Monday, May 21, 2012

Bail set for five ARA members charged with mob action in attack at Tinley Park restaurant over the weekend.



Authorities charged five Indiana men Monday with a weekend attack  in which a group of masked assailants wielding bats and batons stormed a Tinley Park restaurant in broad daylight, beating diners they believed were connected to a white supremacist group.
Two of the people attacked at the restaurant also are facing charges.
“They’re both extreme groups,” Tinley Park Mayor Ed Zabrocki said. “It’s extreme stances — the anti-racism group is against racism, against anti-semitism, against homophobia, where the other group is for white people only..”
The five men from Indiana were charged with mob action, aggravated battery and criminal damage to property. Ten people were injured in the attack at The Ashford House in Tinley Park, and three people were taken to local hospitals with head wounds, prosecutors said.
The five men charged are: John Tucker, 26, of Martinsville, Ind.; Cody Sutherlin, 23, of Bloomington, Ind.; Dylan Sutherlin, 20, and Jason Sutherlin, 33, both of Gosport, Ind.; and Alex Stuck, 22, of Bloomington, Ind.
An off-duty Tinley Park police sergeant monitoring the police radio heard a description of the cars, saw the Neon, and stopped it about five minutes later at 183rd Street and Harlem Avenue, not far from Interstate 80, Deno said. Police found two expandable batons, a knife, a pair of gloves and several dark-colored hooded sweatshirts in the vehicle, Deno said.
Assistant State’s Attorney Mike Deno said the group attacked belonged to the Illinois European Heritage Association. Zabrocki said the other group goes by “the Anti-Racist Action Group.”
A meeting for May 19 and 20 “in the Chicago area” is touted at www.stormfront.org, an Internet forum for white supremacy groups. Visitors are asked to send their checks to the Wood River-based Illinois European Heritage Association, which claims associations with White News Now and Storm Front. The site said the focus of the meeting was economic networking, adding: “Folks helping folks. Work for Whites. It is time we took our jobs back!”
“Somehow the other group found out about (the meeting) and took umbrage with their meeting at all. I wish they had met in a farmer’s field,” Zabrocki said. “This is so random. It could’ve happened anywhere in Illinois.”
Jason Sutherlin’s bail was set at $250,000, and Cody Sutherlin’s at $200,000. Dylan Sutherlin, Tucker and Stuck were ordered held on $175,000 bail.
Jason Sutherlin had a previous felony conviction in 1998 for a burglary charge, prosecutors said. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but eight years were suspended. Cody and Dylan Sutherlin each was charged with drunken driving in Indiana, prosecutors said.
The wild attack took place at The Ashford House, 7959 W. 159th St., about 12:45 p.m. Saturday.

Deno said the defendants, who wore hoodies or had scarves covering their faces, hit patrons, broke dishes and overturned tables. Before setting bail, the judge noted the attacks were unprovoked and that the five had “disguised themselves.”
Restaurant owner Mike Winston has said property damage repairs will cost $10,000 to $15,000.

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