State Crime and Court Roundup: Former Racine Mayor freed from prison

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RACINE - Former Racine Mayor Gary Becker was very popular at one time – but now, some of his new neighbors are upset about where he moved, after being freed from prison this week.

Becker spent three years behind bars for arranging sex on the Internet with a 14-year-old girl who was actually a state Justice agent performing a sting operation. Becker’s new home is about two blocks from a Racine elementary school. The address was made public yesterday, when he signed up on a state Internet site for registered sex offenders. Some of Becker’s new neighbors told the Racine Journal Times they should have known before now that the former mayor was moving in. One called the lack of notification “disturbing.” Becker declined comment. The paper quoted him as saying “I’m good, thanks.” And then shut the door on a reporter. He’ll be on extended supervision for the next five years. The conditions include treatment, getting a job, no alcohol, taking periodic urine tests, and not going online unless a probation agent approves.

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A Milwaukee man will spend four years on probation, after he was involved in a grocery store hold-up that was foiled by a customer with a concealed weapon. The case made big news because it was the first crime to be prevented because of the state’s concealed carry law, which was only three months old at the time. 21-year-old Edyon Hibbler was sentenced this week. He did not get any more jail time other than the year he served while the case was going through the courts. Hibbler was waiting outside when his partner Dierre Cotton was threatening a cashier at a Milwaukee Aldi’s store with a sawed-off shotgun. Customer Nazir Al-Mujaahid shot Cotton in the leg and grazed him on the head. He and Hibbler were arrested later, and were charged in the Aldi’s incident and two other Milwaukee store hold-ups. The 21-year-old Cotton has pleaded guilty to the three robberies, and will be sentenced April eighth. Al-Mujaahid was not charged – although he was not allowed to have the concealed weapon inside the store. He’s still waiting for authorities to give him his gun back.

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A jury in Madison is heard its second day of testimony in the trial of Chad Chritton, the man accused of starving and torturing his teen daughter by locking her in a basement. Dane County District Attorney Ismael Ozanne said in his opening argument that the 15-year-old girl had cuts on her face, and purple toes from exposure to the cold after she had escaped. A passing motorist found the girl walking in cold temperatures last February. Ozanne said the teen weighed 68 pounds and looked like she was eight. Defense attorney William Hayes told the jury that the youngster threatened to kill her father – and he had a difficult time dealing with her psychiatric issues. Over 100 people are on a list of possible witnesses for the trial, which is scheduled to run for another week-and-a-half. Both Chritton and his wife are charged with six felonies and a misdemeanor, including child neglect and false imprisonment.

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