Jeffrey Gurley, the Kentucky man accused of attempted murder in Brookfield pleaded not guilty to that and 19 other charges against him at his arraignment on May 24 at the Maybrook courthouse in Maywood.
He is accused of stabbing a 34-year-old Hodgkins man several times before tying him up and hanging him from a bar in the closet of a Brookfield apartment in April. Gurley reportedly came to Brookfield from Campbellsville, Ky., looking for his ex-girlfriend, who he met while he was an inmate at the Taylor County Detention Center. The woman formerly was an employee at that jail.
Gurley called the woman to let her know he was on his way. Afraid of Gurley because of previous threats he had made, the woman had her stepbrother enter her apartment to gather some personal belongings.
When the man went inside, he allegedly was attacked by Gurley. The woman, who was waiting outside for her stepbrother, called police after being unable to reach him after several minutes.
Police arrived and found Gurley at the scene. The woman’s stepbrother was critically wounded by several knife wounds, but survived.
Gurley is being held without bond in Cook County Jail. His next court date is June 5.
Stolen bikes recovered from car
North Riverside police last week reported recovering two bicycles stolen from a Brookfield residence in a car belonging to a 44-year-old Orland Park man on parole from state prison.
Police say William J. Phillipo was planning to sell the bicycles to get money to buy drugs. Before he could do that, however, police pulled over Phillipo’s 2001 Ford Crown Victoria at about 9:50 p.m. on May 23 after an officer reported it traveling at a slow speed while northbound on First Avenue from 31st Street.
During the traffic stop, the officer reported seeing a gun in an open beverage cooler inside the car and found a hypodermic needle on the floor. The gun turned out to be a BB-type weapon. But a search of the vehicle turned up more syringes and other items of drug paraphernalia.
Two bike frames were found inside the trunk of the car, while a third was located in the rear seat compartment. A YMCA ID card found in a bike pouch led police to trace two of the bikes to an address in Brookfield, where the owners confirmed they had been stolen.
At the time of his arrest, Phillipo was on parole for a 2009 burglary conviction. He was released from Big Muddy Correctional Center on Dec. 16, 2011 after serving almost three years of a six-year sentence.
Also in the car at the time of Phillipo’s arrest was a 47-year-old Chicago man also on parole from state prison for a drug-related conviction. He was not charged by North Riverside police, but was turned over to Illinois Department of Corrections personnel.
Probation for repeat DUI offender
On May 24, Judge James Shapiro denied a request from the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office to sentence 48-year-old Tom B. Banahan, of Stickney, to up to a year in jail for his second conviction for driving under the influence.
Instead, Shapiro sentenced Banahan to two years’ probation, $2,600 in fines and court costs and revoked his driver’s license, among other provisions after being found guilty of DUI in Riverside in July 2011.
It was Banahan’s third arrest for DUI. He was first arrested for DUI in DuPage County in 1994 after being stopped for driving on the wrong side of the road. He received court supervision in that case.
In 1995 he was arrested again for DUI in DuPage County and convicted. His driver’s license was revoked until 2008.
On July 8, 2011 a Riverside police officer pulled Banahan over for driving erratically on Harlem Avenue and he was charged with DUI.
Drunk and disorderly
A 21-year-old Brookfield man was charged with aggravated resisting arrest, aggravated assault and other offenses after being arrested by Brookfield police for being drunk and disorderly in the 4200 block of Maple Avenue at about 1:15 a.m. on May 22.
Police responded to the scene after callers complained of a fight in the street. The man was reportedly so drunk he didn’t recognize his own brother and threatened to fight with police who intervened.
While being led to a squad car, the man reportedly struggled with police, breaking the thumb of one of the officers.
It wasn’t until 6:30 p.m. that the man was sober enough to be interviewed by police, and his memory of the morning’s events was sketchy, police said.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, May 22-26, and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Unless otherwise indicated, anybody named in these reports has only been charged with a crime. These cases have not been adjudicated.
– Compiled by Bob Uphues
