A Sterling man was sentenced to six years in prison Tuesday after admitting he set a 2023 Sterling house fire in the middle of the night after learning a registered sex offender lived there

Illinois State Police special agents began an investigation after receiving a cyber tip in January regarding the dissemination of child sexual abuse materials in Lee County.

A Rock Falls man accused of firing a gun into a car will stay out of jail on pretrial release under strict home monitoring, including video doorbells at every entrance.

A Rock Falls man has been charged in Whiteside County with four counts of possession of child sex abuse material

Deputies were told that a person in Paw Paw had earlier been contacted and informed their Apple account had been “hacked" and was then transferred to a person posing as an FBI agent, who told the individual they needed to pay money to capture the "hacker."

A Rock Falls man has been sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to a weapons charge.

Heath A. Knipple, 46, was charged July 2, 2025, with six counts of Class X felony dissemination of images of child sex abuse, with each count listing the victim as younger than 13. The charges carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison if he is convicted.

A Lee County judge on Thursday set a June hearing for a Georgia man who’s pleaded not guilty to drug charges related to the Jan. 16 police search of a stranded vehicle near Amboy.

An Illinois appellate court has ordered a new hearing in a 2011 Sterling shooting case, ruling that a man convicted of attempted murder has possibly presented credible evidence of self-defense that was unavailable at trial.