Rockford Cops Bust Fugitive Who Mugged Boystown Widow

Just as one local fugitive has been rounded up, two more criminals awaiting trial have gone missing as Cook County’s defendant-friendly court system continues to put dangerous (and allegedly dangerous) people back on the streets.

Boystown Widow Beater Found

Vacha (Winnebago Co. Sheriff)

Robert Vacha, who received a laughable 30 months probation for mugging a 61-year-old woman in Boystown the day after her husband died, has been rounded up and returned to Cook County after going AWOL from court supervision.

After Vacha violated the terms of his probation last summer, a judge ordered him to live in a facility on the city’s South Side.
An arrest warrant was issued because, rather than live in the facilty, Vacha fled to Rockford, IL, where he posted liberally (and publicly) on Facebook for over a year. 
His luck ran out a couple of weeks ago when Winnebago County sheriff’s deputies came knocking on his door.

The Winnebago County authorities were much nicer to Vacha than Vacha was to that poor widow on Halsted Street.

See ya sooner than we’d like.

“Cops suck,” Vacha wrote in his final Facebook post, “but they help me out let me smoke and drink befor going to jail.”

Vacha is now being held without bail in the Cook County Jail.

In The Wind

Jackson

Meanwhile, two men who were freed to await trial in separate local cases have gone missing, according to court records.

First up: Antoine Jackson. He’s accused of pointing a gun at man’s head as the Red Line train they were riding pulled into the Addison station this spring.

But, he failed to show up in court this month and nobody seems to know where he is. He’s charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a replica firearm. (The gun turned out to be a look-alike BB gun.)

Brewer

Also missing: Cornelius Brewer. He’s facing charges of aggravated robbery, battery, and theft of lost or mislaid property after a Lakeview landscaper was allegedly pushed to the ground and robbed of a leaf blower in May. But, Brewer never showed up for his court date this month and he, too, is out there wandering the streets. Be sure to say “hello,” if you see him.

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CWBChicago was created in 2013 by five residents of Wrigleyville and Boystown who had grown disheartened with inaccurate information that was being provided at local Community Policing (CAPS) meetings. Our coverage area has expanded since then to cover Lincoln Park, River North, The Loop, Uptown, and other North Side Areas. But our mission remains unchanged: To provide original public safety reporting with better context and greater detail than mainstream media outlets. Our editorial email address is news@cwbchicago.com