State Briefs: 12/19/07
Loan officer sentenced to federal prison
A former Rockford loan officer has been sentenced to 20 months in federal prison for being a part of a conspiracy to boost mortgage and real-estate commissions by falsifying documents so unqualified buyers could receive mortgage loans from the Federal Housing Authority.
Rhonda E. Torossian, 46, authorities said, was a loan officer who worked with her assistant, Nancy Rodriguez, 35, to falsify Social Security numbers and prepare and recruit area employers to sign fraudulent employment verifications so that families could meet federal income requirements. She also created fake bank checks and bogus credit letters stating the families had made timely loan payments.
Raul Raygoza, 37, and Israel Quintero, 40, were owners of Friends Furniture and earlier pleaded guilty to signing the various forms and bank checks for the scheme.
Cesar O. Arenas, 43, a Rockford real-estate agent, also pleaded guilty to the conspiracy.
The defendants were charged in a 35-count indictment in August 2006.
Along with 20 months in federal prison, Torossian will have to serve three years of supervision after she's released. She also must pay $476,257 to the United States.
Arenas will be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. Rodriguez will be sentenced at 10 a.m. Friday. They face up to five years in prison and fines of up to $250,000.
Raygoza in May was sentenced to five years of probation and was ordered to pay $149,227 to HUD. Quintero in November was sentenced to five years of probation and was ordered to pay $121,346 to HUD.
Target looking to Marion for distribution center
MARION - The Marion City Council took a major step to bring a major distribution center to Marion.
The council approved the master plan for the center to be located 1.5 miles east of Marion after approving the annexation of the property where the facility will be built. The multi-million dollar project will mean hundreds of jobs for the Southern Illinois area.
While city officials would not release the name of the company, a number provided to the media responds with a recording from Target Communications of Minneapolis, Minn.
City engineer Glenn Clarida showed plans for the project that will be located on the southside of Route 13 at Crabtree Road. The 149.5 acre parcel of land is owned by Marion attorney Ron Osman.
With the annexation, the city will be responsible for infrastructure improvements for the site, including water, sewer and access roads with the help of state and federal financing.
Plans call for a 1.3 million-square-foot warehouse and a 253,000 foot shipping area that will be under roof. The proposal will make the new distribution center 200,000 square feet larger than the Circuit City distribution center.
The City of Marion will be responsible, along with the Illinois Department of Transportation, for providing access roads and traffic lights.
"The improvements will probably cost around $2.2 million," Clarida said Mayor Robert Butler said that the city would handle that cost.
"With a project of this magnitude, we will come up with the money some way," Butler said. "This is too big a project not to."
Williamson County Board member Bob Barnett offered any help that the county give in order to bring the project to completion.
Ana Williams, spokeswoman for Target Communications in a return call would neither confirm nor deny that they had a deal with the city.
"We are looking at Marion as a possible location, along with other sites," Williams said. "But it is too early for us to make any announcement."
Woman carjacked at Peoria mall
PEORIA - Police late Monday were looking for the man who beat a woman, stole her sport utility vehicle and rammed an off-duty police officer before escaping the Northwoods Mall parking lot on Monday evening.
Witnesses said they heard a woman screaming for help in the parking lot near the lower-level entrance for Macy's department store about 8:30 p.m. When bystanders headed toward the parked SUV to help, some reported seeing a man repeatedly trying to close the vehicle's rear door.
As witnesses approached, the attacker jumped into the driver's seat, sped backward and hopped a short curb before striking an off-duty Creve Coeur auxiliary officer and ramming two parked vehicles in the process.
Though knocked to the ground, the officer, unhurt, grabbed his handgun from his car and followed the SUV on foot. As the carjacker fled north to the lot's exit, the officer fired two shots, cracking the vehicle's windshield and hitting the passenger side paneling. It was unknown whether the driver was wounded.
Police said the victim had left the mall and was walking to her vehicle when she was attacked at its rear. She suffered nonlife-threatening injuries and was transported to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center for treatment, police said.
Police said the woman was not from Peoria, and it appeared she did not know her attacker.
Officers were able to track the stolen SUV using the OnStar satellite navigation system and found it abandoned at the corner of West Daytona Drive and North University Street.
South Peoria man shot at; bullet caught in coat
PEORIA - A South Peoria man narrowly missed getting shot Sunday night after a gunman demanded the money he owed him, reports said.
The 25-year-old victim told police he was riding his bicycle about 10:30 p.m. Peoria when two men confronted him.
During the dispute, one of the men pulled out a handgun, prompting the victim to ditch his bike and run east on Ann.
As the victim ran, the gunman fired about four times in the victim's direction, police said.
The victim was not hit, but police found a bullet hole in the jacket he was wearing. Closer inspection of the jacket found the spent round was stuck in the lining of the coat, which was seized as evidence.
Pay it and name it
SPRINGFIELD - The Prairie Capital Convention Center could end up with a new name for the right
price, the building's new general manager says.
Brian Oaks said Monday he's talking with companies who might be interested in naming
rights or a building sponsorship.
"What we're looking to do is partner with a large corporation who has something to gain from the amount of exposure that we give," Oaks said. "Every year, we have approximately 300, 350,000 people ... that come through our building, and we think that ... offers some kind of an advertising opportunity."
The rights could come with a change in the building's name, he said. Mike Coffey Jr., chairman of the elected board that oversees the facility, the Springfield Metropolitan Exposition & Auditorium Authority, indicated he's open to
the renaming idea.
"I'm for anything that benefits the taxpayers economically," Coffey said. millions of dollars. He's not sure what a Springfield deal would bring.
"We're putting out feelers right now. We don't have a specific company that we're targeting, and obviously, all of that would be open to negotiation," he said.
U.S. Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington, a $26 million facility with 7,000 seats, opened in April 2006. The naming agreement was worth about $2 million over 10 years, said Bryan Bloodworth, director of media relations for the building.
Farmington seeks to reduce pit bull population
FARMINGTON - A proposed ordinance heard by the Farmington City Council for the first time Monday would make pit bulls a dying breed in the city.
Recent close calls with the dogs have prompted city officials to draft the ordinance barring new pit bulls from being located within Farmington city limits, among other measures, according to City Administrator Roger
Woodcock.
The ordinance says that no new pit bulls can be brought into the city and that current pit bull owners will have to apply for a special license within 60 days of the ordinance passing. The ordinance was read for the first time Monday and will be presented for a full vote early next year.
Under the draft rules, pit bulls would have to be kept in kennel-type enclosures, even in fenced yards. Pit bulls outside such enclosures would have to wear muzzles unless they were being treated by a veterinarian.
The ordinance proposed Monday, in addition to forbidding new pit bulls from being brought into the city, also would prevent pit bull puppies from being kept in Farmington, even if they are born there. The pups
would have to be removed after six weeks.
The council will vote on the ordinance at a meeting Jan. 7.
Contributing: State Journal-Register, Peoria Journal Star, Galesburg Register-Mail, Marion Daily Republican, Rockford Register Star.