Leave it to Richland County to be the home of some of the weirdest court goings-on in the readership area…and maybe even in the country.
Richland is the home of Brian James O’Neill, city pest in the town of Olney, whose frivolous lawsuits filed in 2006 cost the county a bundle (via representation through the Attorney General’s office). It’s also the home of former state’s attorney Chuck Roberts, whose inexplicable case of the ass against us at Disclosure prompted him to encourage a client, the late Dan Howser, file a frivolous Order of Protection against this writer, and when he claimed it was violated, the entire thing was turned on its ear.
But now, a totally different issue has arisen, and it involves one of the most vile of humanity: A man who was convicted of the rape of a child.
Burt Wenzel, a convicted cannabis grower who hails from Clay County but whose roots are actually in Hardin County (the infamous “Wenzel Weed” was named after members of his family, according to Hardin natives), made headlines years ago when his case went through the court system and he was convicted of having sex with a 12-year-old girl at age 20 (in 2008). Adding to the trauma caused the victim was the fact that she ended up pregnant as the result of his actions, and had a daughter at age 13.
A no-contact order was put into place in order to keep Wenzel, who was housed in Richland County for a lengthy period of time despite his pot conviction that should have kept him in DOC, from contacting his victim in any way. But now, he wants special dispensation in order to lift this restriction and allow him to “get to know his daughter.”
The entire thing is precedent-setting, just like our OP or O’Neill’s nonsensical, but time-consuming, court filings. And you can read about it here if you have an online subscription to the e-Edition, in the article that’s on the front page this month, Sex predator demands prison visits with child:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
RICHLAND CO.— A Clay County native who is currently serving three years to life in the Illinois Department of Corrections is now asking for visitation with the child that was conceived when he sexually assaulted a 12-year-old Richland County girl.
Burt Wenzel, 26, entered into a plea agreement January 28, 2009, to one count of Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault.
But that was only after state’s attorney David Hyde refused to do his job.
Records show that Wenzel, whose family originated from south counties (specifically, the Hardin/Gallatin county area) has been in trouble with the law for the better part of his life.
Sources indicate that he was sentenced to 12 months court supervision in Clay County on November 23, 1998 at age 11 after he was found guilty of Knowingly Damaging Property greater that $300.
(excerpt)
In a hand-written response from prison, Wenzel claimed no abuse was presented during the OP hearing.
“KS claims abuse because I had written my daughter three letters,” Wenzel wrote. “Writing my daughter and telling her ‘Daddy loves you’ is not any form of abuse.”
Wenzel went on to say that since KS has identified him as the man who sexually abused her, and thus establishing by this his parentage that ND was his daughter, he demands to exercise his parental rights.
He asked that he be granted the right to contact the four-year-old, claiming the contact would in no way “harm my daughter’s mental, moral and emotional health.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To read the full story, simply click the headline above to take you right to it if you have an e-Edition subscription; or if you don’t have one, click this link to get started, so you won’t miss out on a thing that goes on in Disclosure. Or, if you prefer to hold the paper in your hands, check our vendors list for the locations nearest you where you can pick up a copy; in Richland County, you can get yours in Olney at MotoMart and at Marilyn’s Liquor Cabinet; and in Noble at Bottle Hut.
See what others are saying about this subject on Facebook; and be sure you check your “get notifications” selection under the “like” button on our page; recent Facebook upgrades have booted many of our followers off from seeing our posts.