Ameritech officials this week acknowledged they fell down on the job by keeping Lake County sheriff’s investigators waiting months for phone records that may help solve a high-profile homicide case.
On Wednesday and Thursday, phone company officials scrambled to get the records to Lake County police and finally fulfill a subpoena that was served in March.
“We’ve done a quick check internally and found, in fact, we didn’t give the request involving the Stacey Frobel case the attention it deserved,” said Ameritech spokesman Mike Brand.
Lt. Chester Iwan, chief of investigations for the sheriff’s police, said the records could help investigators find important leads in the murder and dismemberment of the 24-year-old Carol Stream woman. Frobel’s body parts have been found over the last five months in rural Lake County and in Kenosha County, Wis.
After waiting three months and unsuccessfully badgering Ameritech officials with persistent phone calls, Iwan finally got the records by Federal Express Thursday, a day after he shared his frustrations with a newspaper.
Brand said that in the five-state region Ameritech covers, the firm gets 4,000 phone-record requests a month from law enforcement agencies, drug units, divorce attorneys and others.
“We’re just being inundated with these requests,” Brand said. “That’s not to make excuses. We dropped the ball.”
Brand added that the person who had been handling the request “is no longer with Ameritech.”
Iwan said Thursday he was pleased with Ameritech’s response.
“I don’t want to start a war with Ameritech, but we do need cooperation between the private sector and law enforcement,” he said.
“We can deal with the two weeks, the monthlong wait periods, depending on the workload Ameritech has. But there are some instances where, yes, time is of the essence and it’s a priority.”
Dog attack: Deerfield police don’t have information on the condition of a miniature poodle whose left hind leg was injured in a surprise ambush Monday night by a larger neighbor dog.
The two dogs had been on their evening constitutionals, about 11:30 p.m., when the attack occurred.
The bigger dog, owned by James X. Harrer, 37, of the 1100 block of Deerfield Road, had been running loose, according to police.
Harrer was charged with property damage by a dog under a local ordinance that carries up to a $500 fine.
Police department sources, operating under the innocent-until-proven-guilty theory, refused to disclose further information about the offending dog, although they did acknowledge the canine has a prior arrest record.
Painting stories: Victims of domestic abuse will be able to paint their stories and even wear them on Thursday during a project sponsored by A Safe Place, the Lake County domestic violence shelter and counseling service.
Women who want to portray an experience with domestic violence on a T-shirt may do so from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the College of Lake County’s Community Gallery of Art in Grayslake.
The event is part of the Clothesline Project, a collection of T-shirt art by domestic abuse victims and their children. The exhibit will be at the gallery June 26 through July 6.
Counselors from A Safe Place will be available to offer help, support and referrals between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Thursday, June 29.
For more information, call A Safe Place, 249-5147.
