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By Jeff Coen
Tribune staff reporter
Published March 21, 2006
A Criminal Court clerk who volunteered to work the murder trial of two gang members has gang ties of her own and was seen passing a cell phone to a defendant, prosecutors said.
Virnalisi Gonzalez, 33, faces up to 15 years in prison if she is convicted on charges of bringing contraband into a penal institution and official misconduct, authorities said. Judge Colleen Hyland on Monday ordered her held in lieu of $100,000 bail.
“The deputy observed Gonzalez handing a cell phone to one of the defendants in the case who was behind bars in the lockup area,” Assistant State’s Atty. David Williams said. Allegedly realizing she was being watched, she quickly took it back, Williams said...