A judge on Thursday increased bail for the 18-year-old man accused of burning and beating a woman after she was kidnapped in Elgin earlier this year.
Luis Palomar, of Lake in the Hills, is back in Kane County Jail after Kane County prosecutors successfully argued for his bail to be raised because of an August burglary arrest and twice failing to contact the court services officials, according to court records.
Palomar was charged earlier this year with home invasion, aggravated kidnapping and robbery — among other charges — in connection to the February incident involving a woman with which he previously had a relationship, according to records. Police said the woman had been with Palomar at an Elgin residence when four people entered and, with Palomar’s help, forced her into a vehicle and drove her to a Raymond Drive apartment.
It was there, prosecutors said, that Palomar burned the woman with a cigarette, beat her severely enough to cause bleeding on her brain and stole her cell phone and cash. Palomar used “torture” to “inflict extreme physical pain” upon the woman and was motivated by an “intent to increase or prolong the pain, suffering or agony” of the woman, a 10-count indictment against Palomar states.
Palomar has pleaded not guilty to those charges. He had been free on $200,000 bail in that case, but prosecutors convinced Judge Linda Abrahamson that the amount should be raised because of his August arrest on allegations he entered a parked car in a Carpentersville neighborhood to take a pair of sunglasses. Prosecutors also pointed out Palomar had failed at least twice to abide by bond conditions which require him to make weekly calls to a court services officer.
Abrahamson raised Palomar’s bail by $100,000, meaning he will have to come up with an additional $10,000 to be released from jail. Palomar is scheduled to return to court next week.
Dan Campana is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.