Man charged in fatal crash returns to jail

A Naperville man charged with nine counts of aggravated DUI and two counts of reckless homicide after he allegedly struck and killed a student in front of Downers Grove North High School was ordered back to jail June 3 after a DuPage County judge ruled that he has violated the terms of his bail by attempting to contact the family of the victim.

DuPage County Judge Liam Brennan increased Joseph Kucharski’s bail from $750,000, 10% of which Kucharski posted to be released, to $1 million. He is now required to post 10% of the difference, or an additional $25,000, to be released again.

Authorities said Kucharski was under the influence of drugs and alcohol the morning of Feb. 19 when he drove through the intersection of Main and Grant streets, striking and fatally injuring junior Beth Dunlap.

Kucharski faces three to 14 years in prison if convicted of the charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

Kucharski failed a field sobriety test and his blood-alcohol content was determined to be .031, authorities said. Drug tests indicated that Kucharski had alcohol, cocaine and Xanax in his system, according to court documents. He later admitted to using crack cocaine during the four days before the crash.

He later told police, “I didn’t even know I hit anybody,” court documents show.

Kucharski was driving south on Main Street after running a red light when the crash occurred. Dunlap, who was crossing Main Street to go to school, was struck while in the curb lane of traffic in the northbound lanes in the crosswalk.

Kucharski first appeared in court Feb. 26, at which time his bail was reduced from $5 million to $750,000. Among the conditions of his bond were “no contact of any kind with the family of Beth Dunlap,” according to court documents.

Kucharski posted 10% of the $750,000 bail May 15 and was released from custody. He was staying with a cousin in Bartlett.

The following day, the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office was notified by Randy Dunlap, Beth Dunlap’s father, that his wife had received text messages from an unknown number and that the person said she was a friend of Kucharski, according to court documents.

Downers Grove Police detectives on May 21 interviewed Deborah Weber, the author of the text messages sent to the Dunlap family. Weber told police that Kucharski called her and was crying and expressed that he was grief stricken.

He said he would like to apologize to the Dunlap family, but contact was forbidden by the court. Weber offered to contact the Dunlap family for him. Kucharski indicated “that would be awesome and thanked her for being in his corner,” according to court documents.

On May 22, Downers Grove Police drove to the address Kucharski was thought to be staying at in Bartlett to speak to him about contacting the Dunlap family. There was no answer at the door.

Police called Kucharski’s cousin in an effort to locate the defendant. Police were told Kucharski was in an inpatient treatment facility, but he would not tell the officers where that facility was located or the name of that facility.

On May 28, the State’s Attorney’s office spoke with Intake Probation Officer Theresa Marotta of the DuPage County Probation Department. Marotta said that she met with the Kucharski on May 15. During that meeting, she reviewed all the conditions of his bond. Kucharski signed off on the conditions, Marotta said.

Marotta explained to Kucharski that “no contact with the Dunlap family meant firsthand contact, secondhand contact or contact by any third party on behalf of the defendant,” according to court documents.

Kucharski is scheduled to return to court July 9 for a status hearing.