The Commercial-News, Danville, IL

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April 29, 2009

Georgetown man enters plea agreement

BY BRIAN L. HUCHEL

DANVILLE — Just more than a year after entering a plea agreement with the state, the man accused of stealing from a youth football program was sentenced.

Terry O’Toole, 41, of Georgetown appeared in Vermilion County Court for sentencing on a misdemeanor charge of theft from the Georgetown-Ridge Farm Youth Football Organization three years ago.

Following arguments at the afternoon hearing, O’Toole was sentenced to 12 months probation.

O’Toole was charged with theft in September 2006, accusing him of stealing thousands of dollars from the youth football organization. He entered a plea agreement in April 2008 that withheld sentencing pending his payment of restitution.

The 2008 plea agreement with prosecutors called for the reduction of the theft charge to a Class A misdemeanor upon payment of $3,200 in restitution by O’Toole. Payment of the total had to precede any other penalties handed down in the case.

He appeared in court earlier this month for a hearing originally scheduled to withdraw that original plea agreement. But a last-minute payment of the final $90 owed set the stage instead for the final sentencing hearing in the case on Wednesday.

O’Toole was charged in September 2006 with one count of theft, a Class 3 felony, for incidents between June 19 and Aug. 11, 2006, while he was president of the Georgetown-Ridge Farm Youth Football Organization.

State charges accused O’Toole of stealing more than $300, but board members with the football program said early in the investigation that audit figures showed as much as $3,000 missing.

Also in court on Wednesday, the hearing on a motion to withdraw Valerie Simpson’s plea in a fatal crash two years ago was postponed.

Defense attorney Derek Girton motioned for and received 30 extra days in the case to receive discovery evidence and consult with Simpson regarding any other motions to be filed.

A new hearing date was set for May.

In December, Simpson, 43, received concurrent 12-year sentences in the Illinois Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to two charges of aggravated driving under the influence in connection with a fatal accident in May 2007.

Within a month, she filed a notice to appeal to the Fourth Appellate Court and a motion to withdraw her plea and vacate her sentence. After disagreements regarding jurisdiction to accept the plea, the Fourth Appellate Court issued a letter that the circuit court should hear the motion.

Simpson was driving along Illinois Route 1 when her Dodge Caravan crossed the center line and collided with an oncoming vehicle driven by Robert Downing, 44, of Westville. Two passengers — Patty Downing, 44, of Westville, and Charles Morton Jr., 71, of Danville — both died as a result of the accident.

Simpson’s blood-alcohol level was measured as just more than twice the legal limit at the time of the crash.

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