A mother has been sentenced to three years in prison after she and her daughter pleaded guilty to hiding the body of a deceased man, who was a convicted sex offender, in Richmond.
Theresa M. Stoen, 44, of Genoa City, Wisconsin, and Mikalah M. Stoen, 26, of Richmond, were both indicted in June 2022 on two counts of concealment of a death, a Class 4 felony.
The McHenry County Conservation District Police Department responded around 8 a.m. on April 29, 2022, to the North Branch Conservation Area, 11500 North Keystone Road in Richmond.
McHenry County Conservation District Police Chief Laura King told Lake and McHenry County Scanner that a staff member reported finding a deceased male subject near the entrance to the conservation area.
There were no signs of apparent injury on the man and he did not have any identification on him, King said at the time.
The McHenry County Sheriff’s Office, Richmond Police Department and Richmond Township Fire Protection District also responded to the scene and assisted with the investigation alongside the McHenry County Coroner’s Office.
The man was identified as Alexander Oleston through investigative efforts.
State records show Oleston was a convicted child sex offender. He was 32 years old and a Richmond resident.
Oleston was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in Wisconsin when he was 21 and the victim was 14, records show.
The previous sex crime conviction against Oleston did not involve the two Stoens, King said.
Theresa Stoen and Mikalah Stoen, who are mother and daughter, told investigators they believed Oleston had died from a drug overdose.
It is unknown if he was dead at the time his body was transported to the conservation area. Oleston’s cause and manner of death are undetermined.
A grand jury indictment said that the Stoens transported Oleston’s body from an apartment in the 10600 block of North Main Street in Richmond the day before he was found.
The two defendants initially pleaded not guilty to the charges, court records show.
The Stoens entered into a blind plea agreement in May by pleading guilty to one of the two counts of concealment of a death.
The charge is a Class 4 felony and carries a sentence of one to three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections but is probationable.
McHenry County Judge Tiffany Davis sentenced Theresa Stoen to three years in prison during a sentencing hearing Tuesday.
A sentencing hearing was scheduled for earlier this month for Mikalah Stoen but it has been delayed.
She is scheduled to appear in court again on August 18.