Sneed: Accused of posing as judge, she tried to delay indictment

SHARE Sneed: Accused of posing as judge, she tried to delay indictment
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Attorney Rhonda Crawford, seen here with her attorney Victor Henderson, wanted to postpone her indictment until after the election. / Sun-Times file photo

Yipes!

It was a scandal.

Now, it’s a stunner!

Sneed has learned that the attorney for Rhonda Crawford, the law clerk indicted Friday for impersonating a judge, sent a letter to the Cook County state’s attorney’s office a day earlier asking it to postpone an indictment until after the November election!

Why? Because Crawford was running for judge on the city’s South Side and he didn’t want the voters disenfranchised.

“There is no legal need to indict Ms. Crawford before the elections occur,” Crawford’s attorney, Victor Henderson, wrote in an Oct 19 letter to Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez.

“I respectfully ask that your office refrain from taking any actions against Ms. Crawford until after the elections in order to refute an impression or allegation that your office is attempting to influence the democratic process,” wrote Henderson.

“I understand that your office is about to indict her for an incident that occurred in the Markham County Courthouse on August 11, 2016. Presumably, the statute of limitations for wrongdoing, if any, would run no earlier than Aug. 11, 2017.”

• Upshot: Crawford, a former nurse who obtained her law degree in 2011, is hoping to win a seat on the bench from the first judicial subcircuit.

• Backshot: She had insisted she made an honest mistake and was doing only what she was instructed to do by Judge Valarie Turner, the Markham judge who allowed her to wear her robes and handle three traffic cases.

• Buckshot: The incident has become a major embarrassment for Cook County presiding Judge Timothy Evans, who was recently re-elected to the court’s top spot.

Crawford’s campaign yelled foul and insisted the criminal charges leveled against her were politically motivated.

“This case sure takes the cake,” quipped a befuddled source familiar with the case.

“Either way, it could sure take away the cape.”

Hey! Ho!

Over the weekend, Gov. Bruce Rauner dispatched some positive Cubs mojo!

• Translation: Rauner raised the “W” flag at the Executive Mansion in Springfield, and Stella, the Rauner pooch, has been spotted wearing a Cubs bandana.

Sneed is told he and wife, Diana, have been to two Cubs playoff games.

Go, Cubs!

The women’s room . .  

Grrruf!

The race for Illinois state comptroller between Republican incumbent Leslie Munger and Dem Chicago City Clerk Susana Mendoza has been described as a battle between a Labrador retriever and a fox terrier — a reference to Mendoza’s tart tongue.

• Consider this recent comment from Mendoza to the Daily Herald: “I got started [in politics] very young because my life was different from hers as a kid. I wasn’t born with a silver spoon. I didn’t marry into wealth or anything.”

• Consider this retort from Munger to Sneed: “She knows nothing about my background. It’s outrageous the things she says. It couldn’t be further from the truth. I grew up in Joliet. I lost my dad to cancer when I was 16. I attended public schools and worked as a waitress, did clothing alterations and worked in a factory to earn money for school. I also worked full-time while going to school at night while working on my graduate degree. There was no silver spoon in my mouth.

“When John and I married, we had no money, but we had two good jobs and worked hard to live the American dream. We weren’t trust fund babies. I can tell you that.”

Pippen place . . . 

. . . and the Kardashian Korner: He filed!

News that basketball legend Scottie Pippen filed for divorce from his wife of 19 years, Larsa Pippen, a close friend of Kim Kardashian, made Sneed wonder: Is it because Larsa, the mother of the couple’s four children, was spending too much time making herself a presence on “The Real Housewives of Miami?”

Will Larsa make an eventual appearance on “Keeping up with Kardashians” to mosh about the divorce with Kim?

Will Kim finally make an appearance following her Paris robbery and assault as a new person,minus big bling and a new thing called a major overhaul of her persona?

My. My.

Sneedlings . . .

I spy: Holy mackerel: Spotted dining at Harry Caray’s Italian Steakhouse rooting on the Cubs Thursday were the Smashing Pumpkins Billy Corgan, actor Taylor “Chicago Fire” Kinney; SNL comedians Joe Nunez and Horatio Sanz; actor Joel “Brother of Bill” Murray; and actor Kyle “Killing Reagan” More. . . . Comedian Bob Saget in town for Ideas Week at Gibsons Wednesday with TV host Kelly Rizzo. . . .  Saturday’s birthday’s: Pam Zekman, ageless and priceless, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, 41, and Christopher Lloyd, 78. . . . Sunday’s birthdays: Ryan Reynolds, 40, Amandla Stenberg, 18, and Pele, 76.

Victor Henderson Letter by jroneill on Scribd

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