Teen Captured After Fleeing Work Release Program
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 19-year-old man from far north suburban Antioch Township, who escaped the Lake County work-release program, has been recaptured on Chicago's west side.
Jeremy Betancourt has been serving a sentence of periodic imprisonment and probation. He entered a guilty plea in March 2014 in connection with a drag racing accident that killed 16-year-old Antioch High school student Cynthia Perez. Perez was a passenger in the car when it flipped, ejecting her.
Sheriff's police said that Betancourt offered no resistance when he was re-arrested Thursday at a relative's home on the 2600 block of West 36th Street, in Chicago. The entire warrants section of the Lake County Sheriff's police worked the case alongside the U.S. Marshal's Great Lakes Fugitive Task Force.
Defense attorney Jed Stone said that Betancourt had completed more than 200 of the 250 hours of community service that were a part of his sentence. But Betancourt was written up and faced revocation for bringing contraband candy bars, cigarettes and a cell phone into the community-based corrections center where he was being held.
Under the terms of his periodic imprisonment, Betancourt was to be released only to attend high school or counseling. A $1 million arrest warrant was issued when Betancourt failed to appear for the revocation hearing April 29.
Stone said Betancourt otherwise had done well in the program and was about to get his high-school diploma.
"It's heartbreaking to me that it's all gone for naught," Stone said.
A bond hearing is set at 9 a.m. Friday in courtroom C-120 of the Lake County Jail complex.
