Madison County

Child Pornography: Daniel Albright, 39, Posed Online As Teen, Solicited Pics of Girls, Cops Say

Highland resident Daniel Albright is 39-years-old -- but online, he pretended he was a teenager. At least those are the charges out of Madison County sheriff's office, which says that Albright solicited young girls throughout the country to send him naked photos. Last fall, the sheriff's office ... More >>

Joshua Clark Arrested for Facebook Post: "Hey Madison County Courthouse, Tick, Tick...Boom"

It's never a good idea to post statements online that may look like bomb threats, but with the Boston Marathon tragedy this week, it's especially unwise. Alton, Illinois, resident Joshua Clark, 29, learned that lesson the hard way. The Madison County Sheriff's Office says that an anonymous tipst ... More >>

Olutosin Oduwole: Should Student Who Wrote of "Murderous Rampage" Remain in Prison?

Olutosin Oduwole, a 27-year-old former Southern Illinois University Edwardsville student who was convicted of attempting a deadly mass shooting, was released from prison last week after an appeals court overturned his verdict. But this might not be the end of his legal troubles. Prosecutors are no ... More >>

Godfrey Man Under Influence of Cocaine, Pot, Alcohol, Anxiety Meds in Fatal Crash, Police Say

When Godfrey, Illinois, resident Jacob Fickle drove his car into a home, killing a 73-year-old man inside, police say he was under the influence of cocaine, marijuana, alcohol and an anxiety prescription called Alprazolam. The Madison County Sheriff's Office offered new details this week in the Ja ... More >>

Matthew Barnett: Granite City Dad Accused of Breaking Six-Month-Old Son's Legs

Today in terrible parenting news, we bring you the case of Matthew Barnett, a 24-year-old Granite City father who, police say, badly injured his six-month-old child. On Friday at around 1:40 a.m, the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services alerted the Madison County Sheriff's Office to ... More >>

Top Ten Strangest Missouri Bandits: Mr. Polite, Spider-Man, Granddad and More! (PHOTOS)

This week, St. Louis County police charged a Fenton woman who allegedly walked into a smoke shop with a knife, asked for cash -- and then settled on a measly $7.50 in tip jar coins. Not really worth all the trouble, if you ask us. But the bizarre incident got us thinking about the craziest bandits i ... More >>

Lewis And Clark Lockdown: Gun On Campus Traced to Student, Off-Duty Police Officer

It's the call that no law enforcement officers want to hear -- an unidentified suspect with a gun on a college campus. A brief scare at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, Illinois, prompted a temporary lockdown today. As it turns out, officials say, there was no threat. What caused ... More >>

Frances Madeson's Madison County Crier Will Make You Ashamed to Be a Liberal

Frances Madeson was a Missouri girl who moved to New York City. After her marriage ended, she left the big, bad city and moved to Farmington in Madison County, about an hour and a half south of St. Louis, where she set up a business writing letters and resumes for the good country people. Soon enou ... More >>

David and Danielle Armstrong Charged with Sex Crimes Against A Child

David B. Armstrong, 33, and Danielle M. Armstrong, 22, allegedly decided to spice up their marriage with a threesome. According to charges filed against the couple by Madison County prosecutors, their choice of a partner was particularly odious: the Alton couple purportedly forced a five-year-old gi ... More >>

Two More People Succumb to the Heat This Weekend

Two senior citizens died from the oppressive heat this weekend, bringing the death toll for the region to five. Dorothy D. Scott, 88, of Troy, Illinois, was found in her home Sunday by family members. She had a functional air conditioner, but her thermostat had been switched over to the heating. Rel ... More >>

Oh Lordy! Harley Owners Blame Church for Damaged Bikes

One usually thinks of bikers as "sinners" and churchgoers -- especially those who attend a chapel called Peace Free Will Baptist -- as pretty moral folks. Perhaps even too moral.  But, oh, no! Lordy, no! Not according to what has got to be one of the most frivolous local lawsuits in years. And ... More >>

