Man Beaten with Baseball Bat after Big Casino Win: Police

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The victim, 32, told officers that after he won the money Tuesday night, he was befriended by a man at the casino, 151 N. Chicago St. The two men initially went to a bar on Collins Street and then to a house on Schorie Avenue in unincorporated Joliet Township to "drink and party," reports said.


When the pair arrived at the house, his companion disappeared and five men beat him with a baseball bat, kicked him in the head and body, and took his money, the victim said. He was then ordered to the basement.

When he was finally allowed to leave at 6 a.m. Wednesday, the victim grabbed a 12-inch serrated kitchen knife from the house and began walking down Schorie and asking people to call the police. Responding officers had him taken to Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox, where he was treated for multiple scrapes, cuts and bruises and released.   

One man involved in the beating, Mark A. Cortez, 38, of 1108 Bartel Road, Joliet, was arrested Thursday and charged with aggravated robbery and aggravated battery. He is being held in Will County jail.

Police found Cortez at the house and brought him in for questioning, during which time he admitted to be involved in the attack, sheriff's department spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer said. The case remains "open and active," she said.