Recently in Rape / Sexual Assault Category

A 28-year-old fast-food restaurant manager pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated sexual assault and was sentenced to 10 years in prison, the Beacon-News reports. Sandwich-based Bryan Kerber was facing 53 additional counts but they were dropped in exchange for his plea, according to reporters.

Kendall County State's Attorney Eric Weis told reporters that the 16-year-old (at the time) victim's parents were happy with the outcome:

"This sentence holds the defendant accountable for his actions against the victim while not requiring the victim to have to testify in this case."

Those convicted or who plead guilty to sex offenses, including rape and sexual assualt, must register with the state. But registered sex offenders still are eligible under Illinois law to hold a professional license, as overseen by Daniel Bluthardt, the state's Director of Professional Regulation (Fox Chicago).

Only massage therapists face revocation of their license when they register as sex offenders. But critics say sex offenders with other professional licenses, including a realtor who pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography  last year should face tighter scrutiny.

A 2008 Illinois law requires the state police crime lab to collect DNA evidence from murder and manslaughter victims. Crime victims are more likely to have committed crimes themselves, according to research (Tribune), so lawmakers passed the bill in an attempt to solve the state's backlog of cold cases (Chicago Police Dept.).

At the risk of sounding insensitive, dead people probably don't care too much about their privacy. But it's not nearly that simple, of course, as the Tribune article points out.

It seems as though Jewel's Bus Company, which operates in Roseland, needs to update its hiring policies. Less than four months after a Jewel's bus driver kidnapped a kindergartener (Tribune) from the South Side, another Jewel's driver was arrested and charged with sexually abusing a teenage girl (Fox Chicago).

Even more disturbing is the fact that the 17-year-old girl is mentally challenged, likely considered an easy target for accused offender Antonio Ross. 

Ross allegedly fondled the girl's breasts and initiatiated other, more-explicit sexual contact, on March 24, 2009 and was charged with criminal sexual assault of a victim who was between the ages of 13 and 17. Ross was 26 years old at the time of the incident.

A 20-foot drop from the balcony of the defunct and boarded-up St. Mary's Carmelite Church in Joliet wasn't enough to take the life of a priest accused of sexual assault (AP, via Washington Examiner). The 37-year-old priest, Rev. Alehandro Flores (Tribune), was found unconscious and remains in intensive care.

Flores, the parochial vicar of Holy Family Parish in Shorewood, hasn't been charged with anything, but is under investigation by the Kane County State's Attorney's office.