By:  Diane Benjamin

One question has persisted among those following the Mikey Cadena case:  How did Amber go from being charged with 5 Class X felonies with children under the age of 15 (child endangerment) in the house and near a church all the way to probation?

Amber has a long arrest and conviction record before the meth charges.  All of the below are from McLean County website – Circuit Clerk – Public Access:

2007

Controlled substance and syringe  FELONY  See Here and Here

2009

Battery – Misdemeanor  See Here and Here

2015

Controlled substance – Felony   See Here and Here

Again 2015

Cannabis Manufacture, criminal conspiracy, Possession  Felony  See Here and Here

From 2007 to 2015 Amber has THREE felony drug convictions

2016 Class X charges:

(click to enlarge)

The original charges listed a child present under age 15 and meth manufacture near a church.  Those charges disappeared, the Class X felony charges magically were reduced to Class 2.

How did that happen to a 3 time felon?  Keep the date in mind – May 23, 2017.  She also has a LONG list of traffic violations including driving on a suspended license.

The police raided Amber and Colin Dameron’s home on March 28, 2016.

Refer back to this story:   https://blnnews.com/2018/09/10/cadena-buck-emails-you-havent-seen/

I posted emails from earlier in March of 2016 written by Michael Cadena to Amber’s father, Richard Buck.   Michael accuses Richard of covering for his out of control daughter.  Richard continues to gloss over Amber’s criminal activity.

It appears charges were not immediately filed, I do know Amber and Colin were fugitives for a while.  It looks like Colin was put on trial first.  Amber agreed to testify against him, why they needed her testimony is another mystery.  The meth lab was found in their home and they fled together.  Court proceeding dates against Amber start in December of 2016.

Yesterday I received a FOIA request for emails between Jason Chambers and Richard Buck.  The first one is dated December 14, 2016 – see it Here

Richard starts off by thanking Jason for his help in the past.  Would that be with all of Amber’s other arrests or something else?  Richard then makes more excuses for Amber and goes on to list all the wonderful activities she has become involved with.  He ended the long email with this:

Richard BEGS Jason to not judge her.  Richard is proving that he is an enabler!  He wants Amber to get another chance.  I wonder how many felonies would  be enough for daddy?

The only time Jason answers by email is on December 16th:

Richard responds again with his resume (unknown why) and stating he sent Jason a message to meet via Facebook.  Why did Richard not call the office?

 

 

 

The next Richard email is December 31st.  It states that Jason met with the family.  Since this email is quite long, see it Here

Richard claims Amber is not a criminal and it would be “travesty” to send her to prison.  Richard goes on to state that helping Amber “will take you far if you chose to advance in politics”.  He then states he is not attempting to influence Jason.  According to Richard, Amber is just naive.

Remember the phone call between Amber and Colin while he was in jail?   https://blnnews.com/2018/09/05/mikeys-dad-on-what-happened-in-massachusetts-court/

Amber was ordered to not have any contact with Colin, the phone call took place in December of 2016 while Richard was telling Jason Chambers what a wonderful person she is.

Richard actually asked that the charges be dismissed.  He claims his family is devastated.  The other felonies didn’t devastate Richard enough to take the situation seriously evidently.

Richard still wasn’t done, the next email is January 4th – see it Here

The first paragraph sounds like subtle badgering to get an answer from Jason on leniency.  Richard ends with implying it will help Jason’s career.  Since Jason is too smart to respond by email, we don’t know if Richard’s grooming worked – other than the result.

Still not done, on January 5th Richard sends another email.  This one contains a glowing report from Amber’s employer.  He claims Amber has been “out of that character mode for years”.  He wrote the email 1/5/2017, her home was raided 3/28/2016.  Richard can’t count, that’s less than a year.  See that email Here  See the Employer letter here complaining about DCFS and The Baby Fold interrupting her day:  Employer Letter

January 28th Richard writes another email.  See it Here

Richard is now getting desperate and even more sappy over how much they all need Amber.

The emails stop until May 29, 2017.  Remember the date the Class X felonies turned into Class 2?  May 23, 2017.  Richard writes to Jason again to THANK him.  The next sentence is redacted, it might be worth a lawsuit to find out why.  See that one Here

The emails stop again until one final email on October 18, 2017.  Richard thinks Jason should create an award for turning your life around and present it to Amber.  See it Here

Questions:

• Why did Jason Chambers ever agree to meet with the family of an accused 3 time felon, especially when it was arranged on Facebook and not through the office?
• Since the emails from Richard continued, did Jason Chambers talk further with Richard Buck – just not by email?
• Are these emails why an already 3 time felon didn’t get jail time?

Since 2014, my researchers have searched meth convictions in McLean County.  They have been unable to find another case where prison time was not given.

I just spoke to an attorney friend of mine.  He claims it isn’t unusual for the State’s Attorney to be contacted for leniency.   This case appears way beyond that however.