Lake County Gazette

Lake County Judge Rhonda "Randie" Bruno is facing criticism for releasing José Luis Mendoza-Gonzalez, an illegal immigrant arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on July 19 who earlier admitted to hiding the body of 37-year-old Megan Bos in a bleach-soaked trash container.

Mendoza-Gonzalez was released from custody by Bruno, an associate judge in Lake County’s 19th Judicial District, just 48 hours after his April arrest, despite being charged with four felonies, including abuse of a corpse and obstruction of justice.

The move by Bruno, made possible by SAFE-T Act provisions, has drawn outrage from law enforcement, public officials and Megan Bos’s grieving family.

19th Judicial District Randie Bruno | 19th Judicial District

ICE apprehended Mendoza-Gonzalez in Chicago months after Bruno released him. 

Critics of the Safe-T Act and Bruno argue Mendoza-Gonzalez never should have been free in the first place.

Antioch Township Republican Committeeman Mike Scornavacco didn't hold back.

“Outrage,” Antioch Township Republican Committeeman Mike Scornavacco told the Lake County Gazette. “Megan’s body wasn’t just hidden. It was desecrated—left to rot in a bleach-soaked trash container behind a house. The man who admitted to doing it—Jose Mendoza-Gonzalez—walked out of a Lake County courtroom a free man.” 

“And why? Because of a broken law. Because of a broken system. And because Judge Randie Bruno chose to follow political handcuffs instead of delivering real justice," he said. “I’m not letting her off the hook. She had a choice. She could have dissented publicly. She could’ve raised the alarm. She could’ve said, ‘This is wrong.’ Instead, she went along with it. She cited the law, signed the order, and let him go.” 

“Whether her hands were tied or not, her silence was a choice. And silence in the face of injustice isn’t neutrality—it’s complicity.”

“We don’t need more quiet judges. We need ones with backbones.” 

Another case in which Bruno's judgement was questioned involved awarding sole custody to a father accused of sexually abusing his daughter. 

According to journalist Michael Volpe, Bruno’s decision relied heavily on a disputed expert’s testimony. 

Critics say Bruno ignored credible claims and prioritized flawed evaluations over the girl's well-being, leaving her in a court-mandated arrangement that worsened her mental health.

 Mayor Scott Gartner of Antioch and State Rep. Tom Weber (R-Fox Lake) have also spoken out about Mendoza-Gonzalez’s release. 

Gartner said the SAFE-T Act treats "serious crimes like this as non-detainable” and blamed what he called a “pro-crime agenda” pushed by progressive prosecutors like Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart.

Bos disappeared in February. Her body wasn’t found until April 10, nearly a month after her family filed a missing persons report. Mendoza-Gonzalez later admitted that Bos died in his home of an alleged overdose, and instead of calling for help, he smashed her phone and stored her body in a garbage container filled with bleach. 

Despite the gravity of the charges and his immigration status, no request for electronic monitoring was granted and he walked free.

“Could you imagine if this was your daughter?” Weber said in a post on X. “We still don't know what happened to Megan. We may never know the last moments of Megan's life. But the person who smashed her phone, still can't locate the purse, and put her body in a garbage can out in his yard for almost two months walks out of court. Something is wrong in the state of Illinois. No family should have to go through this. And this needs to end.” 

Scornavacco contrasted the actions of federal immigration authorities with what he described as the failures of Illinois officials to prioritize public safety.

“ICE deserves serious credit. They did what the state wouldn’t. While Springfield tied itself in knots over ‘equity’ and ‘restorative justice,’ ICE showed up, tracked him down, and locked him up,” Scornavacco said. “They were the only ones who acted like public safety mattered. Everyone else was too busy tiptoeing around woke laws and political optics. ICE did their job. They’re the only reason this guy isn’t still walking free right now.”

He didn’t mince words about who he sees as responsible.

“If J.B. Pritzker won’t fix what he broke, voters need to replace him with someone who will. And judges who are unwilling to stand up and speak out—they don’t belong on the bench,” Scornavacco said. “Absolutely. Under Pritzker, we’ve become a state where the system works against victims and in favor of criminals. We’ve seen soft-on-crime prosecutors, sanctuary policies, handcuffed police, and now this SAFE-T disaster.”

The case of Megan Bos, he said, should be a wake-up call.

“Megan Bos wasn’t a headline,” Scornavacco said. “She was a daughter. A mother. A human being. She deserved better than to be dumped like garbage—both literally by Mendoza-Gonzalez and figuratively by the system that protected him,” Scornavacco said. “Judge Bruno could’ve taken a stand. She didn’t. Pritzker could’ve written a law that made sense. He didn’t.”

Bruno has not responded publicly to the criticism.

“Repeal or rewrite the SAFE-T Act. Immediately,” Scornavacco said. “Start by: Making crimes like concealing a death detainable. Giving judges the ability to consider immigration status in flight risk. Restoring judicial discretion so judges can act based on logic, not loopholes.”