Elgin kidnapping, cigarette torture case set for March trial
A Kane County judge Tuesday denied a motion to ban from trial a woman's statements to Elgin police regarding a teen who was kidnapped and tortured with lit cigarettes.
Megan A. Lino, 22, of Carpentersville, is the final defendant in the case and her trial is set for March 4, 2019. Four others have pleaded guilty and were sent to prison, with one defendant agreeing to testify against others if their case or cases went to trial.
Lino is charged with home invasion, kidnapping, aggravated battery with a caustic substance and other felonies stemming from the Feb. 26, 2016 attack in Elgin in which authorities say a teen was forcibly kidnapped from a house on the 500 block of Levine Court.
The teen was taken to an apartment on the 300 block of Raymond Street, stripped of her clothes and phone, beaten and lit cigarettes were used to burn a shoulder tattoo that matched that of her ex-boyfriend, according to authorities and court records.
Elgin police received a call the next morning of a woman being held against her will. Lino was arrested and gave an interview to police later day that ran in excess of two hours.
Defense attorney Timothy Mahoney sought to have statements from Lino, who is free on bond, banned from trial, arguing they were made involuntarily after she demanded a lawyer. But Judge James Hallock denied the motion after viewing a video of the interrogation in his chambers.
In his ruling Tuesday, Hallock did not divulge what Lino told police on the recording.
Mahoney and Kane County Assistant State's Attorney Kelly Orland estimated Lino's trial would take about a week. Orland also wants to have Lino's bond amount increased or revoked, arguing she traveled to Florida in January without first asking permission from Hallock.
Orland said prosecutors have issued a subpoena to testify in the bond hearing, but police are still trying to find the witness.
If convicted of the most severe charges, Lino faces up to 30 years in prison. In recent months, four people have pleaded guilty in the case, receiving prison terms of 2 to 16½ years. Luis M. Palomar, 20, of the Lake in the Hills, who authorities said was the leader in the crime and the victim's ex-boyfriend, received the longest prison term, while Gino A. Moraca, 26, of Elgin, got a two-year prison term after pleading guilty to reduced charges on the condition he testify against other defendants in the case.