Illinois
Unincorporated Bensenville residents say ‘nightmare’ rat infestation threatens their health, safety
UNINCORP. BENSENVILLE, Ill. (WLS) — People living in a neighborhood in unincorporated Bensenville say a rat infestation is a threat to their health and safety.
Those in the White Pines neighborhood say they know the source of the problem, but they feel like elected officials are not doing enough to help them.
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Multiple homeowners say the issue goes back at least two years. They believe one particular property is ground zero and that there have been no significant measures to eliminate what they are calling a rat infestation.
“It’s just a nightmare right now,” said White Pines resident Jim Brill.
Brill says for two years, he and his neighbors have dealt with rats running around their property.
“It’s impacting every house that surrounds that house. The rats come out when we put our trash cans out. They literally swarm out of the yard, that house’s yard, go in our trash cans,” Brill said.
Another neighbor says his home security picked up the rodents after they tripped the camera’s motion sensors, sharing at least a dozen videos with ABC7 showing them scurrying around the side of his house.
And pictures show multiple rats on the windowsills on the home that neighbors believe is the root of the issue.
“We have to, you know, take huge measures to maintain our property, and we’ve done that, but when your neighbor isn’t doing that, and then creating housing for these vermin, right, that carry disease, and can, you know, be troublesome and problematic, it’s quite frustrating,” said White Pines resident Kristin Henri.
Henri says her parents have lived there for more than 50 years, never with a rat problem, until 2024. She says the rats are a hazard to their health and safety.
“We’ve had rats on our property, running through in broad daylight, so it’s unnerving. I can’t let my dog out. I worry about my neighbor’s child across the street, who’s a toddler,” Henri said.
Henri and Brill say living in an unincorporated part of Bensenville has complicated matters. At this point, they believe it is in the county’s hands, but still the problem persists.
“We contacted the county. They keep telling us they’re going to take care of the problem, and they don’t,” Brill said.
“We need somebody to help eliminate this. It’s not fair to us. We maintain our properties, and we want to live in a safe environment,” Henri said.
The DuPage County Building and Zoning Staff told ABC7 they been working on this problem since 2024.
They are working with the owner of a single property to clean the home’s interior.
Once that’s done, the county says, it will have an exterminator come in and set traps in the area.
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Illinois
Man charged with trespassing at Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s home in Chicago on July 4: documents
CHICAGO (WLS) — A man has been charged with trespassing at Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s home in Chicago, court documents show.
The incident happened around on July 4 on the city’s North Side.
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A suspect was arrested by police around 10:06 p.m. after he was allegedly seen on camera jumping over a fence and trespassing in the backyard of Pritzker’s house in the Gold Coast neighborhood.
Dwayne Cortez Milton has been charged with trespassing, Cook County court documents showed.
The suspect was ordered to be released from custody in this case pending his trial, but he was been ordered to not return to the property.
However, Milton pleaded guilty in a separate theft case on July 7, and he is currently in custody for that case, documents show.
Milton is scheduled to appear in court again July 27 for the trespassing case.
No further information about the trespassing incident was immediately available.
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An 18-year-old man is hospitalized after he was found shot in Joliet, Illinois, on Saturday evening.
Joliet police said around 6:46 p.m., officers responded to the area of East Benton Street and Polson Place for a report of a man shot.
Upon arrival, officers found the victim suffering from gunshot wounds to his back and left arm. Police said officers immediately rendered medical aid until Joliet Fire Department paramedics arrived.
The victim was taken to Silver Cross Hospital with life-threatening injuries before later being transferred to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood for further treatment.
Spent shell casings were found after detectives canvassed the area.
Police said there is no description of a suspect and the shooting remains under active investigation.
Anyone with video footage or information related to this shooting is asked to contact the Joliet Police Department Investigations Division at 815-724-3020. Anonymous tipsters can contact Will County Crime Stoppers at 800-323-6734 or submit a tip online at crimestoppersofwillcounty.org.
YORKTOWN, Va (WAVY) — A 31-year-old Illinois man has been sentenced after pleading guilty to exploiting a York County child online.
According to the York County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, Andres Arreola pleaded guilty to enticing a minor to perform child sexual abuse acts and using a communication system to facilitate certain offenses involving a child.
The case began in April 2025 after the parent of a 9-year-old child called the York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office about inappropriate messages they found from Arreola to the child on an online chat platform.
Investigators determined Arreola sent sexually explicit messages and images to the child and persuaded the child to send explicit images in return, knowing the victim was a 9-year-old.
Detectives were able to identify Arreola in Illinois, where he was taken into custody. He was then extradited him to York County where he remained behind bars without bond. Detectives also recovered electronic evidence supporting the charges.
A judge ultimately sentenced Arreola to 40 years in prison, suspending 31 years and six months, leaving him with an active prison sentence of eight years and six months.
After his release, Arreola will serve 20 years of supervised probation. He cannot have unsupervised contact with minors and will be required to register with Virginia’s Sex Offender and Crimes against Minors Registry.
“The exploitation of children—whether in person or online—will not be tolerated in York County,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Krystyn Reid in a statement.
Reid goes on to praise the investigators, prosecutors and the “the young victim and the victim’s family throughout this case. Anyone who seeks to harm a child, regardless of where they are located, should expect to be identified, brought before the court, prosecuted, and held accountable.”
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