Couple convicted in 2015 ‘drug-dealing enterprise’ charged with cocaine possession after crash

A former Huntley couple convicted a decade ago in what authorities described as a “drug-dealing enterprise” have been newly charged with possessing cocaine after a car crash, court records show.

Rocio Domino, 47, of Elgin, is charged with possessing cocaine, a Class 4 felony, according to McHenry County court records.

An arrest warrant has been issued for her husband, Nicholas Domino, 53; he is charged with possessing cocaine, reckless driving and petty traffic offenses, according to a criminal complaint.

On March 10, Nicholas Domino was driving a 2007 Saturn Ion in Lake in the Hills “at a high rate of speed before losing control of the vehicle, leaving the roadway and striking a tree, causing severe injury to himself and two other passengers of the vehicle,” according to the complaint.

As he was “receiving medical treatment in an ambulance” at the scene, a plastic bag containing 2.57 grams of cocaine was found, according to the complaint.

Rocio Domino, a passenger in the car, was being treated for injuries at Northwestern Medicine Huntley Hospital when security found a plastic bag containing 8.46 grams of cocaine, according to the complaint.

Rocio Domino made her first appearance before Judge Cynthia Lamb on Tuesday, where she was released pretrial with conditions. She was ordered to refrain from consuming illicit substances and to submit to random drug screens, according to the order.

In 2015, Nicholas Domino, who was said to be the ringleader of an “extensive” drug operation, and Rocio Domino were among five people charged with multiple, serious drug-related felonies, according to court records and news stories.

Authorities said at the time that after months of surveillance and listening in on more than 20,000 phone calls, 6,575 of which were about narcotics, agents from the McHenry County Sheriff’s Office’s Narcotics Task Force and Drug Enforcement Administration raided two Huntley homes that the couple once owned or lived in and a storage unit in Lake in the Hills, authorities said.

Agents found illicit drugs with a street value of about $700,000, including 295 pounds of marijuana, more than 60 MDMA pills, more than 500 prescription painkillers and 25 grams of cocaine, authorities said.

Police seized nine vehicles, one motorcycle and televisions totaling more than $150,000, and two Huntley homes owned by family members were forfeited, authorities said. During this time, the couple was unemployed and collecting $900 a month in public aid, according to official accounts.

In 2018, Rocio Domino pleaded guilty to one count of possessing more than 5,000 grams of marijuana, a Class 1 felony, and was sentenced to one year of probation. Nicholas Domino also pleaded guilty in 2018 to possession of more than 5,000 grams of marijuana, a more serious Class X felony, and was sentenced to prison for 10 years, records in their cases show.