Man jailed following trouble at Naperville apartment complex
BY BILL BIRD wbird@stmedianetwork.com March 8, 2013 11:08PM
Samuel M. Epperson, 43, is being held without bond in DuPage County Jail in Wheaton. Epperson, who was arrested last month in connection with crimes at a Naperville apartment building, is a fugitive from justice in Indiana.
Updated: April 16, 2013 3:03PM
A man on probation for his role in a violent crime in northwest Indiana remains in DuPage County Jail, following an argument with a woman with whom he lived in Naperville.
Samuel M. Epperson, 43, is being held in the jail without bond. He is scheduled to appear March 18 in DuPage County Circuit Court, where he faces trial on charges of criminal damage to property and assault, and for being a fugitive from justice, according to court records.
Naperville police were called about 5:44 a.m. Feb. 21 to an apartment complex on the 1800 block of South Washington Street, near the Old Farm neighborhood on the city’s far south side.
Police Sgt. Lou Cammiso said Epperson and a woman with whom he was living had earlier gotten into an argument in Romeoville. When Epperson arrived at their Naperville apartment, “she had moved his belongings out,” Cammiso said via e-mail.
Epperson “was angry and started banging on a window” or sliding glass door, which he broke with his hand, Cammiso said. Neither Epperson nor the woman was injured, although Cammiso estimated damage to the glass at $2,000.
Cammiso also confirmed Epperson at the time “was on parole in Indiana and was not even supposed to leave that state.”
Epperson’s parole stems from a May 7, 2011 attack on an inmate at the Lake County Work Release Center, according to published reports and records on file in Lake County, Ind.
An Illinois man that day was serving a weekend work-release sentence when two other inmates rushed him and tried to slash his neck with a metal, knife-like object, court records showed. The man turned away but still sustained injuries that included a facial cut, facial bone fractures and broken teeth, records indicated.
The victim, who subsequently filed a lawsuit, claimed county officials failed to provide him with prompt medical attention. They also allegedly returned him to the center, where he was made to stay with the men who assaulted him, according to records.
Epperson, who was one of the men involved in the attack, was initially charged with attempted murder, attempted aggravated battery and two counts of battery, records showed. He was instead placed on 18 months of probation in January 2012, after pleading guilty to the reduced charge of assisting a criminal, records indicated.
