Two Woodstock 18-year-olds are accused of holding a 13-year-old boy at knifepoint and demanding his bike and cellphone, according to authorities.
Jose Manuel-Martinez and Khalil Hyde each are charged with intimidation with physical confinement or restraint and aggravated unlawful restraint, both Class 3 felonies, as well as misdemeanor aggravated assault involving a deadly weapon, according to the criminal complaints in the McHenry County court.
Both of them made an initial court appearance Monday before Judge Micheal Feetterer. The judge found they both posed a threat to the child – having allegedly confronted the child randomly – as well as the community and detained them in the county jail pretrial.
Assistant State’s Attorney Sawyer Schexnider, in arguing for their detention, said a boy was riding his bike in a public area with friends, “minding their own business,” when the teens “forcefully detained him” and demanded his bike and phone. Schexnider said Manuel-Martinez pulled out a knife and gave it to Hyde who, while holding the boy’s bike, used it to intimidate him.
They also “demanded” to know where the boy’s friends had gone off to, the prosecutor said, and Hyde “put his hand on his bike and wouldn’t let him go.” Woodstock police said the alleged incident occurred along South Eastwood Drive.
Manuel-Martinez said he threw the knife away in a park but it has not been found, Schexnider said, adding the child’s father told prosecutors his son was “terrified.” If released from jail, there is no way to prevent them from finding the boy or his friends, Schexnider argued.
Assistant Public Defender Gianna Venticinque argued the teens could be release from jail with conditions including GPS monitoring. She said these are “just allegations.”
Feetterer said the allegations were “not just idle threats. A knife was used to help coerce a juvenile victim to give them his property. This was a total random act.” Being released on GPS monitoring would not protect the kids or the public, the judge said in detaining both teens.