New Lee County theft charge levied against Rock Falls offender

MORRISON – A Rock Falls man who recently entered into a plea agreement in 13 pending Whiteside County cases now is charged with appliance theft from a store in Dixon.

Ryan Dean Hicks, 36, was sentenced March 11 in Whiteside County court to three years in prison in four cases, and to four terms of 1½ years in three others, with all sentences to run concurrently.

Then, on April 17, Hicks, whose address at the time was the Sinnissippi Recovery Home in Dixon, was charged in Lee County court with theft.

According to the charging document, on Nov. 17, 2023, Hicks “knowingly obtained by deception control over ... a stove and a washer ...” worth more than $500 but less than $10,000. The penalty if convicted is two to five years in prison.

He is in the Vienna Correctional Center with a May 15 court date.

In Whiteside County, six cases were dismissed outright, while 11 counts in six others were dismissed. Additionally, Hicks was given a maximum of 440 days served in jail in one case.

That could knock about 14½ months off his term, which means he could serve about a year in prison if given day-for day credit. How that is calculated will be up to the Illinois Department of Corrections, which is projecting a potential Nov. 20 parole date.

According to the court record, the dispositions of the 13 felony cases are:

• Three counts of deceptive practices, filed March 21, 2018 – and for which he was to be tried Tuesday, March 19 – three years on one count, with two counts dismissed.

• One count of deceptive practices, filed March 21, 2018, case dismissed.

• Three counts of deceptive practices, filed Jan. 8, 2019, three years on one count, one felony and one misdemeanor count dismissed.

• Possession of fewer than 5 grams of meth, filed June 24, 2019, case dismissed.

• Two counts of deceptive practices, filed July 23, 2019, three years on one count, one count dismissed.

• One count of deceptive practices, filed July 23, 2019, three years.

• Financial exploitation of an elderly person of more than $500 but less than $5,000, and unlawful possession of a credit or debit card, filed June 9, 2021, case dismissed.

• Two counts of burglary and one of retail theft, filed Oct. 19, 2021, case dismissed.

• Two counts of burglary; two of theft of more than $500 but less than $10,000 from a school, church or government agency; and three of unlawful possession of a credit or debit card, filed Nov. 6, 2023; one year, six months on one count of theft, and one year, six months on one count of unlawful possession of a credit or debit card, other four counts dismissed.

• Burglary and theft worth less than $300, filed Nov. 22, 2023. One year, six months for theft, burglary dismissed.

• Possession of fewer than 5 grams of meth, filed Jan. 5, 2024, case dismissed.

• Deceptive practices, filed Feb. 20, 2024, case dismissed.

• Deceptive practices and burglary, also filed Feb. 20, 2024, one year, six months, burglary dismissed.

Hicks’ attorney, Janet Buttron of Chana, filed a motion Feb. 28 seeking a change of venue in the March 19 trial. In it, she cited three stories about Hicks’ charges published in Sauk Valley Media print publications and on its Facebook page that she said created “such a prejudice against him in the inhabitants of Whiteside that he cannot receive a fair trial.”

She included Facebook comments from what appeared to be six people who seemed to opine that they thought Hicks was guilty.

Buttron also filed a motion Feb. 27 that sought to exclude Hicks’ criminal record at trial. Among them were nine felony and misdemeanor convictions in Lee and Whiteside counties dating to 2010, five involving theft, two for obstruction of justice, and possession of a controlled substance (heroin) and aggravated fleeing. His history was admitted at Monday’s sentencing.

Buttron also filed an application Feb. 15 asking the court to allow her client, who has no violent criminal history, to be transferred to drug court, a treatment-based adjudication process. He was terminated from the program in June 2016 for failing to meet its conditions. Those motions were rendered moot with the plea agreement.

The highest penalty Hicks was facing was three to seven years in prison; most of the charges carried one to three years.

As for his criminal history, according to Whiteside and Lee County court records:

After being terminated from the Whiteside County Drug Court program, Hicks was sentenced June 7, 2016, to five years in prison for theft worth less than $300 with a previous conviction. A second count was dismissed per a plea agreement. On May 2, 2017, after a motion to withdraw his plea and vacate the sentence, it was reduced to 4½ years.

On Jan 25, 2012, he was sentenced to 1½ years of probation for possession of a controlled substance and to a year of probation in another case for aggravated fleeing. His probation was revoked in the drug case, and he was sentenced to two years in prison March 25, 2014.

On Nov. 13, 2019, Hicks was sentenced to three years in prison in Lee County for possession of a controlled substance – heroin. One count of manufacturing less than 15 grams of heroin was dismissed.

On April 3, 2014, he was convicted of destroying evidence and sentenced to two years, to be served concurrently with the Whiteside County drug case.

Hicks also filed a wrongful arrest complaint last year in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois.

On Jan. 23, 2023, Hicks filed a petition for administrative review in federal court in Rockford, citing as defendants the people of the state of Illinois, the Blackhawk Area Task Force, Illinois State Police, the Dixon Police Department, the Sterling Police Department, the Rock Falls Police Department, et al., alleging a violation of his constitutional right to travel.

In it, he said that “in 2018, while traveling on a United States highway I was abducted by the Illinois state Police and Blackhawk Area [Task] Force (1st Amendment freedom to travel). I was not the subject of investigation, nor was I allowed to leave. I only plead guilty out of fear of my life.”

Judge Ian Johnston dismissed the petition two days later, citing the two-year statute of limitations on reporting violations of constitutional rights. The judge gave him until Feb. 28 to amend the claim to wrongful arrest, which would have been timely, but an amended complaint was not filed, and so Hicks’ petition was terminated with prejudice March 8, 2023.