Woman Gets Community Service, Probation For Pepper Spraying Metra Conductor
UPDATED 03/12/12 10:42 a.m.
WHEATON, Ill. (CBS) -- A Metra passenger has been ordered to perform community service for spraying a conductor with dog repellent at a train station in Wheaton last fall.
As WBBM Newsradio's John Waelti reports, Latoya M. Moore, 27, of West Chicago, was sentenced to 18 months of probation and 80 hours of community service last week by DuPage County Circuit Judge Robert G. Kleeman.
Moore was also ordered to pay $905 in fines and legal costs, according to court records.
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's John Waelti reports
Podcast
Moore had originally faced trial on a felony charge of aggravated battery of a transit employee or passenger. She was convicted Tuesday of a lesser charge of battery, court records showed.
Wheaton police arrested Moore shortly before 9 a.m. Nov. 14, after being called to Metra's College Avenue train depot near the western suburb's downtown.
Police in November said a woman, later identified as Moore, had disembarked an eastbound train after it pulled into the station. Moore refused to produce her ticket after being asked to do so by a conductor, police said.
A second conductor also asked to see Moore's ticket. That demand prompted Moore to pull a can of capsicum, or pepper-based dog repellent, from her purse and spray the conductor in the face with it, police said.
The conductor flushed his eyes and face with water at the depot, police said. He was not seriously injured.
Moore was detained until police could arrive at the scene.
Court records indicated Moore still faces trial on a misdemeanor charge of theft of labor or services for the ticket she had allegedly failed to purchase. That portion of the case has been continued to April 3, according to records.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2012. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
