Crime & Safety
Guilty in ‘Swiss Cheese’ Baby Murder Case: Court Supervision
A Plainfield man getting found guilty of murdering his girlfriend's baby was just one of the things going on in court last week.
By Joseph Hosey
Attorney Joseph "Shark" Lopez said murder case against Plainfield man Santos Loza was "like a piece of Swiss cheese."
"When you open it up," Lopez said, "it's got a million holes in it."
But all those holes Lopez saw didn't stop the jury from coming back after a two-hour deliberation to find Loza guilty of murdering his girlfriend's 8-month-old baby.
Loza faces up to 100 years in prison when he is sentenced.
Here's what else was going on in court last week:
- Joliet teen Sjolante Crowder's murder trial began and lasted through the week.
- Veteran weekly newspaperman John Gabriel, who faces a federal child pornography case, had his bond hearing begin Monday and conclude Wednesday. And then he went back to jail without a bond.
- A woman's Romeoville pedicure caused her so much "pain and suffering" she needs at least $100,000, according to a lawsuit filed in Will County court. The lawsuit names Leza Nail Spa and its owner, Vincent C. Le, as defendants.
- When the police raided a Romeoville man's house looking for child pornography, officers found a boy-sized mannequin in his bed dressed inSonic the Hedgehog pajamas, a prosecutor said during his bond hearing. The police also reportedly located a cache of child pornography in the bedroom of 26-year-old Richard Gilsdorf and a bag containing Vaseline, bagged candy, Benadryl, child-sized "soiled underwear" and a "sexual device," said Assistant State's Attorney Mary Fillipitch.
- Joliet man Francis Zabala, 52, "lost it" and beat to death a "severely mentally impaired" relative who urinated on the floor and did not adequately clean up after himself, a prosecutor said.
- Romeoville Trustee Kenneth Carl Griffin, 65, was sentenced to a year of court supervision for driving with a revoked license.
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