Rock Falls felon makes a deal in 13 felony cases filed in Whiteside court

MORRISON – A Rock Falls man with a baker’s dozen of pending felony cases dating to 2018 entered into a plea agreement Monday in all 13.

As a result, Ryan Dean Hicks, 36, was sentenced in Whiteside County court to three years in prison in four cases, and to four terms of 1½ years in three others, with all sentences to run concurrently.

Six cases were dismissed outright, while 11 counts in six others were dismissed. Additionally, Hicks was given a maximum of 440 days served in jail in one case.

That could knock roughly one year, two-and-a-half months off his term, which means he could serve about a year in prison if given day-for day credit. How that is calculated will be up to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

According to the court record, the dispositions of the 13 felony cases are:

• Three counts of deceptive practices, filed on March 21, 2018 – and for which he was to be tried Tuesday, March 19 – three years on one count, with two counts dismissed.

• One count of deceptive practices, filed March 21, 2018, case dismissed.

• Three counts of deceptive practices, filed Jan. 8, 2019, three years on one count, one felony and one misdemeanor count dismissed.

• Possession of fewer than 5 grams of meth, filed June 24, 2019, case dismissed.

• Two counts of deceptive practices, filed July 23, 2019, three years on one count, one count dismissed.

• One count of deceptive practices, filed July 23, 2019, three years.

• Financial exploitation of an elderly person of more than $500 but less than $5,000, and unlawful possession of a credit or debit card, filed June 9, 2021, case dismissed.

• Two counts of burglary and one of retail theft, filed Oct. 19, 2021, case dismissed.

• Two counts of burglary, two of theft of more than $500 but less than $10,000 from a school, church or government agency, and three of unlawful possession of a credit or debit card, filed Nov. 6, 2023, one year, six months on one count of theft, and one year six months on one count of unlawful possession of a credit or debit card, other four counts dismissed.

• Burglary and theft worth less than $300, filed Nov. 22, 2023. One year, six months for theft, burglary dismissed.

• Possession of fewer than 5 grams of meth, filed Jan. 5, 2024, case dismissed.

• Deceptive practices, filed Feb. 20, 2024, case dismissed.

• Deceptive practices and burglary, also filed Feb. 20, 2024, one year, six months, burglary dismissed.

Hicks’ attorney, Janet Buttron of Chana, filed a motion Feb. 28 seeking a change of venue in the March 19 trial. In it, she cited three stories about Hicks’ charges published in Sauk Valley Media print publications and on its Facebook page that she said created “such a prejudice against him in the inhabitants of Whiteside that he cannot receive a fair trial.”

She included Facebook comments from what appears to be six people who seemed to opine that they thought Hicks was guilty.

Buttron also filed a motion on Feb. 27 that sought to exclude Hicks’ criminal record at trial. Among them were nine felony and misdemeanor convictions in Lee and Whiteside counties, dating to 2010, five involving theft, two for obstruction of justice, and possession of a controlled substance (heroin) and aggravated fleeing. His history was admitted at Monday’s sentencing.

Buttron also filed an application Feb. 15 asking the court to allow her client, who has no violent criminal history, to be transferred to drug court, a treatment-based adjudication process. He was terminated from the program in June 2016 for failing to meet its conditions. Those motions were rendered moot with the plea agreement.

The highest penalty Hicks was facing was three to seven years; most of the charges carried one to three years.

As for his criminal history, according to Whiteside and Lee County court records:

After being terminated from the Whiteside County Drug Court program, Hicks was sentenced June 7, 2016, to five years in prison for theft worth less than $300 with a previous conviction. A second count was dismissed per a plea agreement. On May 2, 2017, after a motion to withdraw his plea and vacate the sentence, it was reduced to four years, six months.

On Jan 25, 2012, he was sentenced to 1 1/2 years of probation for possession of a controlled substance and to a year’s probation in another case for aggravated fleeing. His probation was revoked in the drug case and he was sentenced to two years in prison on March 25, 2014.

On Nov. 13, 2019, Hicks was sentenced to three years in prison in Lee County for possession of a controlled substance, heroin. One count of manufacturing less than 15 grams of heroin was dismissed.

On April 3, 2014, he was convicted of destroying evidence and sentenced to two years, to be served concurrently with the Whiteside County drug case.

Hicks also filed a wrongful arrest complaint last year in Illinois Northern District Court.

On Jan. 23, 2023, Hicks filed a petition for administrative review in federal court in Rockford, citing as defendants the People of the State of Illinois, Blackhawk Area Tasc (sic) Force, Illinois State Police, Dixon Police Department, Sterling Police Department, Rock Falls Police Department, et. al., alleging a violation of his constitutional right to travel.

In it he said that “in 2018, while traveling on a united states highway I was abducted by the Illinois state police and Blackhawk area Tasc force (1st amend freedom to travel). I was not the subject of Investigation, nor was I allowed to leave. I only plead guilty out of fear of my life.”

Judge Ian Johnston dismissed the petition two days later, citing the two-year statute of limitations on reporting violations of constitutional rights. The judge gave him until that Feb. 28 to amend the claim to wrongful arrest, which would have been timely, but an amended complaint was not filed, and so Hicks’ petition was terminated with prejudice on March 8, 2023.