FBI mole testifies in Burke trial
Former Chicago Alderman Danny Solis testified Tuesday in the corruption trial of his former City Council colleague Ed Burke. Burke’s defense team rested after the testimony. Prosecutors had already finished presenting their case. Closing arguments are expected to begin this week. Solis began cooperating with federal investigators in June 2016 after he was confronted with evidence of his own corruption.
Firefighters recover Carpentersville teen’s body
The Countryside Fire Protection District found and recovered 17-year-old Brissa Romero on Tuesday, the day after her car was discovered about feet from a Vernon Hills detention pond. In a social media post Tuesday afternoon, Carpentersville police confirmed that Romero’s body had been recovered.
Rommell Kellogg, 71, of Harvey, Illinois, was convicted Monday on all five counts against him, including conspiracy to commit theft and intimidation and causing the use of facilities in interstate commerce to promote theft and intimidation. The jury returned its verdicts after a week-long trial in U.S. District Court in Chicago. Each count of conviction is punishable by up to five years in federal prison. Evidence presented at trial showed that Kellogg and a co-conspirator, Corey Johnson, 68, of Dolton, Ill., were cousins whose relatives served in high-ranking positions in Harvey government. From 2003 to 2018, Kellogg and Johnson conspired to regularly demand and collect payments from a Harvey strip club based on threats that the city of Harvey would potentially interfere with the club’s operations if the payments were not made. In exchange for the payments, the business was allowed to continue to operate, even though the conspirators and others knew that acts of prostitution were occurring onsite.
