Suburban man who avoided prison in Florida case could do time here
By Sun-Times Staff June 6, 2011 8:38PM
Ryan LeVin
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Updated: August 3, 2011 4:28PM
A Chicago-area man facing two years of house arrest in Florida for a hit-and-run crash that killed two pedestrians in the Sunshine State could end up spending several months in an Illinois prison.
Last week, a Broward County, Fla., judge sentenced Ryan LeVin, 36, to the house arrest term in exchange for pleading guilty to two counts of vehicular homicide and leaving the scene of a February 2009 crash in Fort Lauderdale. The crash killed two British businessmen — Craig Elford, 39, and Kenneth Watkinson, 48.
LeVin, a son of a wealthy Illinois family, was also ordered to pay an undisclosed amount to the two men’s widows to settle a wrongful death suit.
At the time of the crash, LeVin was on parole for a crash that injured three people on the Kennedy Expy. in 2006. LeVin violated the terms of his parole when he left Illinois without permission to attend a court hearing in connection with the Florida case, said Cara Smith, chief of staff for the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Smith said she called authorities in Florida Monday to arrange for LeVin’s return to Illinois. Smith said Illinois’ Prisoner Review Board will decide whether to revoke LeVin’s parole and then calculate how much time he should serve. It’s likely that term would be less than one year, Smith said.
LeVin’s parents founded Jewels by Park Lane, a Schaumburg-based jewelry company.
