Ex-Park Forest Theater manager gets 2 years in prison for forgery
By Lauren FitzPatrick Sun-Times Media lfitzpatrick@suntimes.com June 13, 2012 3:36PM
Kenneth Arron, who was using the name Kenny Yochelson at the time, places a digital projector into place in a projector room at the former Park Forest Theater in Park Forest in this Feb. 25, 2010 file photo. Yochelson on Wednesday was sentenced to two years in prison after admitting he forged documents allowing him to do business in the village. | File photo
Article Extras
Updated: June 13, 2012 7:46PM
The former manager of a Park Forest movie theater is going back to prison after admitting Wednesday that he forged documents allowing him to do business with the village.
Kenneth Arron, 50, pleaded guilty to forgery, admitting that he applied for a business license in Park Forest using a fake name because he knew his lengthy criminal record would bar him from getting one. The Lombard man has spent about 23 years in Illinois prisons on a variety of theft and fraud cases and a few more years in an Arizona prison.
Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Kathryn Morrissey said Arron obtained the license as Kenny Yochelson in February 2010. He operated the revamped Holiday Star Theater, 340 Main St., for months until a woman filed a battery complaint against him in August 2010.
Police tracked Arron down in September 2010 through his license plates after they couldn’t find any public record of a Kenny Yochelson. They also discovered he had been collecting unemployment since January 2010 despite a generous theater salary of $40,000 a year plus theater profits. Those charges were dropped as part of his plea agreement.
Arron’s attorney tried to get him placed on probation on the felony forgery charge, saying Arron had stayed out of trouble for many years.
But Circuit Court Judge Michele Simmons refused and sentenced him to two years in prison, citing his background.
“It follows you,” she told him. “The thing you’re doing, you have to stop doing, Mr. Arron.”
