Crime & Safety

Regional Police Report: Former Coach Charged In Hazing Case and more

The following police-related items were taken from area Patches. When an arrest is referenced is should not be considered a conviction.

Des Plaines

A former varsity boys soccer coach and teacher at Maine West High School faces multiple criminal charges related to reports of bullying and hazing, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez stated on Wednesday.

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Michael Divincenzo was charged with eight misdemeanor counts including three counts of battery, one count of hazing and four counts of failure to report abuse as mandated, in incidents on June 1, 2012, Aug. 31, 2012 and Sept. 26, 2012, according to court documents.

Divincenzo is accused of threatening freshmen students to have the varsity players stick their thumbs up their buttocks if they did not communicate properly during a soccer drill, according to the charges. Freshmen team players were held down by varsity players against their will, according to the charges, while other varsity players inserted sticks and fingers into their buttocks.

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The charges state Divincenzo was present at the practices when the reported assaults took place and directed varsity players to conduct initiations on the freshmen players, Alvarez’s office stated.

Divincenzo was informed of the assaults immediately after they occurred, according to court documents, but did not notify his superiors at Maine West or cause a report to be filed with the Department of Children and Family Services, according to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s statement.

Skokie

UPDATE: Male Shot Outside Old Orchard Mall in Skokie

A male subject suffered a gunshot wound to the abdomen outside Old Orchard Mall in Skokie on Friday around 9:45 p.m. 

Also - 

Health Clinic Owners Charged in $4 Million Scam

Three health clinic co-owners are among seven defendants charged with engaging in five separate, unrelated health care fraud schemes to defraud the Medicare program or private health insurers of millions of dollars, federal law enforcement officials announced today.

Ankur Roy, Akash Patel and Dipen Desai, who owned and operated Selectcare Health, Inc., which provided outpatient physical and respiratory therapy in Park Ridge and Skokie, were charged with submitting more than $4 million in false billings to Medicare between March and July 2011, according to authorities. 

Between March and July 2011, the defendants allegedly submitted $4,009,094 in false billings for services that were purportedly provided between April 2010 and April 2011, resulting in payments totaling approximately $2,214,424 from Medicare and $320,881 from Blue Cross Blue Shield, according to the indictment.  The claim seeks forfeiture of $2,535,305 in alleged fraud proceeds, including $446,974 in funds withdrawn by cashiers’ checks that were seized by the FBI in July 2012.

Each defendant was charged with six counts of healthcare fraud in an indictment that was returned by a federal grand jury last Wednesday and unsealed this week.   

Roy, 36, of Miami was arrested today in Florida, while Patel, 33, of Morton Grove, and Desai, 33, of Chicago, will be ordered to appear for arraignment on a later date in U.S. District Court in Chicago.

 

Crystal Lake

Man Faces Child Porn Charge

A 23-year-old Crystal Lake man faces a child pornography charge after local investigators say they found images of sexual abuse of children on his home computer, according to a McHenry County Sheriff's Office press release. 

Torian L. Rodez, 23, of 1336 Skyridge Drive, Apt. A in Crystal Lake, has been charged with child pornography, which a class three felony, and is being held on a $25,000 bond, according to the news release. Rodez was arrested after police conducted a search of his home. 

Sheriff's office investigators along with the Crystal Lake Police Department worked together since early April 2013 when police say they discovered Rodez had been downloading the child porn, according to the news release.

Grayslake

Woodland Bus Driver Charged with Sex Assault

Woodland District 50 bus driver Kristin Miks, 32, of the 33000 Block of Sunset Ave., in Wildwood, was arrested May 13 on two counts of Criminal Sexual Assault and four counts of Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse, reported the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

The victim was under the age of 17 at the time of the offenses. The victim’s mother found messages from Miks referring to the encounters and reported it to the police, according to the sheriff's office.

The Daily Herald is reporting the victim is a female.

 

 


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