A man accused of aggravated driving under the influence in the death of a high school volleyball player reached out to the dead girl’s family through a third party in violation of the man’s bond, DuPage County prosecutors said Tuesday.
Prosecutors filed a motion requesting increased bail for Joseph Kucharski, 51, formerly of Naperville and most recently of Bartlett, who was out on bail in the February crash in which Elizabeth Dunlap, 17, a Downers Grove North High School student, died.
Meanwhile, Judge Liam Brennan issued a bench warrant for Kucharski’s arrest when he failed to appear at a Tuesday hearing. His attorney said Kucharski had checked in to an in-patient treatment facility for substance abuse issues, but the judge had not previously waived Kucharski’s appearance in court and issued the warrant.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Friday, according to court files. Prosecutors likely will present their arguments then for an increased bail.
Kucharski had been in custody since February, but posted bond May 15. As a condition of his release, he was ordered to surrender his passport and wear an alcohol-monitoring ankle device.
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The judge also barred Kucharski from having any contact with members of Dunlap’s family. But, the motion said, a friend of Kucharski’s texted Dunlap’s mother on May 16, the day after Kucharski was released.
Authorities said Kucharski had called his friend and, in that conversation, Kucharski allegedly said he was “grief stricken” and wanted to apologize to Dunlap’s family. The friend said she could pass along a message to Dunlap’s family.
“(Kucharski) indicated that would be awesome and thanked her for being in his corner,” the motion said. “The text messages to the Dunlap family followed shortly thereafter.”
The motion did not include the contents of the text messages.
The motion asked the court to increase Kucharski’s bail to $5 million, which is the amount prosecutors initially sought in his case. He has been out on bond since he posted 10 percent of his $750,000 bail.
Dunlap was struck and killed about 10:55 a.m. on Feb. 19, as she crossed the street in front of Downers Grove North High School. Kucharski, police said, was driving in the wrong lane and ran a red light before hitting the girl, who was a junior at the school. Tests showed Kucharski had alcohol, cocaine and Xanax in his system at the time of the crash, authorities said.
Clifford Ward is a freelance reporter.