A judge sentenced a man to 10 years in prison for committing an arson house fire in Lakewood shortly after crashing into a Crystal Lake house at 96 mph, critically injuring and paralyzing a resident.
Connor C. Kirkpatrick, 30, of Lakewood, was charged in August 2022 with criminal damage to property over $100,000, aggravated reckless driving causing bodily harm and reckless conduct causing great bodily harm.
Those charges stemmed from a crash involving a car and a house in the 100 block of South Heather Drive in Crystal Lake around 7 p.m. on July 27, 2022.
Crystal Lake Deputy Police Chief Rick Neumann said at the time that an SUV was traveling eastbound on Ballard Road.
The SUV continued through the intersection of Briarwood Road and left the roadway, Neumann said. Prosecutors said Kirkpatrick was suicidal at the time.
The vehicle, which was traveling at 96 mph according to prosecutors, struck a detached garage and residence.
Kirkpatrick, who was the driver of the vehicle, was trapped and had to be extricated from the vehicle by firefighters.
Neumann said Kirkpatrick was subsequently flown to Advocate Condell Medical Center in Libertyville with life-threatening injuries.
Angelo Pleotis, 64, who lived at the involved residence, was also trapped and had to be freed from the wreckage.
Pleotis was in the shower when the vehicle hit his house. He was also flown to Advocate Condell Medical Center.
Pleotis suffered collapsed lungs, broken ribs, head trauma, lacerations and two spinal fracture dislocations, which caused paralysis.
Kirkpatrick was later released from custody after he was released from the hospital after posting 10% of a $50,000 bond.
Kirkpatrick was later the suspect in a fire that occurred on May 20, 2023, where he was charged with aggravated arson, residential arson and criminal damage to property by fire causing over $100,000 in damage.
A McHenry County sheriff’s deputy was flagged down by a subject around 5:45 a.m. that day at Route 14 and Dole Avenue in Crystal Lake.
The subject, later identified as Kirkpatrick, told the deputy that his residence in Lakewood was on fire.
Paramedics transported Kirkpatrick to Northwestern Medicine Hospital in McHenry for injuries, according to Lakewood Police Chief Mike Roth.
The Crystal Lake Fire Rescue Department was dispatched around 5:54 a.m. to the residence in the 9300 block of Firth Court in Lakewood.
Then-Crystal Lake Fire Rescue Chief Paul DeRaedt said at the time that firefighters arrived in six minutes and reported the fire appeared to be out.
A search of the one-story, single-family home revealed no one was inside, DeRaedt said.
Fire crews extinguished some smoldering contents but the fire did not require much water to extinguish.
The home sustained significant heat and smoke damage throughout, DeRaedt said, adding that the fire appeared to have mostly burned itself out.
The residence was declared uninhabitable due to the damage. No firefighters were injured.
DeRaedt said damage to the structure and contents was estimated at $250,000.
Investigators from the Crystal Lake Fire Rescue Department, Office of the Illinois State Fire Marshal and Lakewood Police Department were called to the scene.
A criminal complaint said Kirkpatrick poured approximately four gallons of gasoline throughout the inside of the residence around 3:43 a.m. that morning.
Kirkpatrick used a cigarette lighter that he had in his pocket to ignite the gasoline, the complaint said.
The complaint said Kirkpatrick had the intent to cause great bodily harm to himself and property damage to the home.
Court records show Kirkpatrick resides at the residence, which his father owns. The father was not home at the time.
An arrest warrant carrying a $500,000 bond was issued for Kirkpatrick, who remained hospitalized in the days after the fire, Roth said.
Kirkpatrick was taken into the custody of the McHenry County Jail on May 31, 2023.
Prosecutors filed a motion in June 2023 to revoke Kirkpatrick’s bond, citing Illinois law that allowed a defendant to be held without bond when they commit a forcible felony while out on bond in a pending felony case.
McHenry County Judge Tiffany Davis ordered Kirkpatrick held without bond after a hearing on the petition was held.
A jury trial was held in March and the jury returned guilty verdicts for the charges of residential arson, a Class 1 felony, and arson, a Class 2 felony.
Kirkpatrick was sentenced on Friday to 10 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections by Davis.
Kirkpatrick will receive 814 days of credit for time served and will serve the sentence at 50% in accordance with truth-in-sentencing guidelines.
Prosecutors dropped the separate case against Kirkpatrick for the Crystal Lake house crash after he was sentenced in the arson case.