Drug-Induced Homicide Charges Dropped Against RFT Profile Subject, Angela Halliday

Madison County prosecutors have dropped murder charges against Angela Halliday, a heroin junkie who had been accused of facilitating the deaths of an acquaintance and her boyfriend. The decision to drop the charges came after Judge James Hackett, who was to hear Halliday's case, stopped the trial of ... More >>

Madison County Wants Your Dead Birds

If you're looking for a new hobby that's both beneficial to society and a little bit morbid, Madison County health officials have an offer you don't want to miss. Between now and October 15, they want you to be on the look out for dead birds. For science, of course.

Which St. Louisans Have the Strongest Livers?

It's no secret that folks in the St. Louis region like to throw a few back from time time. Sometimes every day, in fact. We live in a beer town, and many of us are quite proud of that piece of our cultural heritage, thank you very much. But is it possible to split up the alcohol-consumption demogra ... More >>

Gateway Regional Patient Anthony Burkey Died From Suffocation in Hospital

Back in December we reported that a Granite City man who'd been arrested by police and taken to Gateway Regional Medical Center may have died from a cause forensically labeled "excited delirium," which usually occurs after significant physical exertion associated with violent and/or bizarre behavior ... More >>

If You Find A Stiff with A Stiffy, Coming Through The Rye ...

​The Law is a strange thing, and the people who make it sometimes find themselves having the most indelicate conversations.Representative Dan Beiser (D-Alton) recently proposed a law that would make sex with a corpse illegal in the state of Illinois. It's not knee-jerk response to the rise of zomb ... More >>

Flintstone's Chewable Heroin?

​An 11-year-old Madison County girl found some mysterious capsules on a dresser in her home and asked her mother, Nicole L. Edwards, what they were. Mom told her they were vitamins and left it at that -- she also left the capsules with her kid. The girl, who was smart enough to recognize that most ... More >>

Holy Knockout! Woman Injured (Indirectly) by The Spirit Sues Church

​A year ago, Cheryl Jones was attending a service at Disciple Fellowship Christian Church in East St. Louis when she and other congregants rushed to form a line and "receive the spirit" from the pastor.According the complaint Jones filed two weeks ago in Madison County, Illinois, the pastor was la ... More >>

The 10 Stupidest Crimes of 2011

Yesterday's list of the 10 Most Heinous Crimes of 2011 may have made you want to weep for the evil of humanity. Today we bring you the 10 Stupidest Crimes of 2011 in and around St. Louis (listed in order of dumb to dumber), which may also make you want to weep, but this time for stupidity. Or you ma ... More >>

One Arrested In Crime Spree Involving Four Suspects in a Hyundai

Lennard Brown was arrested yesterday. His alleged accomplices remain at large.​Police have one man in custody and say they know the identity of three accomplices who took part in an armed robbery in St. Louis County and home burglary in Granite City on Monday. St. Louis police arrested Lennard Br ... More >>

Gary Smith: Madison County Man Gets Probation for Fake Anthrax Scare

​A 68-year-old man from Madison County was sentenced this week to three years of probation and ordered to pay $1,200 in fines and court costs after pleading guilty to mailing a letter with fake anthrax to a family living in his hometown of Livingston. According to the U.S. Attorney's Office for So ... More >>

Serial Illinois Burglar Apprehended Following Joint-County Investigation

​A young man whose four-month burglary binge took him across four different counties in rural Illinois and netted him thousands of dollars worth of stolen property has been nabbed. Twenty-five-year-old Brett T. Chastain of Granite City, Illinois, was charged yesterday by the Madison County St ... More >>

Sexual Harassment Suits Settled Against Metro East Official

Women fight back against supervisor accused of being touchy-feely in the worst way.​Lawsuits brought by six women accusing a former Saline Township supervisor of sexual assault and harassment were settled last week prior to trial. The women filed the suits in early 2010 complaining that Alvin Stei ... More >>

Did Illinois Man Order His Dogs to Kill a Cat?

