Recently in Cook County courts Category

A 30-year-old Harvey woman accused of having a sexual encounter with a friend's teenage daughter was ordered held in lieu of $250,000 bail Friday, officials said.

A Worth woman faces carjacking charges Friday after she was accused of  brandishing a razor knife at a 29-year-old mother before stealing her sport-utility vehicle  from a Hickory Hills parking lot this week.

A Chicago man who owns a Melrose Park slot machine business has been charged with possession of child pornography and evading taxes on his west suburban business.

A court-appointed psychiatrist has found James Pender mentally fit to stand trial for allegedly bludgeoning his estranged wife to death with a hammer on a River Forest street.

A Posen man was charged Wednesday with sexually assaulting a woman in her  Tinley Park home, police said.

Jason Austin's mother, Ruthie Austin, is comforted by investigator Tom Romano after Cook County prosecutors dropped all charges against her son. (Tribune photo by Terrence Antonio James / September 10, 2008)

Cook County prosecutors dropped all charges Wednesday against a Chicago man in the murder and robbery last month of off-duty Chicago Police Detective Robert Soto and his friend, Kathryn Romberg.

Jason Austin, 26, is expected to be released from custody later Wednesday afternoon.