Woman Pleads Guilty to Leaving Disabled Men in Hot Van

A 47-year-old Elgin woman who is accused of leaving four disabled men in a hot van in a Walmart parking lot last summer has pleaded guilty and was sentenced to two years probation.

Kathy Reed will also have to pay $584 in court costs and will get off of probation on Jan. 27, 2015. She is also ordered to have no contact with the victims.

Court records show Reed entered the plea on Jan. 29 in Cook County Judge Colleen Ann Hyland's Bridgeview courtroom.

Reed was the caretaker for the four men, who were residents of the Blue Island-based Greenwood Home and ranged in age from 40 to 60 years old.

At the time of the incident on June 28 of last year, the temperature had reached 99 degrees with a 111-degree heat index. Police said Reed left the four mentally challenged adults inside a van in Walmart's, 2500 W 95th St., parking lot for more than 30 minutes while she went in to shop for a grill and some charcoal. The windows were half-cracked, but no air conditioning was running.

A bystander saw the men when he went into the store, then noticed they were still there, sweating profusely 20 minutes later. The bystander alerted store security, police said.