ROUND LAKE BEACH, Ill. – Three teens have been charged after a suburban father was killed while trying to sell his iPhone using the popular app OfferUp.
Police say 43-year-old Trinidad Bueno-Sanchez of North Chicago, a married man with a 6-year-old child, did everything right when trying to sell his cell phone.
Using OfferUp, he found a potential buyer who expressed interest in purchasing his iPhone 6 for $450, and agreed to meet them in the parking lot of a Meijer store in Round Lake Beach the evening of April 24.
Five teens met him in the lot. Police said Bueno-Sanchez leaned inside the suspects’ vehicle during the exchange.
“They asked to see the phone so he handed them the phone,” said Round Lake Beach Police Deputy Chief Mike Scott. “Then they handed him an envelope that was supposed to be the money for the phone. But turned out there was just a few dollars in there.”
At that point, police say the teens knew the victim was on to them and sped off. But Bueno-Sanchez was still leaning through the window. He was dragged along with the car before falling and hitting his head on the pavement. He was taken to a hospital in Libertyville where he was put on life support, and he died three days later. After an autopsy, the Lake County Coroner ruled his death a homicide caused by head trauma.
A passenger in the car at the time of the incident, 18-year-old Courtney Sherman of Fox Lake is one of three teens charged with reckless homicide and robbery. She’s being held on $500,000 bail. A 16- and 17-year-old are also charged and being held at a juvenile detention center in Vernon Hills.
“Young people don’t think of the ramifications of their actions,” Deputy Chief Scott said. “They think of what they’re planning on doing and they don’t think of the things that can go wrong … with this, everything that could have went wrong did, and it can’t get more serious than it is right now.”