Jun 9, 2009 2:28 pm US/Central
2 More Charged In Taped Playground Beating
CHICAGO (Sun-Times Media Wire) ―
Two more teens have been charged in the beating, burning and degrading of a South Chicago Heights girl in an attack caught on cell phone video.
The girls, 15 and 16, are each charged in juvenile court with a single count of aggravated battery, said Tandra Simonton, a spokeswoman for the Cook County state's attorney.
The 15-year-old, who lives in Crete, is accused of cutting the hair of Mercedes Michaels, 17, on June 2 in a trailer park playground near Candlelight and Torrence avenues. Egged on by Sarah Kraft, 17, she also used a car cigarette lighter to burn Michaels' face and arm, Simonton said, adding that the 16-year-old allegedly held Michaels down and kicked her.
Judge Rodney Hughes Brooks decided to release both girls on home confinement because they had no criminal history, though prosecutors asked that they be held in the juvenile detention center, Simonton said.
The teens turned themselves in Monday night, Sauk Village Police Chief Tom Lacheta said. They're due back in court on July 13.
Kraft, of the 100 block of Westwood Drive in Park Forest, is charged as an adult and remains in the Cook County Jail, held on $75,000. Prosecutors have portrayed her as the ringleader of the assault that was captured on cell phone video and distributed in the neighborhood and then to broadcast TV.
Marcelena Castillo, 17, of the first block of West 37th Street in Steger, also is charged as an adult and is free on $25,000 bail.
Attorneys for the juveniles could not be immediately reached.
(Source: Sun-Times Media Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2009. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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