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player ready...A new trial date of July 6 has been set for a Vernon Hills woman charged with several instances of arson in local village parks and awaiting sentencing for an arson-related crime in New Jersey.
Lake County Circuit Court Judge Victoria Rossetti set the new trial date for Stephanie Wollar, 28, on Tuesday at the request of defense attorney Steve McCollum, who said he is still receiving pretrial discovery information from the state.
Wollar, who is being held in Lake County Jail in lieu of $500,000 bail, had been scheduled for trial June 1 on eight counts of arson to personal property, a Class 2 felony, and criminal damage to state property, a Class 3 felony.
The most serious charges against her carry a potential sentence of three to seven years in prison upon conviction.
Police and prosecutors allege Wollar set several garbage can fires in Deerpath, Augusta and Garvanian parks in Vernon Hills in October and November of last year, and another one on New Year’s Day in Augusta Park.
Last December, Wollar pleaded guilty in Norris County, New Jersey, to creating a widespread risk of injury or damage, which is a third-degree felony in that state, according to Thomas A. Zelante, a first assistant prosecutor with the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office.
In that case, officials said Wollar attempted to burn a wooded area with improvised Molotov cocktails. Zelante said she also pleaded guilty to attempting to obtain a controlled dangerous substance by fraud, also a third-degree felony punishable by a potential three to five years in prison in that state.
McCollum said Wollar is still awaiting sentencing for New Jersey offenses, but he is not representing her in that case.
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