// a href = ./ //

GODFREY, Ill. (AP) - A southwestern Illinois prosecutor says a boy bitten by a pet monkey during a dog event will undergo precautionary rabies vaccinations rather than having the primate euthanized to see if it's infected with the disease.

Madison County State's Attorney Tom Gibbons tells The (Alton) Telegraph that the decision involving the 6-year-old boy came after the prosecutor's office consulted with the child's parents.

The monkey named Nina has been in quarantine since it bit the boy June 2 when the child tried to pet the java macaque during a yearly "Bark in the Park" event in Godfrey. 

No charges have been filed, and Gibbons' office is trying to determine who legally owns the monkey.

Dr. David Hall with Madison County's animal-control office says his agency was seeking advice from the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

   

   Madison County authorities want to hear from anyone who may have witnessed a traffic stop along Godfrey Road just south of the Jersey County border about 6 p.m. Friday.  That's where a 17 year old girl reported being pulled over by a man in a large, white car who may have been impersonating a police officer.  

   The man is described as a white male, about 30 to 40 years old, about 6'1' to 6'3' with a brown crew cut, no facial hair and wearing a blue button-up shirt and dark pants.

   Madison County Sheriffs Captain Mike Dixon says investigators don't know yet if the man was an impostor, but it's important they find out.  

   Dixon says they suspect the man was impersonating an officer because his car had only a flashing blue light, when real police usually have both red and blue or just red lights.

   But he also cautions that police do use unmarked cars to make traffic stops.  Dixon says if anyone feels uneasy after being pulled over, they should call 9-1-1.  

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A former Southern Illinois University student freed from prison after an appellate court threw out his conviction in an alleged campus threat case may not be out of legal trouble.

Madison County Prosecutor Thomas Gibbons is asking Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan to appeal the appellate court's ruling to the state's Supreme Court.

Twenty-seven year old Olutosin Oduwole was released Monday from a prison in Jacksonville. He'd been serving a five year sentence linked to a 2011 conviction of attempting to make a terrorist threat.

Prosecutors say a note found in Oduwole's abandoned car in 2007 threatened a murderous rampage if he wasn't paid $50,000. As an aspiring rapper, Oduwole claimed the writings were just lyrics or other musings.

Maura Possley, a spokeswoman for Madigan, said Gibbons' appellate request was being reviewed.

The residents in one metro-east neighborhood are back in their homes after a standoff in Troy, Illinois forced their evacuations. That standoff ended around 2 o'clock this morning when a SWAT-type police unit using teargas entered the home.

It had begun around 10:30 Monday morning. Police say an armed man in his 40s had barricaded himself inside a home in the 500 block of Woodthrust Street. Police say the man had threatened to take his own life, and possible attack police as well.

Police had tried to talk the man out, but moved in after negotiations broke down.

The man was taken to a hospital for observation.

A 55-year-old Maryville, Illinois man hanged himself Thursday morning in his cell at Madison County Jail. Madison County Sheriff Robert Hertz says jail staff found the man at approximately 5:30 a.m. He'd hanged himself using personal undergarments.

Hertz said the inmate had been jailed since August 24, 2011 on the following criminal charges: aggravated criminal sexual assault, aggravated unlawful restraint, solicitation to commit home invasion, solicitation to commit aggravated kidnapping, solicitation to commit residential burglary, and unlawful possession of contraband in a penal institution (for making homemade weapons at the county jail).

The solicitation and contraband charges were filed against the inmate Wednesday after detectives learned he was planning to attack the woman he allegedly sexually assaulted in August 2011. Guards at the county jail administered emergency medical treatment until Edwardsville Fire Department Emergency Medical Services arrived and determined the inmate had died. Per sheriff's office protocol, the Madison County Coroner's Office, Illinois State Police and the Illinois Department of Corrections were notified of the suicide and are conducting a joint investigation.

The inmate's name is not being released.

GODFREY, Ill. (AP) - Authorities in Madison County are searching out anyone who may have bought things from an alleged burglar of storage units, and they're confident the purchasers will remember the seller.

Twenty-four year old Adam Roberts is accused of three felony counts of burglary related to thefts last month from as many as 28 storage units in his hometown of Godfrey.

What makes Roberts distinctive is the skeleton-style tattoo over his face - artwork sheriff's Capt. Mike Dixon calls "just odd."

Authorities say they've recovered $1,000 worth of stolen property taken in the break-ins, but they suspect Roberts or an accomplice may have sold other items.

Roberts is jailed on $60,000 bond. Online court records don't show whether he has an attorney.

Anyone having information concerning this investigation or the stolen property is urged to contact the Madison County Sheriff’s Office at the following numbers:

618-692-4433 (Dispatch Center)
618-692-0871 (Investigative Division)
618-296-3000 (Anonymous Tip Line)