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Driver of doughnut van is out of jail

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By Barb Ickes | Wednesday, May 28, 2008 11:45 PM CDT | () comments

Not everyone found humor in the Great Doughnut Chase.

On March 20, a Moline man was charged with stealing a Donut Delite delivery van that was parked outside Trinity Medical Center-West Campus, Rock Island. Frank Alvarado, 47, was accused of making off with the van and its contents:

75 undelivered doughnuts.

After leaving the immediate Quad-Cities, police said, Alvarado was spotted at a gas drive-off in Kewanee, Ill. He then headed for Iowa where an on-the-ball Benton County Sheriff’s deputy noticed the stolen van. The cop gave chase, and the pursuit continued into Tama County.

In all, nine officers were involved in the chase, which resulted in considerable yucking-it-up by folks who were tickled by the image of a parade of patrol cars, chasing after a vanload of doughnuts.

As you might imagine, the police didn’t find it so funny.

Anyone who’s seen an episode of COPS knows that police hardly ever laugh at a high-speed chase, and Alvarado’s speed reportedly exceeded 100 mph. It must require great restraint for officers who witness this extreme recklessness to not get out of their squad cars and (accidentally) kick the crap out of the drivers.

A sense of humor again eluded the Tama County sheriff a couple of weeks ago when a prosecutor cut a deal with Alvarado, reducing the felony first-degree theft charge to a misdemeanor operating a vehicle without consent.

He was released from the county jail May 15 after serving 56 days. His 2-year prison sentence was suspended.

Alvarado evidently has a genius for landing plea deals after trying to outrun the cops.

He was charged in Scott County in 2004 with eluding. A charge of assault with the use or display of a deadly weapon was dismissed in a plea. He was sentenced to 240 days but served only 30.

Two years later in Rock Island County, he served 26 days in the county jail for fleeing/eluding police. A second eluding charge was dismissed as part of a plea.

Tama County Sheriff Dennis Kucera said Wednesday he was “disappointed” with the latest plea but said he trusts that the prosecutor had a good reason for taking it. He added that, while in Tama County’s custody, Alvarado bragged about being involved in other chases.

In addition to his disappointment over the latest plea deal, Kucera wondered why Rock Island County didn’t charge Alvarado with stealing the van. But I got a “we’re not commenting on that” from an assistant to Rock Island County State’s Attorney Jeff Terronez.

Donut Delite owners Sue and Steve Lillybeck did get a comment, though, from a prosecutor in Tama County, explaining the difficulty in presenting “unambiguous proof” that Alvarado intended to “permanently” steal the van. Without such proof, the charge had to be reduced to the no-consent charge.

“Come on, people,” Sue Lillybeck said Wednesday. “The guy did not borrow my van without asking.”

And what became of all those doughnuts?

“We had to throw them away,” she said.

Now that’s not a bit funny.

Barb Ickes can be contacted at

(563) 383-2316 or bickes@qctimes.com. Comment on this column at qctimes.com.