Polo Police

By HOLLIE J. GUIST JR.

Oregon Rotary Club Foundation President

Oregon Rotary Club Foundation is excited and honored to be able to award scholarships to seven exceptional college students this year. Owen Ketter, Lauren Montavon, Reese Theisen, Grant Cermak, Lydia Cermak, Even Vache and Adam Thorsen are the applicants whom the board agreed best represent the ideals of Rotary International this year.

Montavon and Ketter will share the honor of being named the 2022 co-recipients of the Helen and Andrew Cirksena Scholarship.

The annual Oregon Rotary Club Foundation scholarship program began in 1984, thanks to the Cirksena family’s generous donation to the club. The club awarded one $500 college scholarship that first year. Foundation members nurtured the scholarship program and it continued to develop. In 2014, the program expanded to include graduating high school seniors after a generous donation from Catherine Ehnen.

Over the course of 37 years, the program has awarded more than $400,000 to more than 200 students who best manifested the ideals of Rotary International.

The yearly decision process is a very difficult yet rewarding experience because of the large number of outstanding applicants that apply each year. The Oregon community should be very proud of these individuals who are not only excellent students but participate in activities geared toward helping others as well.

The Oregon Rotary Club Foundation Inc. appreciates the many applicants to the scholarship program. Our district is fortunate to have so many scholars of distinction. The board members would like to thank all the students for taking the time to apply and for sharing their talents and leadership in our community.

The hope is that these financial awards will help the students pursue their college education and enable them to continue to support our fine community.

A separate scholarship opportunity will be given to graduating OHS seniors in the spring.

Rotary is a service club whose mission is serving. Rotarians provide community service, both locally and internationally. Becoming a Rotarian provides the opportunity to do something for someone else and to sense the highly rewarding self-fulfillment that comes with the process.

Oregon Rotary Club is always looking for new members. For additional information or to apply for membership visit https://portal.clubrunner.ca/5761 or email Rotary Club President Erin Folk at Erin@ oregonpark.org.

IN THE COURTS

Man wanted for failure to appear in child porn case

By KATHLEEN A. SCHULTZ kschultz@shawmedia.com

The Ogle County sheriff and OgleLee Crimestoppers are looking for a Stillman Valley man charged last year with 10 counts of disseminating or possessing child pornography.

Joshua Lake, who turns 29 on Nov. 17, was found not fit to stand trial March 3 and was undergoing court-ordered treatment with the expectation that such treatment would render him f i t , c o u rt re c o r ds sh o w . He la s t appeared in court Aug. 18 and failed to return for his next fitness hearing Aug. 30.

Lake was indicted May 4, 2021, in Ogle County Court on two counts of disseminating child pornography and eight counts of possessing it. He was arrested as part of a 2018 Illinois State Police investigation with the Attorney General’s Hi-Tech Crime Bureau, which had identified child pornography being shared out of Stillman Valley, investigators said at the time.

According to the indictment, all charges involve videos or, in one case, a photo, of children younger than 13 having sex with or engaged in other sex acts with adults and/or other children, including an infant.

Dissemination is punishable by six to 30 years in prison with no possibility of parole, a fine of $ 1 , 0 0 0 t o $ 1 0 0 , 0 0 0 and three years of supervised release.

Possession is punishable by three to seven years on each count, a fine of up to $100,000 and three years of supervised release.

Each term levied must be served consecutively.

Lake, who is represented by Rockford attorney Paul M. Marriett, was free after posting $3,000 of his bond, which had been reduced to $30,000 from $50,000.

Bond now is set at $500,000.

L a k e i s wh i t e , 5 - f o o t - 9 a n d 1 7 0 pounds, with brown hair and glasses.

Anyone with information on his whereabouts can call the sheriff’s office at 815-732-2136, or the anonymous reward hotline at 888-228-4488. Information leading to an arrest and conviction can bring up to $1,000.

Joshua Lake

POLO POLICE

Polo Police Chief Troy Randall reports the following police activity.

Nov. 8

William E. Rice, 25, of Sterling, was cited at 6:28 p.m. for driving an uninsured motor vehicle and given a verbal warning for expired registration. Rice was released on an I-Bond.

Nov. 12

Paulina Sulaiman, 34, of Des Plaines, was cited at 4:20 p.m. for failure to yield to right of way resulting in an accident. Sulaiman was released on an I-Bond.

Nov. 13

Deangelo L. Fernandez, 16, of Polo, was cited at 11:03 p.m. for operation of a uninsured motor vehicle. Fernandez was released on an I-Bond.

General Calls for Service

Oct. 31 - Nov. 13 Citizen Complaints/Assist................................................ 13 Juvenile .................................................................................. 1 Animal Complaint ................................................................ 2 Fire/Medical Assist.............................................................. 2 Alarm/Open Door................................................................. 1 911 Hang Up .......................................................................... 3 Traffic Stops........................................................................ 14

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