SALINE CO.—Some repeat offenders and familiar names appear in this issue’s misdemeanor coverage.
It begins, however, with a Golconda woman who probably should have known better than to try what she allegedly tried upon a search of her cell at Saline County Detention Center (SCDC).
On July 1, Sgt. Brett Upchurch, working at the SCDC, advised corrections officer Lindsey Mason that one Dawn Helms, 49, needed to be strip searched and dressed out because she had feces on her. While Mason was doing this, she located a small bag of green leafy substance that looked to be cannabis fall from Helms’ bra.
The green leafies field tested positive for cannabis; the bag weighed out at 4 grams total.
The stuff was taken into evidence and on July 7, Helms was charged with a misdemeanor Unlawful Possession of Cannabis.
There was no further word of how the woman got feces on her, or how on earth the stuff got in her bra to begin with.
The pregnant chick didn’t want pot around
A familiar name in Saline County, Taborn, is sported by the next misdemeanor recipient, Charvon A., who, at age 23, has been charged with Domestic Battery after an incident on July 6 in Eldorado with a Monica Turner.
Eldorado officer Gabe Schimp made the arrest, which was called in on 911 as a “disturbance” between two females at 816 High Street.
Schimp made contact outside that residence with Taborn; Officer Ryan Ward Turner made contact with Turner inside the residence. As Schimp was speking with Taborn, he reported that she ran into the house swearing and yelling at Monica. “Charvon refused to listen to mine and Ward’s commands,” Schimp reported. “Ward and I detained Charvon and took her outside. Ward continued to speak with Monica as I stayed with Charvon.”
Schimp then reported that Turner advised Taborn had marijuana in the house and Turner didn’t want it in the house. Turner said to underscore this, she flushed the pot down the toilet. Taborn began cursing at Turner then pushed her in the chest, almost causing her to fall. Turner advised the officer that she’d reminded Taborn that she (Turner) was pregnant.
Taborn was arrested on a preliminary domestic battery charge and placed in handcuffs and transported to the SCDC, where unlike Helms, she apparently didn’t have any pot to put in her bra.
Brittany Taborn posted Charvon’s bond for her, and Charvon was told not to have any contact with the pregnant Ms. Turner until further notice of the court.
Independence Day: It’s a song, not a guideline
Another incident of domestic battery in ’rado came up, this on July 4, where “Independence Day” was apparently not just a song, but a guidebook for one guy.
At about 9:06 p.m. that night, Ryan Ward was dispatched to a location on Ridge Street reference a Jennifer Rumsey, 36, who said she was struck with a bat and was locked in the bathroom…and the guy who struck her was trying to get in there, apparently not wishing to use the facilities.
When Officer Joel A. Stanley arrived and entered the place through the back door, two small children were observed playing in the room just inside that door and a female was coming down the stairs. She said the male was still up the stairs at about the time one Ryan Swallow was coming down…with blood coming from his mouth.
Stanley went up and told the woman still in the bathroom that she would come out; he saw two spots on the bathroom door that appeared to be hit with the bat.
Jenifer Rumsey and Polly McWilliams then came out of the bathroom, Rumsey holding a rag to her chin. She stated that Swallow had hit her with a drinking glass, then with a bat to the back of her head. She had a small cut on her chin.
Outside in the squad car, Swallow told Stanley that he was the one hit in the mouth with a bat and he was just defending himself. He said Rumsey hit him in the mouth with the bat as soon as he walked in the door, so he started to hit her back. He was placed under arrest.
Rumsey said though that when she came into the house, Swallow began to argue with her and then struck her with a cup, so she hit him with a bat in self defense. He took it away from her and started to hit her with his hands, she said; he hit her in the back of the head with the bat once. She then went to the bathroom door and locked it, calling 911, and he was hitting the door with the bat while she was on the phone. McWilliams vouched for what Rumsey was saying. But, it’s Illinois, so both of Swallow and Rumsey were charged with misdemeanor domestic battery and jailed.
Driving, endangering
It’s not all domestic battery and stupidity in southern Illinois this issue; there was also a little bit of Reckless Driving and Endangering the Life/Health of a Child charged.
This would be one Jessica Combs, 27 and old enough to know better, of Locust Street in Carrier Mills (at least on the charging documents; on the bond form, she magically has a residence in Eldorado), who was cited by ISP Trooper Roy Glasscock on the afternoon of June 15 out on U.S. 45 northbound a quarter-mile south of Cook Road along and north of Cook Road in East Eldorado Township.
It’s unclear what she was doing that was so reckless, but it was enough for the citations to turn into misdemeanor complaints, which were subsequently filed July 10, thus making this report.
The prosecution claims that Combs knowingly permitted RJP, a child under the age of 18, to be placed in circumstances that endangered the child’s life or health, in that she drove a motor vehicle, when the minor was a passenger in the vehicle, with willful and wanton disregard for the safety of the minor.
One Sadie Hernandez, also of Eldorado, posted her bond upon arrest and Combs was free to be a little less reckless til her court date.
Steve Austin, a man who got…kicked
One David L. Newman, of Eldorado, emerged as another accused batterer, and he’s apparently fortunate that his alleged victim is “Steve Austin” in name only, and not really the 6 Million Dollar Man.
Newman, at age 55, is old enough to remember that TV show from the 70s, as well as old enough to know better than what he was alleged to have done back on June 9 that got him charged on July 16: “Made physical contact of an insulting or provoking nature with Steve Austin, in that he kicked Steve Austin.”
Newman was issued a notice to appear in court August 10.
No condition on the duplicate Mr. Austin was given in court documents.
Pot usually makes you calm…
And another Weatherington has popped up in the court documents, this time for something as innocuous as pot possession, but also for alarming and disturbing someone, apparently at the same time.
Back on June 5, one Kody K. Weatherington, 27 of Harrisburg, was popped by Officer Zach Popetz of HPD for that charge. It was filed July 16.
Popetz also reported, however, that Weatherington had “acted in such an unreasonable manner as to alarm and disturb” three others, Roland J. Trosclair, Frankie J. Trosclair and John A. Thompson, so Weatherington was also charged with three misdemeanor counts of Disorderly Conduct.
Weatherington was issued a notice to appear for an August 3 court date.
Child in the middle of the street
And finally, a warrant was issued on July 17 for the arrest of one Jennifer L. Vickers, aka Jennifer Verduzco, 32, of Harrisburg, on a criminal complaint of Endangering the Life or Health of a Child, CJV, not even two years of age.
The charging documents state that Vickers, on July 10, caused or permitted CJV to be placed in circumstances that endangered the child’s life or health in that the minor was found standing in the middle of the street on Poplar Street, near Sperling Auto Body Shop in Harrisburg, as a result of being unsupervised.
The baby will be two on October 8.
It’s unclear the circumstances that lead up to this…and unfortunate that only a misdemeanor can be charged out of it.