Perjury charge dismissed, 8 remain in murder case

A judge dismissed a perjury charge Wednesday against a Fox Lake business owner charged in the 2002 disappearance and suspected murder of a McHenry County teen, but left eight other charges standing.

Judge Sharon Prather rejected a request by the defense for Mario Casciaro that she throw out at least two more of the perjury accusations, ruling that a jury should decide whether the allegedly false statements made before a grand jury are relevant to the teen's disappearance.

Casciaro, 24, of McHenry, is accused of lying repeatedly under oath when questioned in February 2007 by a grand jury investigating the mysterious case of Brian Carrick.

The 17-year-old from Johnsburg vanished Dec. 20, 2002, after working a night shift at a local grocery store. Casciaro, who now owns a store in Fox Lake, was Carrick's supervisor that night.

The charges claim Casciaro lied to grand jurors when he denied telling another man to scare Carrick on the night he vanished; denied knowing what happened to the teenager; and testified that he does not know where Carrick's body is located.

Those charges remained intact after Prather's ruling Wednesday.

The one count she dismissed alleged that Casciaro lied when asked whether anyone other than his father and brother told him they had been called to testify before the grand jury. That statement, whether true or false, is not relevant to the inquiry into Carrick's disappearance, Prather ruled.

Casciaro, who is free on bond, could face up to 10 years in prison of found guilty of more than one of the charges. That is a possible outcome authorities hope serves as incentive for him to tell investigators what he knows. No trial date for his case has been scheduled.