Illinois man charged with child molesting
An Illinois man was charged Saturday with sexually assaulting a preteen girl.
Isiah Gonzalez, 23, is charged with four counts of child molesting.
At maximum, he would face 112 years in prison. A hearing was scheduled Monday.
The victim told Gary Police investigators that Gonzalez started having sex with her from November until January. He also had her perform sex acts repeatedly.
The mother told police she took the daughter’s phone away for something unrelated. Days later, she discovered explicit pictures and videos on the girl’s Snapchat account.
East Chicago man charged with shooting into apartment
An East Chicago man is accused of shooting up an apartment, charges state.
Elias Thomas, 25, is charged with criminal recklessness and unlawful carrying of a handgun. A hearing was scheduled Monday.
East Chicago Police responded Feb. 5 to the 4400 block of Olcott Avenue.
The victim told officers that her two kids were home when the shooting happened. No one was hurt.
Thomas later admitted he opened fire, stating a woman was “implying” that she would threaten his grandmother and he snapped, charges state.
Southern Indiana man charged with threatening Lake judge
A southern Indiana man was charged last month with sending a threatening email to Lake Superior Judge Julie Cantrell.
Joshua Culver, 44, of Newburgh, is charged with felony intimidation and misdemeanor harassment.
In a lengthy email, Culver accused her of “all of the fraud he placed on her as a teenager.”
Cantrell told a detective she prosecuted Culver’s relative’s criminal case in the mid-1990s. The man has recently died.
She reported this incident, concerned after a Lafayette judge and his wife were shot in their home. Investigators were not able to find Culver.
Court records appear to show Culver may have made new filings in his case.
Former Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy bribery, theft case dismissed
A former Lake County Sheriff’s Deputy’s criminal case was dismissed after he was “terminated” from the department in November, court filings show.
Louis Vasquez, 45, of East Chicago, was charged with bribery, official misconduct, theft and perjury charges in 2019 when police accused him of running VIN checks in 2017 and 2018 to get “fast and easy money,” according to court documents.
He was “terminated” from the department during a Lake County Sheriff’s Department Merit Board meeting on Nov. 24, court filings show.
Deputy Prosecutor Judy Massa wrote Dec. 4 she was OK with the case essentially getting decided that way, since the merit board had a “lesser burden” to prove.
The state police determined that Vasquez accepted cash for completing at least 42 salvage vehicle inspection forms for Fast Import Cars LLC, in Knox, records show.
According to a probable cause affidavit, Vasquez would use the sheriff’s department computer system to run VIN checks while he was on and off duty. He received $20 in cash for each vehicle he checked, the affidavit states.
Vasquez told a witness “that it was fast and easy money for him” to run the VIN checks at a rate lower than what the state charges, according to the affidavit.
Charges were also filed against the owner and operators of Fast Import Cars, Pavel Rohatinovici, of Munster, and Andrii Iakymenko, of Knox, in the case, officials said. Rohatinovici and Iakymenko were charged with perjury, court records show. Their cases were also dismissed in December.
Vasquez was put on administrative leave in 2019. He filed a lawsuit contesting the administrative trial that led to his dismissal, saying the police union told him they wouldn’t cover his lawyer days earlier and he didn’t get a chance to hire a new one.
A second lawsuit is seeking backpay, records show.
Post-Tribune archives contributed.
mcolias-pete@post-trib.com
