Woman tries to escape Elgin jail

A Carpentersville woman was rearrested Thursday morning at the Elgin jail after her botched attempt to escape the facility via the prisoner elevator, police said.

Julie A. Newberry, 22, of the 1100 block of Chippewa Circle, had been at the jail since Wednesday on felony aggravated battery and retail theft charges.

They stemmed from an incident in which police said she and her boyfriend tried to steal more than $300 in copper wire at the Elgin Menard's, and knocked a store security guard to the ground.

Once at the jail, she was also charged with resisting a peace officer for pushing and shoving an Elgin cop, reports said.

At 11:53 a.m. Thursday, Newberry was let out of her cell on the second floor to make a phone call in the prisoner processing area near an elevator, Elgin Deputy Police Chief Jeffrey Swoboda said.

"As others stepped off, she entered the open elevator door and began pressing buttons in an attempt to make the elevator move and escape," Swoboda said. "There wasn't a physical fight in which she made a dash for it."

Because you need a code to get the elevator to move, the doors never closed and the elevator didn't go anywhere, Swoboda said.

Moreover, Newberry's button-pushing triggered an alarm and police returned her to her cell immediately, Swoboda said.

The department is reviewing video footage of the escape attempt to determine how Newberry got into the elevator and the extent and positioning of security at the time of the incident, Swoboda said.

Newberry now faces a new charge of attempted escape and Kane County Judge Bruce W. Lester, who had set her bond the day before, was not happy to see her again Friday morning.

"I must have made a serious impression about you staying out of trouble," the judge deadpanned. "And here you are again."

Newberry told Lester that jail was just not for her and that she didn't know what to do with herself. "I don't know where my head was at, I just needed to get out of my cell," Newberry said, adding that she didn't think she'd be charged with attempted escape. "If you look at my background, I'm a good girl."

Court records, however, speak of a couple minor brushes with the law.

In 2009, Newberry was convicted of panhandling in Elgin, for which she paid fines.

In 2007, she was found guilty of underage drinking in Carpentersville, for which she was sentenced to supervision and ordered to perform 20 hours of community service.

Lester set her bond at $35,000 - the day before, he said her bond at $16,000 on the three original charges.

Newberry was unable to post bond and was awaiting her March 5 court date from the Kane County lockup.

Attempted escape is a Class 3 felony that carries a prison sentence of up to five years in prison.