Crime & Safety

Driver in Runaway Wreck Gets $500K Bond

The man who allegedly ran off after a crash that left a young girl with a broken back was supposed to be deported in 2008, a prosecutor said.

When Juan Serrano-Ortega was caught driving without a license in Kansas four years ago, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement secured an order to have him deported.

But Serrano-Ortega, 25, came up with enough bond money to get out of jail and fled Kansas, a prosecutor said.

Serrano-Ortega wound up living in Plainfield and on Monday he was in , right outside , where he allegedly and sent a young girl to the hospital with a broken back.

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The day after the crash, Will County Judge Marzell Richardson set Serrano-Ortega's bond at $500,000.

Serrano-Ortega only needs to post 10 percent of that to get out of jail again. But even if he has that kind of money — Serrano-Ortega said in court he has about $3,000 in cash at his home and a BMW worth another $3,000 — Immigration and Customs Enforcement has filed for a hold that makes it theoretically impossible for Serrano to be freed.

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Serrano-Ortega, who said he makes about $1,000 a month doing concrete work, faces charges of failure to report an accident involving an injury or death and leaving the scene of an accident, along with various traffic violations. He could be sent to prison for up to seven years.

The charges stem from Monday's crash near the intersection of County Line and Baltz roads. After running his girlfriend's Ford F-150 into a Honda Odyssey, officials said, Serrano-Ortega fled on foot. He was captured about an hour later while hiding in the bushes of a nearby home.

A 9-year-old girl riding in the Odyssey suffered a broken vertebrae in the crash and was transported to Provena St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet.

She underwent emergency surgery Monday and on Tuesday was tested for "multiple body fractures," said Kathy Hoffmeyer, the spokeswoman for the Will County Sheriff's Department.

The girl's 39-year-old mother and and her two brothers, ages 10 and 13, were also taken to Provena St. Joseph. The mother suffered head and leg injuries and the boys sustained "minor injuries," Assistant State's Attorney Mike Casson said.

Hoffmeyer said the mother and younger brother spent the night at the hospital and were released Tuesday morning.

Richardson appointed the public defender's office to Serrano-Ortega's case and ordered him to return to court on Feb. 28.


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