Jailed Man Accused In Bucktown Beating Hit With Pot-Smuggling Charge
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A jailed Chicago man awaiting trial for the notorious 2010 baseball bat attack on two women in Bucktown faces additional charges that he conspired with his girlfriend to smuggle marijuana into Cook County jail.
A correctional officer has also been charged, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announced in a news release.
Inmate Heriberto Viramontes, 31, is charged with bringing contraband into a penal institution. Also charged with the same felony offense is his girlfriend, 22-year-old Kira Lundgren of Plainfield.
Authorities say was caught bringing marijuana into the jail June 11 while visiting Viramontes, Dart's office said. She smuggled the pot in her shoe, then taped the drugs beneath a table in the visitor's room managed by correctional officer Jerome Prusa.
Internal investigators had been probing previous instances of marijuana being discovered inside a medical facility at the jail. They had zeroed in on Prusa and a visiting room he oversaw, the sheriff's office said.
Prusa, 50, of Westchester, is charged with four counts of official misconduct, two counts of possession of a weapon in a penal institution, one count of bringing a weapon into a penal institution and one count of bringing contraband into a penal institution.
Lundgren was arrested as she left Division 10, while Prusa was immediately taken into custody. A later shake-down of Viramontes' cell led to the discovery of the marijuana that had been taped to the visiting table, the sheriff's office said.
Lundgren remains free on $10,000 bond. Her next court date is set for Monday.
Prusa, a correctional officer since 2005, was found to be in possession of two knives, hidden in his uniform, when he was arrested. He is free on $40,000 bond. He has been de-deputized and suspended from his position pending an employment hearing.
He has also resigned his position as an auxiliary officer with the LaGrange Park Police Department. His next court date is set for July 21, the sheriff's office said.
Viramontes was already being held without bond on charges of aggravated battery and armed robbery for the April 2010 attack on Stacy Jurich and Natasha McShane that left the woman seriously injured. His then-girlfriend, Marcy Cruz, 26, is charged with the same crimes for her role in that incident.
Viramontes is expected to appear in bond court at 26th and California on Friday.
