There are actually a couple of ways to commit mortgage fraud. Overall, the criminal act is lying on a mortgage application about a material fact -- some important piece of information about you or the property -- that influences the lender's decision. As with most...
Congratulations! If you are reading this, you have survived Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. Welcome to the 2015 holiday season and all the rewards and risks that come our way during the last few weeks of the year. This is also the...
The Chicago Sun-Times ran a story in mid-November about a criminal trespass case. A man had attempted to enter a woman's home through an unlocked first-floor window. The woman confronted him before he actually entered her home, and he fled. Police arrested him shortly...
Medical cannabis is now legally available in Illinois, but patients should still take extra care in interactions with law enforcement. It is especially important for patients to remember that neither prescribing physicians, nor registered dispensaries nor the Illinois...
It is difficult enough to be arrested and charged with a crime, but the stress is even worse if you do not understand what the charges are. There are times when police and attorneys use legal terms that make no sense to someone who has been detained or that sound like...
The FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting Program provides an easy framework for discussing different types of crime. The UCR program assigns each type of crime to one of three categories: crimes against property, crimes against the person and crimes against society. For...
Halloween is on a Saturday this year, and that generally means that both children and adults will be out in force. Trick-or-treating may last longer or start a little later, because it's not a school night. The same may be true for grown-up Halloween celebrations....
In the past 10 years, the U.S. Supreme Court has tackled juvenile offender sentencing questions a few times. Each decision has been a step away from imposing the harshest sentences available on minors who have been convicted of the most serious crimes. This week, the...
Imagine you live in Detroit but you have taken a few days off to visit Chicago. One afternoon your house sitter texts you that two Detroit police officers had been looking for you. They had a warrant for your arrest: You are sure this has something to do with a large...
When a person is accused of committing a robbery here in Illinois, one thing that can matter considerably in their case is whether or not they are accused of having had a gun or other dangerous weapon on them during the alleged robbery. This is because being accused...
