Palatine boy injured, robbed by sister’s former friends, police say

A 12-year-old Palatine boy was injured when former friends of his sister hit him in the back with an empty ketchup bottle then robbed his home, Palatine police said.

Police said officers were called at 9:09 p.m. Wednesday, April 24, when the boy’s sister returned home to the 400 block of East Osage Lane, according to a news release.

Vanessa Mejia, 17, of the 1500 block of Silver Lane in Palatine, and Sendi Ocampo, 18, of the 1200 block of Long Valley Lane in Palatine, were charged with home invasion and armed robbery. They’re scheduled to appear in court Tuesday for a bond hearing.

A 16-year-old girl was taken to the Juvenile Justice Detention Center in Chicago on Friday. A fourth female suspect remains at-large.

The boy was watching TV about a half-hour before his sister got home when one of the suspects knocked on the patio door and introduced herself as her friend, police said. She left when told the sister wasn’t home.

Ten minutes later, she returned to the apartment with the three other suspects and asked to use the bathroom, according to police.

After the boy let them in the 16-year-old hit him in the back with an empty ketchup bottle she brought to the scene, police said. Two others went into the kitchen and bedrooms, one emerging with about $50 cash, jewelry and two cellphones, police said.

The boy was transported to Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights with lacerations that weren’t life-threatening.

Investigators learned the four suspects were former friends of the victim’s sister. Three voluntarily came to the police station Friday and gave verbal and written confessions, police said. The fourth remains at-large.