The man in the Chevy Impala tried to stop 15-year-old Lucero Blanco three times before he got out of the car and came after her on foot. …
After police picked the man up, mother and daughter both said they recognized his impounded 2005 Impala as the car that had trailed Lucero as she walked to school. And both identified the stocky 30-year-old driver in a lineup at the Wentworth Area police station. But like most suspected child abductors in Chicago and the Cook County suburbs, this man went free. …
Prosecutors decided they couldn’t press charges. … Even when a suspect was identified, police didn’t always present the case to prosecutors for felony review. And prosecutors occasionally overruled the detectives and declined to press charges. In the end, only 30 cases resulted in prosecutions, the Tribune found. Of the 23 defendants with a completed case, just seven were sent to prison or jail. Others received probation, or had their cases dropped or end in acquittals.
First, congrats and kudos to the Tribune for an excellent investigation.
Second, WHAT THE @#*! is wrong with the State’s Attorney’s office and Judges in Cook County?
Grrr….
These cases are hard to investigate. The perverts change cars, neighborhoods, clothes they wear, and tactics making it hard on police. But when the police do get someone, the SA’s office needs to push these cases to trial. If there was ever a set of cases where no mercy should be shown is it not these? And what judge gives probation to some waste of space that tries to lure a kid into a car? How is it possible that this person retains their job as a judge?
The system is just so broken. From top to bottom and side to side. It is unbelievable that we cannot get convictions on cases where assholes are trying to abduct children. Makes me sick.