04072016 - News Article - Political figure accused of fleeing accident scene - ROBERT CANTRELL

Political figure accused of fleeing accident scene
NWI Times
Apr 7, 2016
nwitimes.com/news/crime-and-court/political-figure-accused-of-fleeing-accident-scene/article_23965d09-105c-5e44-b20e-8d24820921cc.html
LAKES OF THE FOUR SEASONS — Lake County police say a lawyer from a prominent political family is being accused of a recent hit-and-run property damage accident.

Police are identifying Jennifer Jo Cantrell, of Four Seasons, as the driver who fled on foot across one of the greens of the gated community's golf course following a collision with another vehicle.

She is the daughter of Robert Cantrell, a state high school basketball champion and Lake County political power broker who recently finished a 78-month federal sentence for his 2008 conviction for public corruption. She also is a sister of Lake Superior Court Judge Julie Cantrell.

Police said they are issuing her citations for false and fictitious registration and leaving the scene of an accident with property damage. She will be charged with failure of duty of a driver causing property damage, they said.

Police said they were called April 1 to Four Seasons where Robert Tutlewski, of Four Seasons, reported the accident. Tutlewski said he was driving east on 109th Avenue near the front gate when he was struck from behind by another car whose driver continued through the gate. 

Tutlewski told police he forced the car to stop near community's gatehouse. Tutlewski said he attempted to talk to her, but she left on foot, abandoning her 2015 Volkswagen Passat. He said he took a photo of her with his cellphone as she left.

A county police officer said an examination of the car's license plate number indicated it was false, but the vehicle's identification number indicated it was registered to Cantrell.

A county and a Four Seasons officer went to her home to speak to her about the accident, but an unidentified man at the house said she was resting and he wouldn't let them talk to her.

Officer said they later received a report of a purse found near the community golf course's seventh hole near Shoreline Drive containing Cantrell's driver's license.

Police said the photograph Tutlewski took of the fleeing driver resembled the person pictured on the driver's license.