Crime & Safety
Court Watch: Former Oak Forest Attorney Indicted on 22 Charges Related to Sex Assault, Kidnapping
Also, a new judge is presiding over Granat murder trial, and burglary defendants connected to New Lenox homicide get separate cases.
Cook County
OAK FOREST—Charges against David Baitman — a former Village of Oak Forest attorney who has been accused of handcuffing and sexually assaulting a woman — were expanded. Court records show he is now charged with:
- Three counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault for causing bodily harm
- Three counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault while committing another felony
- Three counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault while armed with a firearm
- One count of aggravated kidnapping while armed with a firearm
- Three counts of criminal sexual assault
- Two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse for causing bodily harm
- Two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse while committing another felony
- One count of kidnapping
- One count of aggravated unlawful restraint
- Two counts of criminal sexual abuse
- One count of unlawful restraint
Pretrial hearings have been continued to Dec. 15.
ORLAND PARK—An ongoing case involving the armed robbery of an Orland Park jewelry store, in which four men allegedly tied up an employee and the store owner and took off, was continued until Dec. 9. Antoinne C. Kelly, Charles Harper, Darrin O. Carter and Lance P. Vaughn have been indicted for armed robbery and are scheduled to be arraigned at the upcoming hearing.
Find out what's happening in Orland Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
— Orland Park Patch Editor Ben Feldheim contributed to this report
Will County
On the Docket Next Week
MONDAY
Find out what's happening in Orland Parkwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
Brian Trainauskas, a Frankfort man who was charged with solicitation of murder in August while he was sitting in jail on murder charges. He's accused of killing Monica Timar in 2009. His attorney has petitioned the Will County jailhouse to stop videotaping their private conversations. A jailhouse spokeswoman says it didn’t. A judge will hear from both sides.
TUESDAY
Three men accused of shooting a 24-year-old woman during an attempted home invasion in Oak Lawn. Timmie Walton, Keon Thigpen and Kennedy Clark have been charged with attempted murder, aggravated kidnapping and home invasion. Police say a fourth suspect remains at large.
In civil court, the majority owners of the Big Run Golf Course in Lockport are due for another pretrial hearing. George Gee Jr. and others, including former Will County Board President Joseph Mikan, have been accused of bankrolling the golf course’s funds to pay for cars and houses in a lawsuit filed by the nephew of a Big Run founder. Gee also owns a large stake in the soon-to-be demolished Orland Park Plaza and Gee Insurance, where Mikan works.
WEDNESDAY
Nicholas Gorny, of Orland Park, who’s charged with aggravated DUI in relation to the death of a 70-year-old Tinley Park woman in August.
THURSDAY
Joseph Bozen, an Orland Park man charged with . The last time in court, prosecutors said they were close to collecting all their evidence against Bozen.
The family of Jessica Mejia, who died on New Year’s Eve 2009 in an automobile accident, is suing her ex-boyfriend and driver, Nicholas Sord, in civil court in Chicago. The Cook County Sheriff’s Department said Sord was nearly three times over the blood-alcohol limit when he lost control of his SUV near 147th Street and Oak Park Avenue.
FRIDAY
A second civil case related to the death of Jessica Mejia will be heard in Chicago. In this one, the family claims that Cook County sheriff’s deputies took nude photographs of Mejia at the accident scene.
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