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Ex-Hebron police sergeant on trial Kopacz accused of possessing weapons allegedly stolen from evidence room By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – The trial of a former Hebron police sergeant accused of possessing weapons allegedly stolen from the department’s evidence locker began Monday with prosecutors calling witnesses from the Illinois State Police who testified at least one of the weapons still had the evidence tag on it when it was recovered. Ryszard T. Kopacz, 31, of
Wauconda has denied allegations of official misconduct, for which he was indicted in July 2014 on three counts and four weapons charges. The most serious allegation against him carries a possible sentence of four to 15 years in prison. Attorneys originally were scheduled to begin jury selection Monday morning. However, Kopacz opted for a bench trial before McHenry County Judge Michael Feetterer. The trial will continue Tuesday.
According to trial testimony, Kopacz was a Hebron police officer for 10 years, was eventually promoted to sergeant and was in charge of the department’s evidence room Ryszard when he was T. Kopacz fired for “budgetary reasons” in June 2014. Kopacz then went to work for the Richmond police for a
short time before authorities allege he went door-to-door while in uniform asking for prescription drugs. According to court documents, he knocked on the doors of several residents at Silver Trees Apartments, a complex managed by the McHenry County Housing Authority. Kopacz told the residents he had a toothache and asked for prescription drugs. One resident provided him with hydrocodone, records indicate. Richmond police called
Illinois State Police to investigate the matter and, in conducting a search warrant on Kopacz’s home, agents found two long guns not in Kopacz’s room, but in the bedroom of his brother. One of the guns had an evidence tag on it, a state police sergeant testified. “They were for the defendant’s private collection,” Assistant State’s Attorney Kyle Bruett said in an opening statement. “Evidence will show that he never intended to return those guns.”
State police agents then notified Hebron police, who later conducted an audit of their evidence locker and realized a third police-issued gun was missing and later was found in Kopacz’s possession. In cross-examining Hebron’s former police chief Scott Annen, Kopacz’s attorney Steven Goldman pointed out there were no written or verbal policies at the police department regarding the
See TRIAL, page A2
Steep stock sell-off startling
KISHWAUKEE HEADWATERS IN WOODSTOCK PROVES TO BE SUCCESSFUL RESTORATION 10 YEARS LATER
Plunge sparked by economic woes in China By ALEX VEIGA and STEVE ROTHWELL The Associated Press
Photos by Matthew Apgar – mapgar@shawmedia.com
Restoration ecologist John Peters gestures as he speaks Friday about the native plants and animals at the Kishwaukee headwaters in Woodstock.
A COMEBACK STORY Headwaters restoration benefits to trickle downriver By HANNAH PROKOP hprokop@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – Driving on Route 14 in Woodstock, people can see 153 acres of prairie, wetland, woodland and the start of the main branch of the Kishwaukee River. It’s been about 10 years since a wetland project took place at the Kishwaukee Headwaters Conservation Area, off Route 14 and Dean Street in Woodstock, and the conservation efforts have helped sustain the area and made it ready for public use. “It’s been a great success story for our restoration,” said John Peters, restoration ecologist for the McHenry County Conservation District and manager of the Kishwaukee headwaters site. The Kishwaukee headwaters
provides a space for people to hike, teach and enjoy a sunset, and it took years of work to maintain the land that once was fields of corn and beans, Peters said. It started in about 2000, when four entities bought parts of the land Centegra Health System was considering using for a hospital site, said Ed Weskerna, district manager at the McHenry-Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District. The McHenry-Lake County Soil and Water Conservation District, Environmental Defenders of McHenry County, the city of Woodstock and MCCD each bought a share of the land, Weskerna said. Weskerna said the Kishwaukee headwaters’ health is important to
See RESTORATION, page A5
A monarch butterfly lands on a flower Friday at the Kishwaukee headwaters in Woodstock.
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I’ve been the ecologist on this site since 2003, and so this is one of my gardens.” John Peters, restoration ecologist for the McHenry County Conservation District and manager of the Kishwaukee headwaters site
U.S. stocks slid again Monday, with the Dow Jones industrial average briefly plunging more than 1,000 points in a sell-off that sent a shiver of fear from Wall Street to Main Street. Stocks regained some of that ground as the day wore on, but the Dow finished with a loss of Voice your 588 points, the opinion eighth-worst single-day How point decline concerned are and the sec- you about the ond straight recent stock fall of more market sell-off? than 500. Vote online at The slump NWHerald. – part of a globcom. al wave of selling touched off by signs of a slowdown in China, the world’s second-largest economy – triggered worries among Wall Street professionals and ordinary Americans who are saving for retirement or a down payment on a house. With the lease on her car up, health insurance worker Deirdre Ralph of Wayne, New Jersey, had planned to get a less pricey vehicle and invest the savings. Now she’s having doubts. “That money, I wanted to take and put it toward my retirement,” said Ralph, 61. “Should I? Or should I just have a great old time?” The Dow ended up losing 588.40 points, or 3.6 percent, closing at 15,871.35. As scary as the sell-off was, the Dow’s decline doesn’t even make the list of the top 10 biggest drops in percentage terms. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index slid 77.68 points, or 3.9 percent, to 1,893.21, and is now in “correction” territory,
See SELL-OFF, page A5
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Jacobs grad Evan Jager places 6th in steeplechase at Worlds / C1
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