Predatory Perv Convicted of Lurking Around Catholic School Carnival

EVERGREEN PARK, IL -- A registered sex offender who attended an Evergreen Park parish carnival in 2015 was found guilty Monday of violating the terms of his registration during a bench trial before Cook County Judge Kerry Kennedy at the Fifth Municipal District Courthouse in Bridgeview.

Donald Leib, 46, was found guilty of “prohibited presence within a school zone by a child sex offender.” Leib is listed as a sex predator on the Illinois Sex Offender Registry, with past convictions in 2007 for child abduction and luring, and indecent solicitation of a child. Leib was 37 and his victim was 12 at the time of the offense.

Leib was arrested and charged in September 2015 in the days following the Queen of Martyrs Fest, which straddles Evergreen Park and Mt. Greenwood. A neighbor, knowing Leib's background, notified police after she spotted him near the children’s carnival rides on parish property.

Much of the trial focused on defense attorney, Jack Rimland, showing witnesses a flier for the 2015 Queen of Martyrs Fest, which he claimed advertised it as a “parish” event and did not mention Queen of Martyrs elementary school.

The Rev. Edward Mikolaczyk, pastor of Queen of Martyrs Parish in Evergreen Park, testified that monies raised from the carnival went toward the parish school.

Shown aerial photographs of parish and school grounds, Mikolaczyk explained that the parking lot at 103rd Street and St. Louis Avenue where the carnival rides were set up is used for church, school and neighborhood functions. When asked by Rimland who owned it, Mikolaczyk said the “Bishop of Chicago, but we’re in charge of it.”

Rimland also showed Mikolaczyk the flier for the 2015 Queen of Martyrs Fest, asking why it didn’t mention the school.

“The church and school are synonymous,” Mikolaczyk said. “People understand the carnival as being a parish and school event.”

Asked if the church and school were two separate entities, Judge Kennedy told Rimland to move on to the next question.

“He already said they’re synonymous,” the judge said.

Leib’s neighbor, Jeanne Cassidy, described how she learned of Leib’s past when she checked the Illinois Sex Offender Registry. Cassidy was attending the carnival with her husband and 6-year-old son, when she saw Leib standing near a children’s roller coaster ride.

Cassidy and her husband immediately notified a uniformed Chicago police officer that a convicted child sex predator was on parish premises.

“I alerted the officer that there was a registered sex offender at the carnival and showed him [Leib’s] picture on my phone,” Cassidy said. “The police officer walked over to my neighbor [Leib] and they went across the street to the policeman’s car.”

Cassidy testified that the head of security for the festival told her that the parish was under the jurisdiction of the Evergreen Park Police Department. She went to the suburban police department to file a report. The next day, Cassidy walked over to Leib’s residence in the 10300 block of South Albany Avenue in Mt. Greenwood.

Over the Rimland’s objections, Cassidy described knocking on Leib’s door and explaining to him that she had filed a police report with Evergreen Park.

“He said he understand what my concerns were and that he saw me there,” Cassidy said in court. “He explained that he was there with his brother, sister-in-law and nephews.”

Officer Daniel McGreal, of the Chicago Police Department, also took the stand. When told by the Cassidys that Leib was a registered sex offender, McGreal asked Leib to walk with him to his police vehicle.

“I asked him for his name and ID,” McGreal said. “I ran his name and nothing came back except for his name and the address on his ID. I didn’t run [his name] for [being a registered sex offender].”

McGreal told Leib he believed he shouldn’t be there and that he should leave. Leib was cooperative and immediately left the carnival.

A witness for the defense, Queen of Martyrs business manager Irene Ahern Smith, testified that the parking lot where Leib was spotted by the children’s roller coaster is considered church property.

“The lot is owned by the parish,” Smith told Rimland. “You can’t differentiate between the parish and school because both are under one federal ID. There used to be two, but now there is only one.”

Robert Leib also testified on his brother’s behalf. Robert said that he and his wife invited his brother to join them at the carnival, along with their children and grandson the evening of Sept. 26, 2015.

Robert and Donald Leib went to the booth to buy ride tickets, while other family members left to buy cotton candy. The men went over to the children’s roller coaster. Robert told his brother’s attorney that he believed the festival was a church event.

Robert testified that he was standing with his brother when Officer McGreal asked Donald if he was a registered sex offender. Robert walked with his brother back to the police vehicle.

“[The officer] told us to leave because people were uncomfortable,” Robert Leib testified. “We left immediately.

Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Maureen Renno asked Robert if he was aware of his brother’s restrictions as a registered sex offender, which prohibited him from being at the carnival where numerous children under 18 were present.

“I’m aware of his restrictions,” Robert said.

“You know he’s not supposed to be around children knowing his restrictions,” the prosecutor said.

“If I did not believe it was a church function, I never would have allowed him to go with us,” Robert Leib said.

Rimland argued in closing that prosecutors failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the parking lot, separated from parish grounds by St. Louis Avenue, was in a school zone.

“Yes, the pastor testified all about school property,” Leib’s attorney said in closing. “The brothers believe that parking lot was church property, not school property.”

Renno said she didn’t blame Leib’s brother for testifying on his behalf, but that Leib had a responsibility to comply with the Illinois Sex Offender Registry.

“When children go to carnivals, they should be protected from registered sex offenders,” she said. “This defendant made a conscious effort to go there. He doesn’t have a right to go there.”

Judge Kennedy said much was made about “what is church and what is school property.”

“The pastor was clear that it was synonymous,” the judge said before handing down a guilty verdict. “The word [school] zone is important to me. I don’t see how any reasonable person, especially a sex offender, would not know there are children there. It defies logic that he wouldn’t know that.”

Judge Kennedy revoked Leib’s bond. He asked Leib if wanted his bond to go toward attorney fees before he was led out of the courtroom by a sheriff’s deputy. Leib said it was OK. The judge also ordered a pre-sentencing report.

Leib faces up to six years in the Illinois Department of Corrections when he is sentenced on Jan. 5.

Ald. Matt O’Shea (19th) who sat in on the two-and-a-half hour trial, said afterward he was relieved it was over.

“It has been a 15-month journey with all the continuances,” the alderman said. “I think the lawyer defending Donald Leib didn’t have a lot to work with. I firmly believe that Mr. Leib knew exactly what he was doing that night. I’m relieved that justice is served.”