Cops: Algonguin man tried to chisel way out of McHenry County jail
McHenry County jail authorities foiled a "Shawshank Redemption"-style escape attempt Tuesday by an inmate trying to chip his way through an 18-inch concrete block with a pair of long metal chisels he had fashioned.
Except instead of hiding his efforts behind a poster of a modern-day Rita Hayworth or Raquel Welch, authorities said Inhak Cho was covering up his handiwork with toothpaste.
The 46-year-old Algonquin man's escape bid had not gotten far by the time authorities discovered it Tuesday afternoon, thanks to a tip by a confidential informant, McHenry County Undersheriff Gene Lowery said Wednesday morning.
The hole in Cho's second-floor cell was more than an inch deep and about 18 inches wide, but he had a long way to go to make it through the 18-inch-thick concrete block wall.
"It was not to the degree that he could have put any part of his body outside the facility or secreted any item outside the wall," Lowery said. "I would consider it a futile effort."
Officials estimated Cho, who is awaiting trial on 2006 kidnapping charges, had been working on the escape for one to two weeks. During that time he had been living without a cellmate, a situation that was about to change Tuesday.
While his work got him nowhere close to freedom, they did land Cho in a segregation unit of the jail, not to mention new felony charges of possession of a weapon in a penal institution and criminal damage to state supported property.
The charges could land him up to 15 years in prison on top of the 30 years he already faces on aggravated kidnapping allegations.
Cho has been locked up in the county jail without bond since April 2006 while awaiting trial on allegations he abducted his former girlfriend from a Carpentersville residence and held her at the Algonquin home they once shared until police rescued her.
He also is serving a six-year sentence handed down last year after his conviction on an aggravated domestic battery charge involving the same woman, and a pair of firearms offenses.
His attorney, William Bligh, said he learned of the new charges only this morning.
"Right now they're only allegations and we're investigating them," Bligh said.
Because Cho's escape plan likely had no chance of success, sheriff's police said their greater concern is whether he could have later turned his tool on another inmate or correctional officer.
"That could have been a devastating weapon that would have caused great bodily harm," he said.
The discovery Tuesday led to a full shakedown of the county jail, Lowery said, but no other weapons or contraband were found.
Sheriff's officials are reviewing jail policy, training and procedures to lessen the chances of another inmate making a similar tool or weapon out of a piece of cleaning equipment.