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner says is one of his top legislative priorities. Rauner has said Illinois’ costs are among the highest in Gov. Bruce the nation, and that Rauner cutting them will help lure companies from other states and create jobs. But Madigan and other Democrats say Rauner’s pro-
posals would hurt working people and their families. For several hours Tuesday, workers who were hurt at work told legislators how their injuries and loss of income had turned their lives upside down. Some had lost their homes or their retirement and are permanently disabled. John Coffell, who was hurt on the job in Oklahoma, had to go on food stamps and send his three kids to live with relatives because Oklaho-
ma had cut workers’ compensation benefits. “There are people just like me here in Illinois that will pay the price if you choose to go down the same path that my state did,” Coffell said. Republicans criticized the hearing as unbalanced, saying there wasn’t enough input from the business community. They also said they weren’t even proposing some of the changes Dem-
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ocrats were criticizing, such as cutting the amount of benefits workers with legitimate workplace injuries receive. “I don’t believe there’s anybody in this room that would not want someone that gets injured on the job, who played by the rules and who works hard not to be made right,” said GOP Rep. Michael Unes. “It appears like there’s maybe some in this room that
See WORKERS’ COMP, page A8
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