The Weekly Post public record for 9-4-25

NOTE: Charges are merely an accusation. All suspects are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
Police reports

• PEORIA – A Peoria man was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend, who was found with two mortal gunshot wounds in 2021 in a ditch west of Kickapoo.

Joshua A. McGee, 39, also was convicted Aug. 20 in Peoria County Circuit Court of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon. The verdicts culminated a three-day trial. Sentencing for the crimes McGee committed Aug. 22, 2021, is scheduled for Oct. 2, per the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office.

Alerted by a 911 telephone call, Peoria County Sheriff’s Office deputies found Ashley Tankersley, 37, of Peoria lying in a ditch along U.S. Route 150 near Philander Chase Lane. She died at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria.

McGee was arrested at a rest area north of Springfield following an hours-long standoff. A search of his vehicle brought forth a handgun, two spent shell casings, Tankersley’s purse and her phone. Peoria County Sheriff Chris Watkins, who was a captain at the time, traced the 911 call to McGee’s phone.

• ELMWOOD – A Yates City man was accused of passing a counterfeit $20 bill at an Elmwood convenience store.

Security video revealed Zachary R. Cassel, 32, used the fake cash to buy a pack of cigarettes and two Illinois Lottery tickets about 9:45 p.m. Aug. 11 at Casey’s, 811 W. Main St., according to the Elmwood Police Department. A clerk determined the bill was counterfeit after Cassel left the store.

Cassel was charged with fraud and received a notice to appear in Peoria County Circuit Court. He also was cited for driving with a suspended license.

• PEORIA – An Edwards man was arrested after he fled the scene of a traffic accident in Peoria.
Kayden E. McBride, 18, was the passenger in a westbound 2016 Ford Focus that struck a curb and wrecked shortly after 2:15 a.m. Aug. 10 on War Memorial Drive west of Big Hollow Road, according to a Peoria police report. Also fleeing on foot was the driver, 18-year-old Keylon M. Schutz of Peoria.
McBride was located at a nearby apartment. Both men said they fled because they were scared. Both men were accused of resisting arrest. McBride also was accused of obstructing an officer, and Schutz was accused of reckless driving. A cannabis grinder was found inside the car.

• BRIMFIELD – A Galesburg man was accused of drunken driving following a single-vehicle accident.
Joseph M. Wiegand, 35, was driving a 2018 Jeep Wrangler at the time of the wreck, shortly after 7 p.m. Aug. 9 in the 400 block of E. Knoxville St., a heavily redacted Peoria County Sheriff’s Office report stated. Brimfield firefighters and BYE Ambulance Service also responded.

Wiegand was transported to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center in Peoria, where he was treated for unspecified injuries. He was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol, improper lane use and failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident.

• HANNA CITY – A Farmington man appeared to avoid injury from a single-vehicle wreck south of Hanna City. Jesse J. Ebert was driving a 2013 Chrysler shortly after 6:30 p.m. Aug. 6 in the 9400 block of W. Smithville Rd. when the driver’s-side front tire fell off the vehicle, according to a Peoria County Sheriff’s Office report. The vehicle ended up facing west in a north-side ditch.

• HANNA CITY – Oversized-load semi-trailer trucks might have indirectly caused sparks to fly inside a Hanna City residence, according to authorities.

Logan-Trivoli firefighters and a Peoria County Sheriff’s Office deputy were summoned about 2 p.m. Aug. 5 to the 300 block of N. First St. The residents there said the sparks fell from the ceiling near an air conditioner, according to a sheriff’s-office report.

A wire from a telephone pole attached to the house extended to nearby Farmington Road and was hanging low above it. Fire officials noted other recent calls about low-hanging wires, which may be from an increased number of oversized loads passing through town because of detours.

No damage inside the residence was reported. Ameren Illinois was called to remove the wire.

• PEORIA – An Edelstein-area man was arrested on illegal-drugs charges less than a week after he was cited for traffic violations.

Ronnie L. Bodtke, 41, was accused of unlawful methamphetamine possession, obstructing justice, attempting to elude an officer, driving on a suspended license, disregarding a stop sign and improper use of registration regarding an incident about 6 p.m. Aug. 8 at Montana and Oregon streets in Peoria.

A Peoria County Sheriff’s Office report about that incident was heavily redacted. So was a report from Aug. 3, when a deputy stopped Bodtke while he was driving a U-Haul truck about 10 p.m. in the 3000 block of W. Starr St. in Peoria. The truck did not have functional brake lights.

Bodtke was cited for the brake-light malfunction, as well as for driving with a suspended license.

• PEORIA – An Edwards man was accused of the armed robbery of $30 from a gasoline station in Peoria.

Officers stopped Sergio Delgado-Rodriguez, 26, as he was driving a 2024 Chevrolet Trax sport-utility vehicle shortly after 2:30 a.m. Aug. 2 at Grinnell and Livingston streets. Delgado-Rodriguez matched the description of a suspect security video captured robbing the BP station at 3202 SW Adams St.
A Glock 26 handgun was found under the driver’s seat. Delgado-Rodriguez was arrested for armed robbery, possession of a firearm without a valid FOID card and aggravated unlawful possession of a weapon. He also was accused of expired vehicle registration and illegal possession of cannabis.

• FARMINGTON – Zachary D. Beintema of Brimfield was accused of multiple crimes following a traffic stop at 4 p.m. Aug. 11 at Illinois Route 78 and Cottonwood Road south of Farmington, according to a partial Fulton County Sheriff’s Office report. It indicated Beintema was driving a 2007 Chevrolet pickup truck, that he received two tickets and that adult-use cannabis in the vehicle was confiscated and destroyed.

• EDWARDS – Shortly before 6:45 p.m. Aug. 6, Joel E. Brown of Peoria was driving a northbound 2020 BMW X5 on Taylor Road near Wildlife Prairie Road south of Edwards when the vehicle struck a deer that emerged from the west. Brown was uninjured, according to a Peoria County Sheriff’s Office report. The vehicle sustained damage but was drivable. The impact killed the deer.

• HANNA CITY – A garbage truck damaged a vehicle parked in a Hanna City lot.
The GFL garbage truck was servicing a dumpster shortly after 11 a.m. Aug. 7 at Whitmore Gymnasium, 511 N. Main St. As the truck’s driver, Jason T. Waugh, pulled forward to service another dumpster, the vehicle struck the driver’s-side fender of a Toyota, according to a Peoria County Sheriff’s Office report.

• GALESBURG – These were among calls to which the Knox County Sheriff’s Office responded between Aug. 3-16: DOA, Dahinda; unwanted subject, Dahinda; alarm, Dahinda; driving complaint, Dahinda; two suspicious vehicles, Yates City; fire, Galva; suspicious vehicle, Williamsfield.