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The Need for an Investigation of
Child Sex Abuse Cases in Lake
County
Prepared by Denise Rotheimer
3/5/2009
www.momsv.org
Child Sexual Abuse
• Child sexual abuse is the sexual exploitation or
victimization of a child by an adult, adolescent, or older
child. The difference in age and sexual knowledge
between a child and an older person makes informed
consent to sexual activity impossible.
• Sexual abuse includes a range of behaviors, including
vaginal, anal, or oral penetration, fondling, exhibitionism,
prostitution, and photographing a child for pornography.
The sexual activity does not necessarily involve force.
Children are often bribed or verbally coerced into sexual
acts.
2005 Sex Offender Registry
Statistics in Lake County
Registered Sex Offenders
518
Child Sex Offenders
444
9 out of 10 registered sex offenders
are child sex offenders
Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault
Class X Felony 6 to 30 year prison term
No Photo
Deported: 1/24/2006 Philippines
Williams, Clarence L.
Date of Birth: 5/29/1945
Victim age - 3
Convicted: 6/14/2002
Registered: 12/6/2002
Served six months in prison
Cristobal, Villamor N.
Date of Birth: 12/16/1961
Victim age - 6
Convicted: 11/19/2004
Registered: 1/10/2005
Served <2 months in Prison
Aggravated Criminal Sexual Assault
Class X Felony 6 to 30 year prison term
Long, Gary L.
Date of Birth: 9/18/1953
Victim age - 5
Convicted: 3/26/1996
Registered: 7/19/2001
Served 5 years in prison
York, Leander J.
Date of Birth: 2/15/1982
Victim age - 5
Convicted: 1/24/2002
Registered: 1/25/2002
No prison
Criminal Sexual Assault
Class 1 Felony 4 to 15 year prison term
Borowiec, John J.
Date of Birth: 11/27/1943
Victim age - 6
Convicted: 1/29/2002
Registered: 1/31/2002
No prison
Ayres, Gerald S.
Date of Birth: 10/28/1962
Victim age- 9
Convicted: 5/12/2004
Registered: 5/13/2004
No prison
Aggravated Criminal Sexual Abuse
Class 2 Felony 3 to 7 year prison term
No Photo
Deported: 12/29/2005 Honduras
Mortensen, James A
Date of Birth: 2/11/1985
Victim age 13—Bodily Harm
Convicted: 7/28/2004
Registered: 7/29/2004
No Prison
Zelaya, Pillo M.
Date of Birth: 4/11/1959
Victim age - 5
Convicted: 6/29/2005
Registered: 7/7/2005
No Prison
Too young for justice
News Sun
February 14, 2008
Marc Jenkins, “For three months, Lake County
News-Sun reporters analyzed the outcomes of
child sex offender cases among the county's 5,200
prosecuted felonies in 2006.
“Of the 244 felony child sex offender cases which
could have produced a maximum of 4,000 years in
prison, the average sentence given a child sex
offender in Lake County is just over two years.”
Impact on the Victim
The duration of sexual abuse affects the
severity of psychological trauma. The
following percentages of survivors called
their abuse “extremely traumatic”: 73%
whose abuse lasted more than 5 years, 62%
whose abuse lasted 1 week to 5 years, and
46% who experienced one incident of
abuse.
Consequences of Sexual Assault
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Substance Abuse
Self-Esteem Problems
Psychiatric Problems
Prostitution
Suicide
Teen Pregnancy
Eating Disorder
Homelessness
HIV Risk Factors
Substance Abuse
• As many as 75% of women in treatment for
alcoholism report a history of incest or childhood
sexual abuse.
• In a study of males sexually abused as children,
over 80% had a history of substance.
• Victims of rape with post-traumatic stress
disorder are 13.4 times more likely than nonvictims to have major alcohol-related problems
and 26 times more likely to have serious drug
abuse problems.
Self-Esteem Problems
• Women with very poor self-esteem are
four times as likely to have a history of
childhood sexual abuse as other subjects.
Psychiatric Problems
• 50-60% of psychiatric inpatients and 4060% of psychiatric outpatients report
childhood histories of physical or sexual
abuse.
• An estimated 3.8 million adult women
have had rape-related Post Traumatic
Stress Disorder, and an additional 211,000
will develop it each year.
Prostitution
• 60% of prostitutes have been sexually
abused before the age of 16 by an
average of two people for an average of
20 months.
• Among children who were sexually
abused, the odds are 27.7% times higher
that they will be arrested for prostitution as
an adult than non-victims.
Suicide
• Rape victims are 9 times more likely than
non-victims to have attempted suicide.
• In a study of males sexually abused as
children, 50% had suicidal thoughts and
23% attempted suicide.
Teen Pregnancy
• 62% of pregnant or parenting adolescents
had experienced contact molestation,
attempted rape, or rape prior to their first
pregnancy; between 11-20% of girls were
pregnant as a direct result of sexual
assault.
Eating Disorders
• Girls and boys who were sexually abused
are significantly more likely to report eating
disorders than their non-abused like
gender peers.
• In one study of women sexually abused as
children, 63% had eating disorders.
Homelessness
• One study of homeless women found that
38% had a history of childhood sexual
abuse; and 46% had a history of rape as
an adult.
HIV Risk Factors
• There is a strong link between sexual
abuse victimization early in life and
involvement later in life in sexual
behaviors that place women at risk for
contracting HIV.
