Eunice Walker, the director of The Mothers House – which was shuttered by Dixmoor police early Friday morning – was recently found in contempt of court -- on behalf of The Mothers House -- by a Cook County Circuit Court judge for failing to respond to a $250,000 judgment against the facility, resulting from the death of a Mothers House resident in 2014, NBC 5 Investigates has found.
Walker and Mothers House also have a history of unpaid bills, and Walker herself has been convicted six times over the past three decades, for crimes involving forgery, deception, or ID theft, according to civil and criminal court records examined by NBC 5.
The $250,000 judgment came as the result of a civil suit filed in Cook County by Donna Jones. Jones’ 33-year-old son, William Reginald Jones IV – known as Reggie – lived at another Mothers House facility, located at 7804 Yates Boulevard in Chicago’s South Shore neighborhood. In her suit, Jones says that Mothers House staff members knew that Reggie was schizophrenic and suffered from alcoholism. Despite this, Jones says, they allowed Reggie to become intoxicated on April 22, 2014, and he fell to his death from the facility’s second-story balcony.
According to court documents, in June of 2016, Cook County Arnette R. Hubbard found in favor of Jones and ordered The Mothers House to pay $250,000. A year-and-a-half later, however, that money has not been paid, and – according to the court docket -- Walker has not appeared at several court dates, in her capacity as the director of Mothers House, to show cause as to why the judgment cannot be paid. On Jan. 22 of this year, the court ordered that Walker be held in contempt, on behalf of the facility.
This is not Walker’s first time in court. NBC 5 Investigates has tracked more than a dozen small-claims court judgments levied against both Walker and The Mothers House, from 2014 to 2016, for unpaid bills totaling more than $42,000.
In addition, Walker has been convicted in courts in three local counties – Cook, Lake, and DuPage – in six separate criminal cases between 1990 and 2008:
Cook County case 90-CR-1161501:
Local
• Walker was found guilty on one count of either felony forgery or felony theft (she was charged with both but it’s unclear which one she was found guilty on) – sentenced to 100 hours of community service; $1,566 restitution; and 30 months’ probation.
Cook County case 91-CR-0722201:
• Walker was found guilty on one count of felony forgery – sentenced to home confinement/probation for 30 months
Lake County (Illinois) case 94-CF-674:
• Walker was found guilty on one count of misdemeanor passing of a bad check (first offense) – sentenced to probation and conditional discharge
DuPage County case 1997-CF-001311:
• Walker was found guilty on one count of Illegal use of credit or debit card;
• Walker was also found guilty on one count of theft by deception (exceeding $300 but less than $10,000) – sentenced to unspecified time in Illinois Department of Corrections; plus unspecified amount of probation (sentence apparently ran concurrent with Cook County Case # 99-C-33023301 – see details on that case below)
Cook County case 99-C-33023301:
• Walker pled guilty and was found guilty on one felony count of passing a bad check over $150 and/or second offense – sentenced to a minimum of 30 months’ probation (sentence to run concurrent with DuPage case # 97 CR 1131 – see details on that case above)
DuPage County case 2008-CF-0002132:
• Walker was found guilty on one count of identity theft/using a stolen ID – sentenced to DOC (unspecified term) with credit for time served
