Schaumburg couple accused of abusing child

Bond was set at $150,000 each for a married couple from Schaumburg charged with unlawful restraint and aggravated battery of a child in their care.

Najeh Shukri and Margarita Lopez, of the 1200 block of Crabtree Lane, appeared before Cook County Circuit Court Judge Joel Greenblatt Friday in Rolling Meadows.

The abuse occurred after the elementary school-aged child reportedly stole some candy, said Assistant State's Attorney Ketki Steffen.

Shukri, 35, and Lopez, 35, shredded the child's favorite towel then bound and gagged the victim with the strips, Steffen said. The child was also left in a bathtub for five hours, said Assistant State's Attorney Jerome R. Allen, who did not know whether the child was still bound at that time.

Authorities have been investigating the couple for about two weeks, Steffen said. Misdemeanor battery allegations against Lopez, the child's stepmother, first surfaced Oct. 30, when school officials noticed a bruise on the child's forehead and called police and the Department of Children and Family Services, Steffen said. The child claimed to have been pushed into a wall by Lopez.

The call from the child's school prompted an investigation which included an interview by representatives of the Children's Advocacy Center in Hoffman Estates, Steffen said. During the subsequent investigation, the child described being bound and gagged, Steffen said. Those claims led to the felony charges that brought the couple into court on Friday.

Lopez fainted during Friday's hearing. She was treated at Northwest Community Hospital in Arlington Heights and released.

If convicted, Shukri and Lopez could face from six to 30 years in prison. They next appear in a Rolling Meadows courtroom on Dec. 9.