• In one study, 65% of the HIV+ subjects
had been sexually and/or physically
abused in childhood.
Costs of Violent Crime
Violent crimes account for 1/3 of all crimes,
but account for 95% of the total cost of
crime. Most of the cost is attributable to the
intangible costs of the victim’s pain, suffering
and lost quality of life.
About 12% of total mental health costs is
spent on crime victims.
Costs of Sexual Assault
Rape is the most costly of all crimes to its
victims.
The cost for each sexual assault is 110,000;
because many rape victims are subjected to
more than one sexual assault, the cost per
rape is estimated to be $87,000.
Economic Costs of Sexual Assault
It is impossible to assess the economic toll of sexual
violence. Victims pay for sexual violence out of their own
pockets, and the public pays through provision of services
to victims and their significant others. Public and private
funds are spent on crisis services, medical treatment, and
the criminal justice responses. Workdays are lost because
of injury and illness. Businesses lose money through
employee absences and sexual harassment suits. The cost
for offenders’ incarceration, probation, treatment and other
offender services adds to the total cost of sexual assault.
Rapists are more likely to be a serial
criminal than a serial rapist
• 46% of rapists who were released from
prison were re-arrested within 3 years of
their release for another crime.
• 18.6% for a violent offense.
• 14.8% for a property offense.
• 11.2% for a drug offense.
• 20.5% for a public-order offense.
JUDICIAL BRANCH & CRIMINAL
JUSTICE
The County Board allocates $105.2 million,
or 27% of its annual budget, toward law and
judicial services. There are many county
agencies that work to ensure our judicial
system runs smoothly and efficiently.
County Plays Role in Ending Cycle
of Recidivism
The county has put in place after-care and re-entry programs that
provide treatment and intensive monitoring of offenders. Using a
continuum of care approach, the county works closely with other
agencies and social service providers to integrate services such as
housing, employment, life skills coaching, and social support, in
addition to treatment. Also, as the county sees a decrease in the
number of jail days among these clients, it reduces costs.
Nevertheless, jail overcrowding remains an issue and the county
continues to evaluate alternatives. While the county has made
progress enhancing criminal justice programs and exploring
alternatives to incarceration, much more must still be done.
Plea bargains perpetuate and accelerate the
cycle of repeat abusiveness
“Plea bargaining -- the procedure of trading quick convictions for lesser
time in prison -- is the rule for virtually every category of crime in Lake
County as it is in many Illinois counties, but nowhere is the practice
more controversial than for sex crimes against children.
“Lake County seems to aggressively pursue the arrest and conviction
of those who sexually abuse children. But once predators get into the
legal system, the punishment often does not fit the crime.”
--Marc Jenkins
Too young for justice
Sex offender takes plea deal
Daily Herald
12/6/2008
“A convicted sex offender who went to a Round Lake Park school
looking for his daughter pleaded guilty to a reduced charge Friday.
“Gillermo Contreras, 45, was placed on probation for one year after
pleading guilty to misdemeanor unlawful presence on school property.
“He is not allowed to be at any school because he was convicted in
2001 of aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a child.”
--Tony Gordon
Gurnee man gets 26 years for child molesting
Daily Herald
1/8/2009
“A Gurnee man was sentenced to 26 years in prison Thursday for
molesting five children (between June 2005 and February of last year)
and betraying the trust he worked hard to earn.
“Reid was ordered into sex offender counseling in 2000 after being
convicted of improperly touching a young boy and a young girl. But
(Assistant State’s Attorney) Stanton said Reid quit the counseling after
one session and refused to go back, even though he was jailed for
doing so.”
--Tony Gordon
Lakemoor man gets jail for molestation
Daily Herald
2/20/2009
“A Lakemoor man was sentenced to 30 months in jail Friday after
admitting he repeatedly molested a 9-year-old girl in 2004. Carl
Malchow, 72, will be released from custody only to go to work or to
receive health and sexual offender treatment.
“Sheriff's police arrested Malchow on Jan. 25, 2007 and charged him
with aggravated criminal sexual abuse. …Malchow would have been
eligible for a prison sentence of up to seven years had he been
convicted after a trial.”
--Tony Gordon
2009 Sex Offender Registry
Statistics in Lake County
Registered Sex Offenders
591
Child Sex Offenders
511
Sex offenders have the highest rate of recidivism. Sex offenders
are 4 times as likely to re-offend than any other felony.
Information Sources
1.ICASA. By the Numbers: Sexual Violence Statistics: (2006): p25
http://www.icasa.org/docs/child_sexual_abuse_-_DRAFT-7.doc
2. http://www.co.lake.il.us (10/10/2006)
3. Illinois State Police Registry of Sex Offenders (217) 785-0653
4. www.newssunonline.com
5. Russell, Diana E.H. 1998. The Incidence and Prevalence of Intrafamilial Sexual abuse
of Female Children. In Handbook on Sexual Abuse of Children, ed., Lenore E.A.
Walker. Springer Publishing Co.
6. IBID
7. ICASA Resource Manual 2002
8. Cohen, Mark; Miller, Ted. The Cost of Mental Health Care for Victims of Crime. (13)(1)
Journal of Interpersonal Violence: (1998):93-110
9. ICASA. By the Numbers: Sexual Violence Statistics: (2006): p66-67
10. http://www.rainn.org/get-information/statistics/sexual-assault-offenders
11. Lake County Connection 2008. Connecting Residents with Lake County
Services.
12. www.dailyherald.com