Felony charges have now been filed against a former Crystal Lake South High School dean and Prairie Ridge High School coach who was arrested for driving under the influence and causing an injury crash with children in the car.
The Crystal Lake Police Department and Crystal Lake Fire Rescue Department responded around 9:15 p.m. on May 9 to the intersection of Route 31 and Three Oaks Road for a vehicle crash with injuries.
Crystal Lake Deputy Police Chief Thomas Kotlowski said at the time that the investigation showed the at-fault driver in the crash was Hilary Agnello, 43, of Crystal Lake.
Agnello was suspected to be under the influence of alcohol at the time and arrested by officers, Kotlowski said.
Kotlowski said at least two people were transported by ambulance from the crash with minor injuries.
Agnello had two juveniles in the vehicle with her, Kotlowski added.
Agnello was initially charged with driving under the influence, two counts of child endangerment, operating an uninsured motor vehicle and failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash.
On Thursday, the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office upgraded the charges against her when a grand jury returned an indictment charging her with four counts of aggravated driving under the influence with a passenger under 16, two counts of aggravated driving under the influence with a passenger under 16 resulting in a crash, two counts of aggravated driving under the influence causing a crash with bodily harm, two counts of child endangerment, failure to reduce speed to avoid a crash and illegal transportation of alcohol by a driver.
The most serious charges against her are Class 2 felonies.
A criminal complaint filed in McHenry County Circuit Court said the two children in Agnello’s car were ages 12 and 14.
An officer noted in a report that Agnello’s speech was thick-tongued and she had an odor of alcoholic beverage emitting from her breathing and field sobriety testing showed further signs of impairment.
The report said Agnello refused to submit to or failed to complete testing, resulting in a minimum 12-month suspension of her driving privileges.
Kotlowski said Agnello refused to submit to blood alcohol testing and a search warrant was obtained for blood samples, which were sent to the lab for analysis.
Agnell was one of the deans at Crystal Lake South High School in District 155. She was also the girls volleyball head coach at Prairie Ridge High School in Prairie Grove, which is also in District 155.
She has since been removed from the district’s website as being one of the deans. It is unclear if she remains active as the girls volleyball head coach.
Agnello was released from custody following her arrest in May and is scheduled to appear in court again on July 22 to be arraigned on the new charges.
Court records show Agnell has a prior driving under the influence violation from 2017 and also has numerous traffic violations in McHenry County, including one where she fled the scene of a crash involving a parked vehicle last year.