​Now that authorities have been cracking down on dog-on-dog fighting, will cats be the next victims? Prosecutors in Madison County, Illinois, have charged 47-year-old Denis Soto with aggravated cruelty to animals, after he allegedly ordered his two German shepherds to attack a cat walking acr ... More >>

Heroin Getting Out of Control in Metro East, Says U.S. Attorney

Zia Nizami / AP Attorney Wigginton​The United States Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois has declared a war on heroin. The drug, once limited in the number of victims it reached, has hit the St. Louis region like a tidal wave in the last three years, leaving both low-income and af ... More >>

Madison County Seeking First Civil Unions

via robotnine.comIt's not quite wedding bells for same-sex couples in Illinois -- but it's something.​ For Illinois residents -- be they gay or straight -- legalizing a civil union with a beloved partner will be an option for the first time ever on June 1. And one Illinois county doesn't want ... More >>

Cops Bust Truck Hauling Tomatoes and 600 Pounds of Pot on I-55/70

​On Monday morning, February 14, Illinois State Police found 600 pounds of marijuana in a tractor-trailer hauling tomatoes on Interstate 55/70 near Highway 159 in Collinsville. The Belleville News-Democrat reports that Jose A. Martinez of Glendale, Arizona, and Manuel Medrano of Merced, Calif ... More >>

Madison and St. Clair Counties Named "Judicial Hellholes" -- Again

judicialhellholes.org​The American Tort Reform Association has once again included Madison and St. Clair counties to its annual listing of so-called Judicial Hellholes. St. Clair was named to the list from 2004 through 2007. Madison County has been on the list in all but one year since 2002. St. C ... More >>

Off-Duty Cop Who Shot a Man Gets Probation, Swipes at SLMPD Firearm Policies

flickr.com/photos/dubswede​Ex-city cop Bryan Pour -- who got into a fracas on the east side two years ago and shot a man -- was sentenced to four years probation this morning in Madison County court. The hearing was extraordinary for two reasons:1) "Technically, if you shoot someone, it is a non- ... More >>

Francisco "Poncho" Javier-Rivera: Sentenced for Smuggling Marijuana and...Spaghetti Squash?

Image sourceHooray for healthy munchies.​On February 23, 2010 an undocumented immigrant from Sonora, Mexico named Francisco "Poncho" Javier-Rivera was stopped by police on I-70 in Madison County. The cops searched his refrigerated truck and found a load of produce -- specifically 37,000 pounds of ... More >>

Reggie Moses: Convicted of Robbing Drug Dealers, Impersonating Omar From The Wire

Image viaOmar Little or Reggie Moses?​"Let's say we had a disagreement.""A disagreement over...?""Well, you see, Mike-Mike thought he should keep that cocaine he was slingin' and the money he was makin' from slingin' it. I thought otherwise."That's an excerpt from the famous courtroom scene in the ... More >>

Class-Action Suit Calls YTB a Pyramid Scheme

​A class-action lawsuit first filed in federal court in Illinois has been re-filed in Madison County accusing the Wood River-based YTB of being a "pyramid scheme." The lawsuit follows years of allegations that YTB -- which sells home-based travel companies -- operates as a Ponzi scheme. In 2009, t ... More >>

Lush Cosmetics Employees Stripping to Stop Canadian Oil Production

Artist's butcheringLeft, soaps sold by Lush Cosmetics. Right, the Canadian tar sands. Only if a good scrubbing by one would clean the other.​While the Deep Horizon oil well in the Gulf of Mexico continues to cough up oil underwater, a chain of organic soap shops is planning a separate protest this ... More >>

