Decatur man pleads guilty for involvement in central Illinois burglary ring

Posted on May 24, 2023
Joseph Laramee, 59, of Decatur. (Photo courtesy: McLean County Jail)

By Blake Haas

BLOOMINGTON – A Decatur man pleaded guilty to a class two felony in Macon County after facing multiple money laundering charges in the twin cities.

Joseph Laramee, 59, of Decatur, faced 11 felony charges, including money laundering and filing a fraudulent state tax return.

McLean County Prosecutors say Laramee played a role in a burglar ring across central Illinois in 2018.

Police say the primary suspect in the burglaries is Floyd Brown, 42, who was arrested in March 2019 after killing a U.S. Marshal’s fugitive task force member in Rockford.

In a court hearing earlier this month in Macon County, Laramee (LAR-a-mee) pleaded guilty to a single count of unlawful structuring of a currency transaction.

He was sentenced to two years probation.

Last August, a Rockford judge sentenced Brown to 55 years in prison for the second-degree murder of Deputy Jacob Keltner.

He still faces burglar convictions downstate Illinois.

Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].

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