We were surprised today while doing crawls (what we call it when we go look at files in the courthouses in counties we cover) to see that the major theft case featured on the front page of this current issue is resolved already.
The case was only filed June 18, and involves a 20-year-old female from New Albany, Indiana, who moved to Lawrenceville and proceeded to steal from her employer. Elizabeth Willoughby entered a plea of guilty today in Lawrence County Circuit Court to a single count of Retail Theft, convicted of stealing lottery tickets from Bridgeport Package. Apparently, she didn’t like the food served at the Crawford County Jail, where she’s been held since her arrest.
But that’s just the surface of it.
While covering the case, we were first-hand witnesses to what appeared to be some legal wrangling on the part of court officials in Lawrence County. And as we dug a little further into it, we were noticing some things that didn’t look quite right. Yesterday, we got a little resolution with some of the aspects of it all…but that doesn’t change the bottom line: There’s a culture of corruption thriving in Lawrence that reaches right up to the state level and maybe beyond, as it involves the players in a very heated federal case. And that’s what your evening Read the Lead is about. Here now is Has theft case exposed corruption?, a front-pager in the July Special Edition, on stands now.
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Elizabeth Dorsie Willoughby
LAWRENCE CO.—A local theft case within the city of Bridgeport has turned up a response by Lawrence County authorities that may show where pressure is being applied from forces higher-up.
Other than the attorney general’s office, however, it’s not exactly clear where the pressure is coming from.
But it’s becoming readily apparent that someone or something is pulling the strings of those who are tasked with meting out justice in Lawrence County.
And that task seems to now be fraught with a bad case of “hot potato” as the prosecutor, the judge, and the defense attorney, along with everyone involved in the latest federal case to haunt the corrupt in Lawrence, is waiting to see who’s going to make the next move…or be the first among them to do something to resolve it.
The theft case came to light on the evening of Wednesday, June 17. At that time, Bridgeport Package owner James Brunson went to his store to reconcile the day’s take and found that there were lottery tickets missing…as well as cash.
Because the lottery is state operated, he immediately made calls and Illinois State Police responded and took a report.
The suspect was his most recent employee, Elizabeth Dorsie Willoughby, 20, of New Albany, Ind., who had come to work for Brunson after answering an ad for employment he’d placed out of the area about….
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To read the rest of this extensive examination of what’s going on in Lawrence and the federal court system as it applies to Lawrence, click on the headline if you have an online membership to the e-Edition. Or, if you don’t have one, simply click this link here and follow the prompts to get started. For those who prefer to read a hard copy paper, that’s easy, too: Visit one of our many vendors, including those in Lawrence County—Jim’s Guns on Highway 250 between Lawrenceville and Bridgeport, Lou’s Restaurant in Bridgeport—as well as Richland County vendors MotoMart and Marilyn’s Liquor Cabinet in Olney; Crawford County vendors Mach 1 in Robinson and Maxwell House in Flat Rock; and Wabash County vendor CJ’s in Allendale. Hurry….this one is on stands for only TWO MORE WEEKS.