12 years prison for final defendant in 2016 Elgin kidnapping, cigarette torture
A fifth and final adult defendant is headed to prison in the 2016 kidnapping of a teen who was beaten and held overnight in Elgin while cigarettes were used to burn a tattoo into her shoulder.
Megan A. Lino, 22, of Carpentersville, was sentenced Friday to 12 years in prison for her role in the crime. Lino was credited for 232 days served in Kane County jail.
Four other people received prison terms ranging from two to 11½ years.
According to Kane County court records, Lino pleaded guilty Feb. 8 to one count of home invasion, a felony punishable by up to 30 years in prison with no chance of probation.
As part of the plea, prosecutors dismissed other comparable charges of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated battery with a caustic substance. Lino was set for a jury trial in early March, but that was canceled when she pleaded guilty before Judge Kathryn Karayannis.
On Friday, attorneys entered Lino's prison term into the record and she was taken to the Kane County jail for prison transport.
According to Elgin police, the 19-year-old victim from Belvidere was forcibly removed by her ex-boyfriend and four females from a house on the 500 block of Levine Court in Elgin the night of Feb. 26, 2016, and taken to a residence on the 300 block of Raymond Street.
There, she was stripped, tied to a chair and beaten. Cigarettes were used to burn a shoulder tattoo that matched that of her ex-boyfriend, Luis A. Palomar, who authorities also described as the leader in the assault, according to police and court records.
The next morning, authorities received a call of a woman being held against her will at the Raymond Street address and she helped identify her attackers, according to Elgin police and court records.
Lino was one of the first people arrested. Kassandra Delgado and Ruby M. Gomez, both 23 and of Elgin, and a minor also were arrested. Delgado and Gomez pleaded guilty last year and were sentenced to nine and 10 years in prison, respectively.
Palomar, 21, of Lake in the Hills, fled to Mexico, where he was arrested in mid-March 2016 and returned to Illinois. He was sentenced to 16½ years in prison - 11½ for the kidnapping and another five years for cocaine possession and burglary while free on bond and a fight at the jail.
Gino Moraca, 27, of Elgin, was sentenced to two years in prison and had agreed to testify in court against others in exchange for prosecutors dismissing the kidnapping charges. He was an occupant at the Raymond Street location.
Under state law, Lino can have her prison term halved for good behavior.