Men charged in Prospect Heights beating
Two admitted gang members who Prospect Heights police say spent Saturday night looking for trouble, found it early Sunday morning.
On Monday, they found themselves in a Rolling Meadows courtroom charged with aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, and facing bonds that may keep them in Cook County Jail for the foreseeable future.
A Cook County judge set bond at $90,000 for 18-year-old Julio Cruz of the 4900 block of Algonquin Road, Rolling Meadows, and $150,000 for 27-year-old Ranferi Vasquez of the 1300 block of Leavitt in Chicago. Police say the men, along with four juvenile co-offenders, were involved in an attack upon a teenager that took place about 1 a.m. Sunday in the 800 block of Piper Lane in Prospect Heights.
Vasquez is currently on felony probation for drunken driving, said Assistant State's Attorney Adam Klugman. Charged with a class 3 felony, the men face a sentence of two to five years if convicted.
Prospect Heights Detective Sgt. Al Steffen said Vasquez and Cruz came to the Piper Lane apartment complex early Sunday.
"They were looking to gain rank by fighting someone from a rival gang," said Steffen of the men who admitted their gang involvement.
The sextet drove around the neighborhood in a red pickup truck, shouting out gang slogans and attempting to elicit a response from rival gang members, Steffen said.
A 15-year-old came out to meet them, said Steffen, and he was attacked with golf clubs which police later recovered, along with baseball bats. The teenage victim suffered a broken nose and jaw in addition to an injury to his left orbital. He remains in critical condition at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital, Steffen said.
A 19-year-old man came upon the scene and was chased down and assaulted as he tried to run away. That victim was treated at Lutheran General for injuries to his head.
The police received numerous 911 calls reporting the incident and providing a description of the truck, Steffen said, adding that officers stopped the truck as it fled the scene.