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New charges added in home invasions

Lake County prosecutors added new charges Wednesday to the lengthy list of crimes an Antioch man faces in a pair of home invasions.

Miguel Rico, 19, faces the possibility of being sentenced to hundreds of years in prison if he is convicted in both cases and a judge decides Rico must be imprisoned for as long as possible to protect the public.

Rico, of the 1100 block of McKenzie Road, was arrested Sept. 8 after police tracked him to an abandoned home in Round Lake Beach where they say Rico was stashing the proceeds of the break-ins.

He was initially charged with home invasion, armed robbery and residential burglary for a Sept. 1 break-in of a home in Lake Villa.

Rico was also charged with those crimes and aggravated sexual assault for a Sept. 8 home invasion in Antioch Township in which a teenager was attacked.

Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Stephen Scheller said Wednesday a grand jury approved additional charges of armed violence, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated unlawful restraint in the Lake Villa case.

Charges of armed violence, aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual abuse and aggravated unlawful restraint were added in the Antioch Township case, Scheller said.

In the Lake Villa case, Scheller said, the armed violence charge carries a sentence of 15 to 30 years in prison because Rico was armed with a gun when he threatened a 20-year-old man in the house.

The armed violence charge in the Antioch Township case, Scheller said, is punishable by 10 to 30 years because Rico threatened a man, a woman and the teen with a knife.

Aggravated criminal sexual abuse is punishable by up to seven years, aggravated unlawful restraint carries a maximum of five years and residential burglary has a 15-year maximum sentence.

All of the other crimes charged against Rico are punishable by mandatory terms of six to 30 years, Scheller said.

In the Lake Villa case, Rico is charged with entering the house through an open garage door and tying up a 20-year-old resident who arrived home while he was there.

Rico is accused of tying up a man and a woman in the Antioch Township house and assaulting the teen before fleeing with stolen items in the man's car.

Police said property taken in both break-ins was found in the abandoned house in Round Lake Beach where they arrested Rico.

Rico is held on $2.5 million bond and is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 14.