News

Luisito Espanola, 65, of Las Vegas, Nevada, was sentenced on May 21, 2025, to 32 months in the Federal Bureau of Prisons following his convictions for wire fraud and money laundering.

In observance of National Police Week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of Illinois recognizes the service and sacrifice of federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement and pays tribute to the officers who have fallen in the line of duty. This year, National Police Week is observed Sunday, May 11, through Saturday, May 17, 2025.

A grand jury returned an indictment on May 6, 2025, charging Julio Cucul-Bol, 29, a Guatemalan national, with possessing a false permanent resident card, possessing a false Social Security card, false use of a passport, and making a false statement on a bank application. 

SPRINGFIELD, Illinois – Today, the Department of Justice announced the results of Operation Restore Justice, a coordinated enforcement effort to identify, track and arrest child sex predators.  The operation resulted in the rescue of children and the arrests of 205 child sexual abuse offenders in the nationwide crackdown.  The coordinated effort was executed over the course of five days by all 55 FBI field offices, the Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section in the Department’s Criminal Division, and United States Attorney’s Offices around the country.  

A Bismarck, Illinois, man, Jacob R. Kirkley, 48, was sentenced on May 2, 2025, to four years in prison for his second federal counterfeiting conviction, as well as an additional 18 months in prison for violating his federal supervised release, which was imposed following his first counterfeiting conviction. 

PEORIA, Ill. – A Peoria, Illinois man, Paul Graf, 36, of the 1000 block of West Willow Lane, was sentenced in federal court on April 17, 2025, to 120 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by 10 years supervised release, for attempted enticement of a minor.

Anthony Westemeyer, 37, of Nebo, Illinois, was sentenced on April 9, 2025, to 30 years’ imprisonment for sexual exploitation of a child. 

A federal jury returned a guilty verdict today against Joseph Perkins, 32, of Pekin, Illinois, for attempted enticement of a minor. 

PEORIA, Ill. – Romel Michael Turner, 31, formerly of the 2500 block of West Wardcliffe Drive, Peoria, Illinois, was sentenced in federal court on March 25, 2025, to 151 months’ imprisonment for two counts of distribution of 50 grams or more of methamphetamine (actual).

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – A Petersburg, Illinois man, Adam Power, 32, of the 500 block of South 8^th Street in Petersburg, Illinois, was sentenced to 60 years in prison and a lifetime of supervised release on March 13, 2025, after pleading guilty to a multitude of crimes of against children.  

Kelvin Eugene Patterson, Jr., 39, of Peoria, Illinois, was sentenced on March 4, 2025, to twelve years of imprisonment, followed by four years of supervised release, for his role in a conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute more than 100 kilograms of marijuana. 

A Clinton, Indiana, woman, Davetta Cox, 32, pleaded guilty on March 7, 2025, to using facilities of interstate commerce in a murder-for-hire scheme.