Recordings may strengthen case against man linked to vanishing

The case against a McHenry businessman linked to the suspicious 2002 disappearance of a Johnsburg teen may be stronger than it first appeared.

Court papers filed last week revealed for the first time that authorities have audio recordings in which Mario Casciaro reportedly tells another man he knows what happened to 17-year-old Brian Carrick, who may have killed him, and where his body may be today.

Casciaro, 24, was charged in June with nine counts of perjury for allegedly lying to a McHenry County grand jury investigating Carrick's disappearance.

Casciaro, according to court records, appeared before the grand jury in February and testified that he never told anyone that he asked another man to "scare" Carrick around the time of his disappearance, that he did not know where Carrick's body was left, and that he did not know what happened to the teenager.

However, county prosecutors allege Casciaro did say those things to McHenry resident Alan Lippert, and now it appears they may have the recordings to prove it.

Carrick vanished the night of Dec. 20, 2002, after working as a stock boy at Val's Foods in Johnsburg, police say. Casciaro, now the co-owner of Val's Foods in Fox Lake, was Carrick's supervisor the night he disappeared.

Police said they discovered traces of Carrick's blood in the store shortly after his disappearance and McHenry County State's Attorney Louis Bianchi has said he believes the teen was a victim of foul play.

With the revelation of the audio recordings, it appears Casciaro's defense is now turning at least some of its attention on Lippert, who it seems was responsible for the recorded conversations.

In court documents filed last week, the defense asks a judge to make prosecutors disclose whether Lippert struck a deal to cooperate against Casciaro in return for some other favor from authorities. Lippert currently is facing a pair of misdemeanor drug charges in McHenry County.

"I don't know if he did or didn't," Casciaro attorney William Gibbs said Thursday. "That's what we're trying to find out."

Nichole Owens, criminal chief for the McHenry County State's Attorney's Office, said there is nothing to disclose.

"We did not cut a deal with Alan Lippert for his cooperation," she said.

Casciaro, who has pleaded not guilty to the perjury charges, is scheduled to be back in court Oct. 18 for a hearing on his lawyer's requests. If convicted of the charges, he faces a maximum 10 years in prison.

Animal lover back in court

Having failed to make her case in state court, longtime animal activist Dale Armon took her claims federal last week, suing McHenry County in U.S. District Court over what she alleges was the illegal seizure of dozens of animals from her farm.

In a four-count lawsuit filed last Tuesday, Armon seeks an undisclosed amount of monetary compensation for the 53 cats, nine dogs, numerous birds including a parrot, a horse, a silver fox, and a sheep all removed from her Hebron-area property in September 2005.

McHenry County Animal Control officers seized the animals after they said they were found malnourished, ill and living in unsanitary conditions on the 83-acre site.

In a lawsuit filed about four months later in McHenry County Circuit Court, Armon, the one-time operator of the no-kill animal shelter Pet Rescue Inc., disputed those claims and asked a judge to order the animals returned to her.

Judge Michael Sullivan, however, let the seizure stand, ruling that while he may not have agreed with the decision by animal control, the decision to remove the animals was well within the agency's authority. A state appellate court upheld Sullivan's decision in July.

That led Armon to federal court where she claims county officials violated her constitutional rights by using an illegal search warrant to enter her property and seize the animals and then unlawfully denied her efforts to get them back.

At this point, Armon's only hope is to win some financial compensation from the county. Officials previously said most of the animals taken from Armon were adopted within weeks of the seizure.