Here are the outcomes of a couple criminal cases that you may remember reading about on CWBChicago:
Boystown arsonist guilty
A Boystown man has been sentenced to eight years in prison after he pleaded guilty to intentionally leaving an ignited blowtorch lying against an occupied apartment door.
Jeremy Cole, 32, received 313 days credit for time served and prosecutors dropped two additional arson charges as well as a charge of violating an order of protection in the plea deal.
Police and fire personnel responded to an apartment building on the 500 block of West Melrose at 12:42 a.m. on Mar. 4, 2019, after a man and woman reported that Cole was trying to burn their building down.
When officers arrived on the apartment building’s third floor, they found the blow torch propped against the door with an open flame burning, according to a police spokesperson. The suspect was no longer on the scene.
One police officer suffered minor injuries from smoke inhalation in the incident.
The male victim told police that he had recently received a message from the Cole stating that he had obtained a “flame thrower,” police said. And the female victim was Cole’s ex-girlfriend.
Judge William Raines approved the plea deal and handed down the sentence. With credit for time served, Cole is expected to be paroled in Dec. 2025.
Mental health probation for Lakeview robber
A 31-year-old man has been sentenced to two years of mental health probation after he pleaded guilty to robbing a Lakeview Walgreens last summer.
Store employees told police that Devin White threatened to stab one worker and threatened to batter another after they tried to stop him from stealing vodka from the store on June 29.
A Walgreens staffer told police at the time that White “has been doing this all week” and suggested that cops look for White near the Belmont Red Line. Officers found him about 20 minutes later outside the north station entrance at 944 West Belmont.
White was initially held without bail, but Judge Shelley Sutker-Dermer allowed him to go free on a recognizance bond and electronic monitoring one week later.
White subsequently went AWOL and prosecutors charged him with escaping from electronic monitoring.
Sutker-Dermer sentenced him to a concurrent two year mental health probation term for the escape charge. She also ordered him to undergo anger management and alcohol counseling.
Police records show that White has been arrested eight times within a block of the Belmont station for assaults, batteries, and criminal damage to property.
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