Toddler’s parents charged:
The parents of a Chicago toddler who was accidentally shot in the head have been charged with crimes related to the shooting and the care of their other children. Michael D. Riley, 34, was charged with unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, possession of a controlled substance and four misdemeanor counts of child endangerment. Gwenddolyn Holloway, 28, was charged with child endangerment. Authorities said 3-year-old Jamere Riley was accidentally shot while playing cops and robbers Thursday and was in critical condition. The boy was the youngest of at least four children left home unsupervised in an apartment without heat or hot water, authorities said. The other children found in the home are with the state’s child-welfare agency. Court records show Riley has an extensive criminal record with at least five felony drug convictions and more than 40 arrests.
Mother decries shooting:
The mother of a Waukegan man who has been fatally shot by St. Paul, Minnesota, police says her son didn’t deserve to die. Kim Handy Jones told the Lake County News-Sun that her son, Cordale Quinn Handy, moved to St. Paul about eight months ago to get away from his troubled history in Lake County and start a new life. She said he was working at the Salvation Army. St. Paul police shot and killed the 29-year-old man early Wednesday morning while responding to a domestic violence call. Lake County court records show Handy was convicted of resisting or obstructing a police officer in 2006 and 2007, as well as possession of a controlled substance and theft of less than $300 in 2005. “He paid his dues to society,” Jones said. “Now, he’s paying with his life? For what? For what?”
Subcontractor sent to prison:
A 12-month prison sentence has been handed down to a woman convicted of helping a general contractor falsely claim it was fulfilling a Chicago requirement to hire women-owned companies for city work. Elizabeth Perino of Willowbrook was convicted by a federal jury last June on three counts of wire fraud and one count of mail fraud. Lawyers for the 62-year-old Perino sought probation and home confinement. But U.S. District Judge Gary Feinerman on Thursday said he opted for prison to send a message to “an industry that needs to clean up its act.” Federal prosecutors contended Perino falsified paperwork to suggest her company, Perdel Contracting Co., would perform work on the projects when it did not. Prosecutors say a city ordinance sets a goal of awarding at least 5 percent of total annual funding of all city contracts to certified Women’s Business Enterprises.
Convict gives up custody:
A Chicago woman convicted in her mother’s “suitcase murder” in Indonesia gave custody of her young daughter on Friday to an Australian woman until her release from prison. Heather Mack is serving a 10-year sentence for assisting her boyfriend Tommy Schaefer in Sheila von Wiese-Mack’s murder, in which the Oak Park woman’s body was stuffed in a suitcase. Schaefer was sentenced to 18 years in prison. The baby girl, Stella Schaefer, was born shortly before her parents were convicted in 2015. Under Indonesian law, she was allowed to live with her mother in her cell in Kerobokan prison until she turned 2 on Friday. Prison chief Tony Nainggolan said the girl’s development will be supervised by government social workers. “We will allow the girl to meet her mother any time,” Nainggolan said.