Beth Bentley - gone 96 weeks. One arrest

The ground didn't shake last week, when Woodstock Police arrested Jennifer Wyatt on two felony charges connected to the Beth Bentley missing person case. Woodstock Police interviewed her and then arrested her on Monday, March 19. The question on the lips of many who have been following Beth's disappearance was, "What took so long?"

Wyatt was charged with two counts of lying to police, according to the Complaint on file at the McHenry County courthouse. Count One says she furnished false information when she said that did not have contact with Beth Bentley on May 25, 2010, at 4:00PM. That day and time are 48 hours after Jenn said she dropped off Beth in Centralia near the Amtrak station.

Count Two says that Jenn furnished false information to the police when she said she drove Beth to the Amtrak Station in Centralia for the purpose of Beth taking an Amtrak train back to Chicago.

Count One seems to hinge on telephone records that show two calls from Jenn's cell phone to Beth's cell phone on May 25. The first is for one minute; the second is for a six-minute duration.

Many cell phone services ding you for one minute, if you reach a voice mailbox. No answer? No ding. Now, the second call. What if Jenn left a long message on Beth's cell phone, asking, for example, where Beth was and pleading with her to get in touch? Can you leave a lengthy message in a cell phone voice mailbox? (Call your own phone and find out.) If you leave a message, is that "contact" with the person whose phone it is?

Count Two is so vague that it probably won't stick. And, without Beth, who can say why she drove Beth to Centralia if, in fact, she did? Is the lie 1) that she drove Beth to Centralia or 2) that she drove Beth to Centralia to take a train to Chicago? Again, without Beth, what can be proven?

Count Two says "back to Chicago". Had Beth taken a train to Centralia? Or is this merely a linguistic slip, like saying "returning back to" somewhere. Early reports were that Beth and Jenn had driven from Woodstock to Mount Vernon, Ill. on Thursday night, May 20, 2010. But only Jenn is around to say that. What do Ryan and Nathan Ridge have to say about what time Beth and Jenn arrived in Mount Vernon on Friday morning, May 21?

Check out the phone records for Thursday night/Friday/Saturday/Sunday. They tell a story by the calls that were made (and the absence of calls that one might expect would have been made).

The Woodstock Police have known since June 2010 that Jenn told me on June 10, 2010, that "Beth never intended to take a train." So this is a problem for Jenn, if she gave a written statement to police that she took Beth to Centralia so that Beth could take a train. Why did it take from June 2010 to March 2012 for this to result in a felony charge?

What should Jenn do now? If I were Jenn, I'd

1. Keep the Public Defender assigned to me. Kim Messer will represent her well.
2. Not bail on the Public Defender and go with an attorney who has any ties, connections, friendships with anyone else even remotely connected to this case or known in the circle of Beth's friends or acquaintances or business contacts. Since she has a Public Defender, she must not have funds for a private attorney.
3. Keep my mouth shut, no matter how tempting it might be to talk to anyone except my attorney.
4. Find one trusted (professional) ally, sit down in front of a videocamera, and make a complete accounting of my friendship with Beth and all the people around her. I'd tell it all - the good, the bad and the ugly. I'd get it all on a record, "just in case" something happened to me. That "something" being an unplanned, premature demise, even if it looked like a natural death or accident. Call such a recording "insurance".

Has Jenn been threatened? Does she know anything about drug deals (use, purchases, sales, dealer's names), misappropriation of funds, non-reporting of income (personal or business), payment of "cash wages" not reported to IRS or Illinois Dept. of Revenue (cash wages aren't necessarily "wages"), pregnancies, affairs, getaway week-ends.

It's not unlawful to pay workers in cash. But what is unlawful is to classify an office worker as a contract worker without meeting specific requirements in the Internal Revenue Code. It's unlawful to pay a contract worker more than $600 without issuing a Form 1099. If the worker in the office is actually an "employee", then the employer must withhold, and remit, for Social Security and Federal and State income taxes; also, the employer must cough up for Unemployment Insurance and Workers Comp. Were required Forms W-2 or 1099 issued to Jenn for all earnings at the Bentley Law Firm? If an office worker receives any "consideration" for services, (use of a vehicle, house rent, travel money, food money, etc.), that's reportable income.

How big a problem is it for the person who asks for a Public Defender but understates his (or her) monthly income on the financial affidavit? Does anyone from the court follow-up and verify that information? Or check on how many persons are actually supported? If the financial affidavit given under penalty of perjury?