Duo accused of carjacking, crashing three vehicles

Two people have been charged with carjacking and crashing three vehicles in Hanover Park and Itasca on Saturday.

Pretrial release was denied on Tuesday for Ricardo Ortega, 25, of the 5600 block of Pebblebeach Drive in Hanover Park, and Alicia Merlin-Barrera, 24, of the 400 block of Palatine Road, Palatine, according to a news release from the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.

Each is charged with two counts of vehicular hijacking, one count of aggravated unlawful restraint, one count of aggravated reckless driving causing great bodily harm and multiple misdemeanors, including battery and criminal damage to property.

Hanover Park police were notified at 11:58 a.m. Saturday of a crash involving a hijacked vehicle at Arlington Drive and County Farm Road. The victim said she and two other women were in the car, and Ortega and Merlin-Barrera came up and asked for a ride to a nearby train station.

The victim agreed to give them the ride. As she was driving, Merlin-Barrera allegedly told the driver to stop and reached from the back seat for the car key, struggling with the driver.

Ortega allegedly began hitting one of the other women about her head and face.

When the vehicle stopped at a traffic light, the driver got out, and one of the defendants got behind the wheel and drove away with one of the other women still in the car. The car hit a tree, ejecting that woman. She suffered broken ribs, bruises to her face, a broken finger and a broken ankle.

A passerby stopped his van and got out to help. The defendants got in the van and drove off, according to the release.

Ortega allegedly crashed the van into a pole, turned the vehicle around and drove past the first crash. Police officers saw it. The van went on eastbound I-390 and crashed again.

When another passing motorist stopped to help, Ortega and Merlin-Barrera carjacked his pickup truck, according to the release.

Officers found the truck in Forest Park.

“The brazen, lawless crime spree allegedly committed by these two defendants is astonishing,” State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in the release. “What I find particularly disturbing, however, is that on two separate occasions, good Samaritans who stopped to help were allegedly victimized by Ortega and Merlin-Barrera as well.”

“The willingness of members of our community to help others in need is one of its greatest strengths, and those who would prey upon people only seeking to assist them must be held accountable,” Hanover Park Police Chief Andrew Johnson said in the release.

The defendants’ next court date is Jan. 29.