Judge orders detention for man accused of raping disabled woman at Marklund
A man accused of impregnating a disabled resident of a Marklund home has been ordered held in custody while his case is pending.
Kane County Judge Lark Cowart ruled Sunday that Isaiah S. Fields, 22, of the 5000 block of West Maple Avenue in Chicago, poses a danger to the public.
Fields faces charges of aggravated criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual assault and aggravated battery, alleging he sexually assaulted a resident of the Marklund Hyde Center near Geneva in August or early September 2023.
Marklund serves people with severe and profound intellectual, cognitive and physical disabilities.
Authorities said it was discovered in early April that the woman was pregnant, and she gave birth shortly thereafter.
According to Assistant Kane County State’s Attorney Danielle Bechtold, the 41-year-old woman has Rett syndrome, a neurological disorder. She cannot walk, talk or read, and has the cognitive capability of a 1- to 2-year-old child, Bechtold told Cowart.
Fields worked in the woman’s residence as a caregiver from Aug. 1 to Sept. 5, 2023.
Tests of the baby’s DNA determined that there is a 99.97% probability that Fields is the father, Bechtold said.
Fields also faces charges from September alleging he molested a 67-year-old Aurora woman. According to Bechtold, the charges allege he was staying with a friend when he touched the breasts of the friend’s grandmother while she was sleeping on a couch.
“What you have here is a pattern of someone who takes advantage of people who are unable to consent,” Bechtold said. “He is a threat to anyone, showing himself to more or less be a predator, taking advantage of a person who is unable to fight back.”
Field’s attorney, Justin Sather, asked he be released on electronic home detention.
Cowart said that was inadequate.
“Because of the facts of the case, he poses a threat to anybody in a vulnerable position,” Cowart said. “I can keep you in your home, but I cannot control who comes in to it.”
Fields’ next court date is Friday before Judge John Barsanti.