From the first day, Oak Park police officials told the Journal, in off-the-record comments, the fire that gutted the Velvet Rope gay nightclub on Lake Street was not a hate crime; it was far more likely arson and that the perpetrator was likely the club’s owner Frank Elliott.
Fast forward three years and the Cook County State’s Attorney gets a plea deal last week from Elliott in which he pleads guilty to arranging the torching his own failing business in an insurance fraud scheme. That’s the good news.
However, we are troubled that, under terms of the deal, Elliott will not go to jail. Instead he gets the wrist slap of two years’ probation, a measly fine (we’re talking $1,200) and restitution of $107,000. The bulk of that will go to the insurance carrier, with a small portion to the building’s landlord, R.P. Fox & Associates.
Here’s why weasel Frank Elliott ought to be locked up.
The man committed arson. He had his gay nightclub torched and had anti-gay graffiti scrawled on the wall of the burned out storefront. He proclaimed that, in a town as determinedly gay-welcoming as Oak Park, a hate crime had been committed. He took part in a fundraising effort to support the employees he had just put out of work. And, through the extensive damage — smoke and water — his handiwork caused to his space and to the adjacent Geppetto’s Toy Box, he came close to putting this locally owned and much-valued toy store out of business forever. Geppetto’s was closed for months as the wreckage was cleared and the store rebuilt. Those are the people who deserve restitution.
We’re not much for locking people up and throwing away the key. But this sweet deal seems far too generous toward Frank Elliott, a truly despicable person.
