Friday was a busy day in Hamilton County court according to States Attorney Justin Hood.
33 year old Curtis D Bertram entered a guilty plea on a charge of Class 2 arson relating to an incident on November 21, 2015. Bertram was accused of setting fire to a 1997 Chevy Blazer owned by Kelly Jackson in a case investigated by the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department. As a result of prior offenses, Bertram received an extended term of 12 years in Department of Corrections custody and two years of mandatory supervised release.
29 year old Flavius Earp of Noble plead guilty to a count of Class 3 felony theft of over $500 but less that $10000 and will serve 2 years in prison and one year of mandatory supervised release. Earp was charged with stealing a 2012 Polaris Ranger 800 and later selling the UTV on January 20, which was recovered in St. Francisville.
A 15 year old male juvenile plead guilty to a count of Class 4 disorderly conduct and was ordered to two years of probation in connection to a bomb threat at Hamilton County High School on February 18th. The juvenile served 64 days in custody at the Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center, and was also ordered to complete 100 hours of community service, complete in-patient drug treatment, and pay $1570.49 in restitution to the Hamilton County Sheriff’s Department, McLeansboro City Police, and the Illinois Secretary of State bomb squad for costs associated with the investigation.
