Name: Ex-Ald. Proco ‘Joe’ Moreno ordered into custody after alleged DUI
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Ex-Ald. Proco ‘Joe’ Moreno ordered into custody after alleged DUI

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AdvertisementBy Chicago TribuneJan 07, 2021 at 3:11 pmEx-Ald. Proco “Joe” Moreno was booked into Cook County Jail on Thursday after a judge ordered him into custody for picking up DUI and reckless driving charges while out on bond for his pending insurance fraud case.Judge William Hooks went above and beyond prosecutors’ request to simply impose stricter bond conditions such as drug-testing and a curfew. Instead, he called Moreno “a danger to the community” during a videoconferenced court hearing and ordered the former alderman to turn himself in.Advertisement“Right now, he’s remanded (to custody),” Hooks said. “And that red cup he’s using, I hope he’s drinking water out of that red cup, during the Zoom.”Moreno turned himself in at the lobby of the Leighton Criminal Court Building about 2:40 p.m., shortly before a deadline set by the judge, and was greeted by a group of sheriff’s deputies at security.Advertisement“How you doing?” one asked him.“Been better, sir, but OK,” Moreno said before the deputy escorted him away.Moreno did not respond to a request for comment.He is slated to be in jail at least until Jan. 15, when Hooks set a hearing to reconsider his bond.Moreno was out on his own recognizance after being hit with charges of insurance fraud and obstruction of justice stemming from an incident in early 2019, when prosecutors say Moreno falsely claimed to police and his insurance company that his 2016 Audi A6 had been stolen from his garage.In fact, authorities said, Moreno had turned the car and its keys over willingly to a woman he had dated.Moreno now faces , when according to police he drunkenly sideswiped several cars in the tony Gold Coast neighborhood.Prosecutors revealed in court Thursday that Moreno was found still at the wheel of his car, which had crashed into a tree, “attempting to accelerate the vehicle through the tree.”Advertisement“Fortunately the tree held,” Assistant State’s Attorney Thomas Simpson said.Moreno’s attorney Travis Richardson noted that Moreno had checked himself into an intensive rehab program and has never missed a court date.In addition, nobody was injured during the alleged drunken driving, he said.But Hooks called that a weak argument, indicating that it was mere luck nobody got hurt. Moreno allegedly hit eight cars over a three-block stretch.A police report indicated Moreno’s blood alcohol level was 0.32%, or four times the legal limit.Authorities said he was driving an Audi A6 that hit a parked car in the 1500 block of North Astor Street, not far from where Gov. J.B. Pritzker lives. The Audi then struck four more cars in the 1300 and 1200 blocks, police said.AdvertisementThe Audi was then thrown in reverse and sped backward, a door attendant and other witnesses told police. It hit the front of one car, knocking it onto the sidewalk, and struck two more cars before turning onto Division Street, where it crashed into a tree, police said.A police officer “was dispatched to a call of a reckless driver” and found Moreno in the driver’s seat of the Audi, according to police. He was taken to the hospital for “treatment of injuries and observation.” No other injuries were reported. Moreno lives about 3½ miles away, in the 1300 block of North Leavitt Street.Prosecutors said Thursday the Audi that Moreno was driving during the crash is the same car that was at the center of the insurance fraud case. They also said Moreno had been driving it without insurance.mcrepeau@chicagotribune.com Advertisement

AdvertisementBy Chicago TribuneJan 07, 2021 at 3:11 pmEx-Ald. Proco “Joe” Moreno was booked into Cook County Jail on Thursday after a judge ordered him into custody for picking up DUI and reckless driving charges while out on bond for his pending insurance fraud case.Judge William Hooks went above and beyond prosecutors’ request to simply impose stricter bond conditions such as drug-testing and a curfew. Instead, he called Moreno “a danger to the community” during a videoconferenced court hearing and ordered the former alderman to turn himself in.Advertisement“Right now, he’s remanded (to...

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Megan Crepeau

The Chicago Tribune is a daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States, owned by Tribune Publishing. Founded in 1847, and formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" (a slogan for which WGN radio and television are named), it remains the most-read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region. It had the 6th highest circulation for American newspapers in 2017.

Ex-Ald. Proco ‘Joe’ Moreno ordered into custody after alleged DUI

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