SALINE CO.— A Harrisburg man who was sentenced to six years in the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) February 5, 2016 on parole was back on the street long enough to be arrested and charged with half a dozen felonies.
According to court documents, on June 3, at approximately 12:27 p.m. Edgar M. Humm, 72, of 3155 Hwy 45 South, Harrisburg, came into the county sheriff’s department to report that his box trailer had been broken into.
Humm stated that the lock was missing and two Kawasaki look-alike motorcycles had been stolen.
He described the bikes as both being green and black with 109 stickers on the front racing panel and Ryno racing stickers on both sides, having an estimated value of $10,000 each.
When county deputy Chuck Welge arrived at the location he noticed the lock had been removed and that there was a small scratch on the outside of the rear trailer door.
The trailer had been parked in the driveway on the east side of the residence.
Humm stated that the only person who would have known the bikes were in the trailer would have been his son Michael Dean Humm, 22, who also lived at the address.
Edgar Humm said that the last time he noticed the trailer lock on the trailer was June 2 at approximately 8 p.m., and he noticed the lock missing the next day.
While Deputy Welge was at the Humm residence he received a call from Harrisburg Fire Chief John Gunning.
Gunning knew the motorcycles were missing and had contacted another of Edgar Humm’s friends Patrick T. Sawyer, asking about the bikes.
Sawyer told Gunning that Michael Humm had been talking to him on messenger and that he was going to meet with him when he got off work.
Gunning informed Welge that he was able to follow Sawyer to the rear of the Harrisburg High School parking lot and that Michael had just walked up to Sawyer’s vehicle.
Harrisburg Police Officer Zach Popetz and Deputy Welge arrived on scene and approached Michael Humm, and, knowing him to be on parole, already had the authority to search him.
They discovered a glass smoking device, with white powder on it, in Michael’s left front pocket.
Michael advised the powder was methamphetamine.
Humm was then taken into custody, read his rights and asked where the motorcycles were located.
At first Humm denied knowing anything about the bikes.
“I explained that this was his time to tell the truth and make things right,” Welge said. “Then I asked him where he took the motorcycles.”
Humm said he had contacted Cody Ward’s girlfriend on Facebook and had her come to the Harrisburg High School parking lot and pick him up.
He claimed not to remember the girl’s name, only that she drove an older grey Buick or Oldsmobile that was damaged.
He said the girl dropped him off at Edgar’s place and that he had a pair of bolt cutters and cut the lock.
Humm said he proceeded to push one of the bikes out of the trailer, pushed it down Liberty Road and then rode it to the treeline at the first curve on Lewis Road where he was picked up by the girl, who drove him back to pick up the second motorcycle.
After going through the process again of pushing it and stashing it at the same place, Humm said he was able to contact a guy named Greg who hangs out at or near Discount Food Mart in Harrisburg who said he could sell the bikes for him.
He said Greg got back with him in short order and instructed him to take the bike to Galatia to the first trailer in the alleyway across from the Galatia Dollar General Store.
Humm said he arrived at the trailer at approximately 3:30 a.m. and pushed the bike into the trailer, which was empty except for $500 in cash for the bike.
Humm said he took the money and had Ward’s girl pick him up at the nearby ROC One in Galatia.
He said that Greg contacted him a second time and informed him that a guy was going to the treeline on Lewis Road to collect the second bike and leave his money.
Humm said when he got there the bike was gone and $500 in cash was in its place.
The problem was that Humm said he agreed to sell the stolen bike (worth $10,000) to the guy for $1,200, but given the bike was stolen, to whom was he going to report that he was shorted $700?
He said he blew the cash on meth and gave some to a couple of girls (he gave no names) he had met in Eldorado.
When Deputy Welge asked Humm how he could get a hold of Greg, he said he only messaged him and proceeded to hand over his cell phone, complete with password, so that Welge could check it out.
Humm added that Greg could be found hanging down at Discount Food Mart or at “Xavier Lawler’s residence.”
He described Greg as a white guy, about 20 years old.
Humm was released into the care of the Saline County correctional staff and booked on charges of two counts of Burglary, two counts of Theft $500-$10,000 and one count each of Unlawful Possession of Methamphetamine and Unlawful Possession of Drug Paraphernalia.
At approximately 3:20 p.m. Welge accompanied by another deputy arrived at the Galatia trailer, located at 215 Main St. where Humm said he had dropped off the first stolen motorcycle.
Once there they encountered Andrew M. Wright, 18 and his girlfriend 19-year-old Kaitlyn N. Ashby.
“I explained to Ashby that we had knowledge of a stolen motorcycle was located in the trailer and she said ‘yes,’” Welge said.
When she was asked how the bike got in the trailer she told Welge that a couple of guys had brought it over but that she only knew one of them to be Brian Brent from Harrisburg.
She said Andrew M. Wright had paid $400 and still owed $100 on the bike but that he didn’t know it was stolen.
When he was questioned, Wright said his buddy, Brian Brent, was selling the bike for a friend of his and that he paid $400 and still owed $100.
Wright also said he didn’t know the guy with Brent but described him as “a black man with a messed up face.”
Humm’s criminal history includes an arrest arrested February 19, 2013 during which he was charged with Arson and two counts of Receiving Stolen Property.
He pleaded guilty June 11, 2013 to one of the stolen property charges and was sentenced to probation for 36 months and when he screwed that up was resentenced February 5, 2016 to the IDOC for six years.
Humm still owes $125 in fines and fees from that case.
Judge Walden Morris set cash bond in Humm’s latest case at $10,000.
Anyone with information as to the whereabouts of the second motorcycle – described as a green and black Kawasaki with 109 stickers on the front racing panel with Ryno racing stickers on both sides – and/or the identity or whereabouts of the “black man with a messed up face” is asked to contact authorities.