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SYCAMORE – A Harvey man already facing murder charges from 2019 is now accused of intentionally flooding a jail cell block, defacing a cell with human waste, and exposing himself while on a video call, according to DeKalb County court records.
Rashad Richmond, 26, of the 100 block of West 157th Street, Harvey, was charged in December 2019 with the fatal shooting death of Jeffrey L. Carson Jr., 29, of Naperville. Vanity L. Garcia, 30, of the 900 block of Symphony Drive in Aurora, also was charged in the 2019 fatal shooting with murder, armed robbery, concealment of homicidal death and aggravated fleeing to elude.
Richmond on Tuesday faced additional charges of tampering with a fire system, a class 4 felony, misdemeanor criminal defacement of government property, and seven counts of indecent exposure, also a misdemeanor. Court records allege he exposed himself during seven video calls from the DeKalb County Jail, including Sept. 11, 18, 25 and 26, and Oct. 2, 3 and 18.
If convicted of the class 4 felony, he could face an additional three years in jail. However, Richmond already faces 60 years in prison if convicted of first-degree murder. He also is charged with armed robbery in the Dec. 15, 2019, fatal shooting that occurred at an apartment complex in the 900 block of Ridge Drive in DeKalb. He pleaded not guilty to his 2019 charges on Jan. 17, 2020, records show.
Around 11:35 p.m. Tuesday, a sheriff’s deputy at the DeKalb County Jail reportedly heard and saw an emergency fire sprinkler had been activated in the M cell block. When the deputy when to inspect the block, she found Richmond allegedly standing alone in a cell covered in water. The fire alarm also had been activated, and the Sycamore Fire Department was dispatched to the jail, records show.
The fire system eventually flooded all of the jail’s M block, records state, and leaked down into the records room below.
As a result of the tampering, deputies reported that the fire suppression system had to be disabled for the entire second floor of the DeKalb County Jail Tuesday night. A plumber will be needed to repair and recharge it before the emergency system can be reactivated, records state.
Deputies said Richmond was placed inside the jail cell alone in the M block, where he also was accused of defacing the cell’s door and window with feces.
DeKalb County deputies working at the jail in Sycamore said that before placing Richmond inside a cell in cell block M, the emergency fire sprinkler was intact, records state.
During a Wednesday bond hearing in front of Circuit Court Judge Marcy Buick, Richmond was represented by the DeKalb County Public Defender’s Office because his lawyer for his 2019 charges, Yorkville-based attorney Andrew Nickel, could not be present, Buick said.
Buick issued a $10,000 recognizance bond on the new charges, however, Richmond won’t likely be released from jail. He’s been held without bond since his December 2019 arrest following the fatal shooting.
Richmond is next set to appear for a status hearing on all his charges at 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 10.
Garcia – held on a $1 million bond increased in January 2020 from $250,000, records show – is set to appear on her 2019 charges at 2:30 p.m. Nov. 9. Garcia pleaded not guilty Jan. 17, 2020.