DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin announced today that a Chicago resident accused of causing a head-on crash that killed two passengers in an oncoming vehicle has been sentenced to twenty years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Juan Rodea-Cruz, 27, appeared at his sentencing hearing this afternoon in front of Judge Daniel Guerin, who handed down the sentence. On October 10, 2021, Rodea-Cruz entered a plea of guilty to two counts of Aggravated DUI Causing Death, a Class 2 Felony. He has been held in custody since the crash at the DuPage County Jail on a bond of $750,000 with 10% to apply.
On October 20, 2019, at approximately 2:47 a.m., Rodea-Cruz was driving alone in his vehicle northbound on Route 83 in the southbound lanes just north of 55th Street in Clarendon Hills. While driving on the wrong side of the road, Rodea-Cruz crashed his car head-on into a southbound vehicle with four passengers. Two of the southbound vehicle’s passengers, Marko Boskovic, 27, of Revere, Massachusetts and Laura Uribe, 26, of LaGrange, died at a local hospital as a result of their injuries. Additionally, a twenty-seven-year-old male was severely injured while another twenty-seven-year-old male received treatment for his injuries and was released. The two surviving victims are both from Massachusetts. After the crash, officers found Rodea-Cruz alone in his vehicle with numerous opened and unopened bottles of beer as well as a broken 750 ml bottle of liquor. He was taken into custody at this time and appeared in Bond Court the following morning.
“This case is the definition of a tragedy. The senseless loss of two innocent lives will forever be on the shoulders of Mr. Rodea-Cruz. His decision to operate a motor vehicle after he had been drinking cost Marko Boskovic and Laura Uribe their lives. To Marco’s and Laura’s surviving family and friends, I offer my sincerest condolences and wish them well as they continue their lives with just the memories of Marko and Laura to sustain them. I thank Assistant State’s Attorneys Rob Willis and Michael Paup and Patrick Miner for their work in securing a strong prosecution against Mr. Rodea-Cruz that ultimately led to his guilty plea.”
— DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin
Rodea-Cruz will be required to serve 85% of his sentence before being eligible for parole. He will also receive credit for time he has already served in the DuPage County Jail.
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