Street race victim's mom wants Antioch Twp. fugitive to get 15 years in prison
The mother of a teen who was killed during an illegal street race in 2013 is demanding the driver of the vehicle be resentenced to prison for 15 years.
Hilda Hinkle, the mother of 16-year-old Cynthia Perez, said in a written statement Friday that "no other chances" should be given to Jeremy Betancourt, 19, of Antioch Township, who escaped jail but was recaptured Thursday in Chicago.
Hinkle said she wants Betancourt to serve 10 years for aggravated driving under the influence for the street racing death that killed her daughter, and 5 years for escaping Lake County periodic imprisonment.
"No other chances should be given to an individual who proves himself unworthy time and time again," her statement concludes.
Betancourt was charged with a felony count of escape Friday, and he was ordered held in Lake County jail on $1 million bail by Judge Christen Bishop.
Defense attorney Jed Stone requested the bail amount be lowered because he said Betancourt is "not a flight risk."
"This is an adolescent who exercises bad judgment," Stone said after the hearing. "There is not enough prison space in the world to lock up all the adolescents who exercise bad judgments."
Betancourt was sentenced to 30 months of periodic imprisonment in June 2014 after pleading guilty to charges he had marijuana in his system during an illegal street race with another vehicle on Route 120 in Gurnee. Police determined he was traveling at 77 to 87 mph when he lost control of the car he was driving and it flipped in the median.
Perez, a passenger in Betancourt's car, was ejected from the vehicle when it rolled and she died at the scene, authorities said. Betancourt and two others were injured but survived the crash.
As part of the plea deal, Betancourt agreed to follow the rules imposed at the community-based correction center, where he served his periodic imprisonment sentence. Judge Victoria Rossetti ordered that he was allowed to be released only to attend school, court or counseling.
Rossetti warned Betancourt during the 2014 sentencing hearing he would be sent to prison if he did not follow the rules.
On April 29, Betancourt was released from Lake County sheriff's Community Based Correction Center to attend a hearing before Rossetti on a new petition to revoke his probation for repeatedly violating court orders while serving his periodic imprisonment sentence. He never attended that hearing, authorities said.
Court records show Betancourt violated correction center rules on at least eight occasions, including being absent without proper authorization and trying to bring a cellphone and cigarettes into the center.
If Rossetti finds Betancourt violated probation, he could be resentenced to 3 to 14 years in prison for aggravated driving under the influence that resulted in death in the 2013 crash that killed Perez.
He is due in bond court for a preliminary hearing May 28. His court date in front of Rossetti on the petition to revoke is unknown.