Ex-La Grange Resident Surrenders After 2 Decades

Editor’s note: One person’s name was removed from this report because his or her charges were nolle prossed.

LA GRANGE, IL — Twenty years have passed. The investigating La Grange police officer has since been disgraced. And the restaurant in question closed years ago.

But the warrant for the man accused of the crime was still active. He was arrested earlier this month.

The case against [Name Removed], now 41, was opened May 15, 2001. He was taken into custody after he turned himself into Bridgeview's Cook County Courthouse on May 10, just days shy of 20 years. He was charged with deceptive practices, paid $575 in bail and was released.

Through a public records request, Patch obtained the police reports for [Name Removed]. According to the documents, he passed $772 in bad checks to the since-closed Magic Wok, 23 W. Harris Ave.

The checks were drawn on an account with the Motorola Employees Credit Union. His checks stated his address was in the 100 block of North Park Road in La Grange, but his actual address was in the 10 block of South Waiola Avenue, police said.

[Name Removed] now lives in Azusa, California, a Los Angeles suburb. The police report did not indicate why he turned himself into the courthouse two decades later. He told officers he would not make a statement or take any questions.

Magic Wok closed in 2017.

The investigating officer was Steven Kneifel, who joined the department in 1997. On Feb. 25, 2019, he pleaded guilty to one count of financial exploitation of an elderly person, according to village documents.

According to authorities, Kneifel was accused of withdrawing $65,836 from the victim's bank accounts.

In early 2019, the village's fire pension board allowed Kneifel to collect a disability pension. Officials said they had no choice because Kneifel got a deferred sentence and no conviction was entered, meeting minutes state.