Lake County, Indiana police running a sting operation to capture auto theft suspects ran into trouble when the Lake County court’s computer system called CourtView showed warrants were issued in the case.

The Post-Tribune reports that suspects were alerted that warrants had been issued when they received letters from attorneys who had been alerted by CourtView to existence of a new criminal cases. It is a common practice for Lake County attorneys to send out letters to potential clients to advise of their services when a new case is filed in court.

Writes Chelsea Schneider Kirk in Procedural blunder may have hampered sting:

As the Lake County Sheriff’s Department lauded a nine-month auto theft sting leading to charges against at least 20 people, a Gary Police Department official close to the investigation said warrants left unsealed for the suspects created problems for officers.

“They were already getting letters from attorneys,” Gary Police Cpl. William Clouse said. “You know what, we’ve never had an issue like this where … the information was out.”

The upshot is that police arrested at least 20 suspects, according to news reports.

Technorati Tags: car theft, chop shop, courts, CourtView, crime, Gary Police, Lake County Sheriff, Sting, warrants

Smoke ‘em if you’ve got ‘em!

A news report suggests that Lake County might be setting up a smoke shop in the Government Center’s cafeteria.  I wonder if they’ll sell some nice cigars there?  Maybe some Dunhill cigs?

Crown Point police forwarded a complaint about a smoking area in the Lake County Government Center’s cafeteria to the Lake County Commissioners that seems to defy the city’s ban on smoking in public places, reports the Northwest Indiana Times.  But, it seems that the cafeteria might fall into the definition of a smoke shop, which would be exempt.

Lake County Attorney John Dull said the county cleared the wall with Crown Point City Attorney David Nicholls.

“We haven’t had a complaint and believe it meets the city’s ordinance,” Dull said.

Nicholls, who did not draft the ordinance, said he and Dull exchanged e-mails about the topic, and the county was creating a “smoke shop.”

Technorati Tags: Lake County Commissioners, Lake County Government Center, smoke shop

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