2nd guilty plea in Cary torture case

A Fox River Grove man is facing as many as five years in prison after pleading guilty to allegations he participated in the beating and torture of a teen he believed had stolen from a friend.

Patrick R. Rehayem, 20, admitted guilt to an aggravated battery charge as part of a plea deal with McHenry County prosecutors that will keep him from going to trial on more serious accusations that could have put him behind bars for up to 30 years.

Rehayem is the second man to plead guilty in connection with the May 22 incident in which, police said, he and three others lured an 18-year-old Lakewood man to a home in Cary and beat him with a baseball bat, burned him with a heated knife and locked him in a dog cage.

Authorities said the incident stemmed from the defendants' belief that the teen had stolen a bag of tools, a scale, a small amount of cash and other items from the Cary home of co-defendant Andrew C. Shedivy.

In return for the guilty plea, prosecutors dismissed charges of armed robbery, burglary, mob action and unlawful restraint. The plea deal does not require him to testify against the co-defendants.

Nichole Owens, criminal chief for the McHenry County state's attorney, said her office will ask Judge Sharon Prather to impose the maximum five-year sentence next month.

"We believe that's a fair disposition given that the minimum would have been six years on the armed robbery charge we dismissed," she said.

Felony charges remain pending against Shedivy, 21, of Cary, and Miko L. Gougis, 19, of Chicago. A fourth defendant, Nicholas Sweeney, 24, of Woodstock, pleaded guilty to mob action in October under a deal in which he was sentenced to six months in the county jail and agreed to testify against his co-defendants.