New charges were filed Sunday against four Kane County inmates, including a murder suspect, accused of mob action in a fight last week at the jail.
Keyonn Lovelace, 20, of Aurora; Luis M. Palomar, 19, of Lake In The Hills; Jorge Chavez, 21, of Chicago; and Orlando Cano, 32, of Geneva, were each charged with single counts of class 4 felony mob action – “use of force or violence disturbing the peace,” according to county court records.
The fight, for which officials have not determined a motive, broke out in one of the jail’s cellblocks at about 2:20 p.m. April 4, spokesman Lt. Patrick Gengler said in an email.
Chavez got into a fight with another inmate, a 31-year-old man, before the others charged and joined the fight on the side of Chavez, Gengler said.
“It was mostly punches and at one point one of the inmates struck the victim with the open cell door,” Gengler said.
An officer in the housing unit called for assistance, and when additional officers arrived, they ordered the inmates to separate and placed them in handcuffs, Gengler said.
Chavez and the inmate his group was fighting sustained minor injuries, and no officers were injured while breaking up the fight, Gengler said.
Chavez and Lovelace were both charged in a September fight at the jail, also involving both men on the same side facing another inmate. Lovelace and Chavez were charged with single counts of aggravated battery and mob action which accuse them of hitting another male inmate “numerous times” in the face, causing bruising and swelling.
Chavez has been in the jail since July 2014, when he was charged with 17 felonies including class 2 possession of a stolen vehicle, class 3 aggravated battery causing great bodily harm, class 2 aggravated battery of a peace officer and class 4 aggravated fleeing involving damage worth more than $300, according to court records. Jail records show his total bail for all charges has been set at $258,750.
Lovelace, whose total bail is set at $575,000, has been in custody since November 2015, when he was arrested on first-degree murder charges in the shooting that killed Daniel Sanchez after what has been described by police as a drug buy-turned-robbery attempt. Aurora police found Sanchez in an industrial area on South Elmwood Drive with gunshot wounds to his head and a leg. He died hours later at a local hospital.
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Investigators used surveillance video from nearby businesses and evidence located at the scene to eventually connect the shooting to Lovelace and a second man, 22-year-old Leon Williams, who prosecutors allege fired the fatal shots at Sanchez. Court documents indicate the pair made arrangements to buy marijuana from Sanchez and picked him up from the area of Ridgeway Avenue and Lake Street. As they drove to the 600 block of South Elmwood, Williams pulled a handgun on Sanchez and demanded money and drugs as they sat in the back seat, according to prosecutors. A struggle occurred before Sanchez was able to jump out of the car. Williams chased him and fired two shots which struck Sanchez, prosecutors said..
Palomar, whose total bail is $525,000, was booked in the jail in September 2016 on more than a dozen felony charges including the class X felonies of home invasion, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated battery causing great bodily harm. He is one of five people charged in a home invasion and kidnapping in which Elgin police accused the assailants of beating a woman and burning her with cigarettes.
Cano, the most recently booked of the four, has been in the jail since December, when he was charged with a handful of felonies including class 2 aggravated battery of a peace officer, along with several misdemeanors. His total bail for all charges has been set at $50,000, according to jail records.
Beacon-News freelance reporter Dan Campana contributed.
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