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Septe mbe r 19, 2014 • $1 .0 0
CL CENTRAL’S ‘FAT FIVE’ Tigers’ offensive linemen proud of their nickname, ready to clear the way for teammates / C1 NWHerald.com
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Attorney pleads guilty to theft CL-based lawyer was charged with embezzling more than $1M from clients By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – David Hanson and Martin Ochwat make for strange bedfellows. Outside a McHenry County courtroom Thursday, Ochwat, a retired salesman dressed in a tie and leather jacket, is calm
and measured. Hanson, a blue collar-type who owns a painting business, is keyed up. The unlikely pair met in a Crystal Lake-based attorney’s parking lot more than a year ago when they went to confront the man who they said embezzled a combined $625,956.84 from them. Hanson and Ochwat had never
met before. The only tie that binds them is that they retained Curt P. Rehberg, 50, to serve as executor of their relative’s estate, and they never saw the money. Rehberg pleaded guilty to three counts of theft in a blind plea agreement accepted by McHenry County Judge Sharon
Prather on Thursday. In all, Rehberg, of Cary, is believed to have pilfered more than $1.2 million from his clients. “He used the trust account as his own personal piggy bank,” Ochwat said. For Hanson, the money was left to his family after the death of his mother. Similarly, Ochwat
put Rehberg in charge of a trust left from after his aunt died. Rehberg also pleaded guilty to an additional theft charge, admitting he took $524,836 from an third estate. That money was destined for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, prosecutors said.
Curt P. Rehberg
See THEFT, page A4
Man denied Obamacare despite U.S. citizenship
THE FUTURE OF DOWNTOWN FOX RIVER GROVE
McHenry resident struggling to enroll By ALLISON GOODRICH agoodrich@shawmedia.com
Photos by H. Rick Bamman – hbamman@shawmedia.com
Riverside Collision owners Janet Lalond and Ross Nevler take care of work orders in the shop on Northwest Highway. Fox River Grove is looking at a proposed $250 million development that would transform the village’s downtown. Riverside Collision has been in the same location for more than 30 years and would have to relocate if the new development goes through.
Property owners vent frustration $250M development proposal creates uncertainty for residents, businesses By JOSEPH BUSTOS jbustos@shawmedia.com FOX RIVER GROVE – Since 1985 Janet Lalond and Ross Nevler, owners of Riverside Collision, have served people who have damage to the front end of cars and windshields. They want to make sure their property is in good condition and in June completed a $35,000 project, which
included new gutters, a roof replacement and aluminum siding upgrade on their building. When they finished the project, news broke there was a development group looking at redeveloping the area and buying their property. “If we knew this was going down, I wouldn’t have burned up $35,000,”
See DEVELOPMENT, page A4
Riverside Collision detailer Jose Picano works on a car in the shop.
McHENRY – Tom Jablonski was born at 8:12 a.m. in July 1962 in McHenry, according to his birth certificate. While the grandparents on his father’s side immigrated to the United States from Poland, both his parents were born in Chicago. They later moved to McHenry County, where Jablonski said he’s lived his Tom whole life. Jablonski So it was rather perplexing, he said, when he was found Voice ineligible for health your insurance under the Affordable Care Act opinion for not being a U.S. Have you citizen. The act overhaul- experienced i n g t h e c o u n t r y ’ s any problems health care system with signing was signed into law up for insurby President Barack ance under Obama in March 2010 the Affordable and open enrollment Care Act? began in fall 2013. Vote online at Having to wait to NWHerald. sign up for a new plan com. until six weeks before his current insurance expires, Jablonski and his wife just recently started looking into the insurance marketplace. “[My wife and I] started trying to get on the website and it took us seven or eight tries,” Jablonski said, adding the last attempt was Saturday. “On the eighth try, we finally got all the way through and everybody in my family was approved for some level of Obamacare – except for me. It told me I am not a citizen of the country.”
See OBAMACARE, page A4
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Ill. jobless rate down in August
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Unemployment fell to 6.7 percent last month, the sixth straight monthly decrease / B3 SPORTS
Blue Streaks cruise at end
LITH resident volunteers to paint garage of McHenry home after vandalism / A3
Woodstock jumps ahead in third game to defeat Hampshire, 25-20, 24-26, 25-16 / C1
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