Status Update: Case Against Burr Ridge Resident Charged in Baseball Beatings Continued

A resident and his co-defendant made brief appearances in DuPage County Court this week. Both men have been charged in connection with two baseball bat beatings that took place in Villa Park on May 13.

Nicolas Sanchez, 18, of Burr Ridge appeared in court Wednesday, and co-defendant Jeremy Rush, 20, of Addison appeared in court on Tuesday.

DuPage County Assistant State's Attorney Jennifer Lindt said Sanchez and Rush beat two men in the early morning hours of May 13, believing them to be members of a rival gang. The prosecution says Sanchez and Rush are members of the Latin Kings.

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Sanchez and Rush are in DuPage County Jail, each on $350,000 bail. The charges, for which the men were in court stem from two baseball bat beatings that took place in the early morning hours of May 13.

The first beating took place around 12:15 a.m. that day. Prosecutors say a man was walking home from work when a brown Chevy Tahoe pulled up. He was wearing his work uniform at the time, which was black and red.

Lindt said the colors of the uniform led his attackers to mistake him for a member of a rival gang. Lindt said that Sanchez and co-defendant Rush chased down the man and struck him in the head and back repeatedly with a baseball bat.

"This defendant held [the victim,] while he was pleading for his release and struck him," said Lindt during Sanchez's June 4 court appearance. "They continued to stomp upon him while he was on the ground."

The victim was taken to Elmhurst Hospital, where he was treated for a fractured skull and bleeding to the brain.

The second beating took place between 3:30 a.m. and 4 a.m. near the train station in Villa Park.

"They believed [the victim] to be a rival gang member, because of the direction his hat was slightly tilted. They exited the vehicle, chased him down and confronted him," said Lindt on June 4 about the second incident. "They repeatedly struck him so strongly to the face that his nose broke."

Both Sanchez and Rush have pleaded to the charges against them.

Rush is scheduled to be back in court on August 14. Sanchez is scheduled to be back in court on September 11.

*Editor's Note: Specific addresses for Rush and Sanchez are not available. Further information on the three cases currently pending against Sanchez, and six for which he is on probation, also was not available. Information on any crimes committed while Sanchez was a minor will not be available to the media.