Gurnee man sentenced to 4 years for forging signature on checks

A 25-year-old Gurnee man accused of stealing checks and using one to steal $1,325 was sentenced to four years in prison last week, McHenry County court records show.

As part of a plea deal, Freddie J. Howard pleaded guilty Feb. 16 to forgery, a Class 3 felony. In exchange, a theft charge, also a Class 3 felony, was dismissed, according to Judge James Cowlin’s sentencing order.

A Class 3 felony carries a possible sentence of two to five years in prison but also is probational.

Howard was accused of stealing another man’s checks in March 2020 and writing a fraudulent check to another person, according to the indictment and a news release Thursday from the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office.

The Crystal Lake Police Department investigated the case.

Howard must serve at least 50% of the four-year sentence and will receive credit for 779 days spent in custody, according to the sentencing order.

Howard subsequently was returned to the Shawnee Correctional Center, where he had been serving a six-year prison sentence for an aggravated unlawful use of a weapon conviction in Lake County, according to Illinois Department of Corrections records.

In that case, Howard pleaded guilty last March to illegally possessing a firearm in a vehicle without having been issued a firearm owner’s identification card and was sentenced to six years, Lake County court records show. In exchange for his guilty plea, two other charges – two counts of possessing a firearm as a felon – were dismissed.

He is to serve at least 50% of that six-year sentence and received credit for 156 days in custody, according to the sentencing order.

He is expected to be paroled in October 2024, according to Illinois Department of Corrections records.