Injuries in distracted-driving crashes in Aurora, Kendall

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Updated: August 4, 2011 4:20PM

At least three people were injured this week in Fox Valley crashes caused by drivers reaching for electronic devices.

At 4:08 p.m. Wednesday, Alexander Martin was driving near Shoreline and Baybrook drives in Aurora when he looked down at the console for his iPod. As he was looking down he felt the impact of his car hitting a tree, police said, and his car rolled over.

Police refused to say who was injured (there were two passengers in the car) and would not release Martin’s age or address. Martin was charged with failure to reduce speed and unlawful number of passengers, police said.

At 12:03 a.m. Thursday, in the 400 block of North Johnson Street in Newark, two people were injured in a single-car crash in Kendall County. Rebecca Smith, 30, of the 200 block of North Latham Street, Sandwich, reached for her CD player and veered off the road, sheriff’s deputies said.

The car hit a telephone pole. Smith and her passenger were taken to Valley West Community Hospital, but condition reports were not available.

Smith was charged with improper lane use and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, deputies said.

PLAINFIELD

A Lisle man has been charged with aggravated speeding after being clocked driving 123 mph on Route 59 in Plainfield early Thursday morning. The arrest comes just nine days after a 17-year-old was arrested for driving 108 mph in the same area in the same type of vehicle, a Honda Accord. Police said Abdelhalim Khoga, 24, of Lisle, was charged with going 123 mph on Route 59 between 119th Street and 127th Street at 2:35 a.m. Thursday. The speed limit on that stretch is 45 mph, police said.

AURORA

Jack Davis, 33, of the 300 block of North River Road, Aurora, was charged with felony failure to report change of address and violation of sex offender registry at 6:15 p.m. Wednesday, police said.

Braulio Molina, 18, of the 700 block of George Avenue, Aurora, was charged with felony trespassing at a home and misdemeanor battery at 5 p.m. Monday near East Galena Boulevard and North Fourth Street, police said.

Linda Owens, 50, of the 600 block of South River Street, Aurora, was charged with felony prostitution at 8:30 p.m. Monday near East Benton and Jackson streets, police said.

Gerardo Valtierra, 18, of the 200 block of Jefferson Street, Aurora, was charged with felony obstructing justice and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia at 5:33 p.m. Sunday near North State and Claim streets, police said.

Nicholes Starcher was injured in a two-car crash at 7:08 p.m. Wednesday near New York and Madison streets, police said. Starcher was charged with failure to reduce speed. Police refused to release his age or address, police said.

KENDALL COUNTY

A Calumet City man has been charged with the theft of a box of checks delivered to an Oswego home last month, Kendall County sheriff’s deputies said Thursday. Deputies said the victim was contacted by her bank in mid-March and told someone had attempted to cash a check from her account at an Aurora bank. Police said the suspect, Quincy R. Jones, 21, was visiting a friend in the 1200 block of Light Road in Oswego when he saw the checks sitting outside of the apartment. The box of checks had been delivered earlier that day by the Postal Service. Police said Jones forged a check and took it to a bank in Aurora to cash it.

A 20-year-old Aurora man reported that sometime before 10:23 p.m. Wednesday in the 0-99 block of Sheffield Road someone broke the window of his car, put a dent in the car and smeared feces on the door handles, Kendall County sheriff’s deputies said. No damage estimate was available.

LASALLE COUNTY

Domingo Rodriguez, 60, of the 300 block of Gregory Lane, Plano, was charged with drunken driving and no insurance at 2:12 a.m. Wednesday in the parking lot of the Brown Bag Video Store on Route 71, sheriff’s deputies said.

YORKVILLE

A resident of the 300 block of Somonauk Street told police someone stole eight rings from her home at about 3:30 p.m. Monday.

The rings were valued at more than $300.