Nick Duffin: Drunk Drives His Ford Escort Through Illinois Bar

The patrons of the Monkey Shak in rural Madison County, Illinois, got a hell of a surprise Saturday night when a car blasted through the front wall of the building and exited through the back of the tavern coming to rest against an outdoor picnic table. Google Street ViewThe Monkey Shak in better da ... More >>

Alvin Steiner: Fourth Woman Accuses Illinois Official of Groping, Dirty-Old-Man Behavior

votemccarter.comAlvin Steiner​Another woman has filed a lawsuit charging Saline Township supervisor Alvin Steiner with molestation. The Belleville News-Democrat is reporting the story today, though truth be told it was the Madison County Record that broke the news last week. In his role as supervi ... More >>

The Best Video of a Meth Addict Jumping Into A Frozen Pond You'll See Today

Image via National Geographic A suspected Madison County meth maker took a polar bear plunge while attempting to elude police​Ahhh, methamphetamine. It makes human beings do some amazing things -- amazingly dumb things.Take the case of 50-year-old Robert C. Kelly of Madison County, Illinois ... More >>

Who is Ass Clown of the Week, January 8-15?

media.urbandictionary.com​You know the rules. Vote for the local newsmaker who you think committed the most scandalous and/or idiotic act of the week. And the candidates...1. Mark McGwire: After years of denying and obfuscating his alleged use of steroids, Big Mac came clean this week -- admitting ... More >>

This is What Happens When You Run a Meth Lab at a Cemetery.

Image Via​Meth heads -- so long as they show up to work and don't steal anything -- generally make outstanding employees. Think about it: their energy is boundless and they never lose focus so they can work tirelessly for hours on end. There's a reason the Nazis gave the stuff to their foot soldie ... More >>

Asbestos Cases Once Again Earning Madison County Title of "Judicial Hellhole"

A skech inside a Madison County courtroom.​Earlier this decade Madison County, Illinois, earned the title "Judicial Hellhole" thanks to the outrageous number of asbestos cases filed there. In 2003 alone trial attorneys filed an astounding 953 asbestos claims in the county -- most of which had noth ... More >>

All Dogs Go to Heaven, Right?

Remember the Madison County man who shot and buried his sick St. Bernard in the back yard last week?http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=osbvia&s=3​Well, a grand jury indicted him yesterday and now he's charged with two felony counts of animal cruelty and obstructing justice.Anybody else smell a mo ... More >>

Illinois Bar Busted for Smoking Violation Sounds Like a Great Place to Toke

This dugout belong to Digger, or someone else?​Nearly two years after Illinois enacted an indoor smoking ban in all restaurants and pubs in the state, officials in Madison County have fined their first bar for violating the ban. An article in today's Alton Telegraph reports that county health depa ... More >>

Highland Farmers' Market Still Has Space

The new Highland Markt und Mehr farmers' market in Highland, Illinois, still has room for vendors, according to a new press release. Vendors can make a commitment for the full season or on a weekly basis. Fees are nominal and vary according to vendor space requirements and season commitment. Cover ... More >>

New Farmers' Market in Highland, Illinois

The city of Highland, Illinois, is planning a new farmers' market for the 2009 season. The market, called Highland Markt und Mehr, will be held at Lindendale Park and the Madison County fairgrounds on Thursdays from 4-8 p.m.from June 4 through October.Farmers and artisan vendors interested in partic ... More >>

Do you know this woman?

After fourteen years of research on a cold case murder, an Orlando writer is looking for St. Louisans who might have known the victim. The catch? The woman was killed 38 years ago.   Mark A. Pinsky, author of The Gospel According to The Simpsons, among other books, says he h ... More >>

Missouri Gas Prices Lowest In Country: Why.

Sacred Garbage?

Native Americans trash plans to expand a sprawling Illinois landfill.

Blind Killer

Best Bus Route

Madison County Transit No. 18

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The year in review: A quiz (For answers, see last page)

Killing Time

Suzanne Johnson is going to prison for killing her boyfriend -- years after the fact