Naperville sex offender begins prison sentence

A Naperville man who pleaded guilty to raping a teenage girl multiple times for nearly a year has begun serving his 4.5-year prison sentence.

James R. Willard pleaded guilty to criminal sexual assault Feb. 25 after DuPage County prosecutors agreed to drop four other sex-related charges. He began serving the prison sentence Thursday when he was transferred to Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet.

Prosecutors alleged Willard had sex with the teenager some 50 times between August 2005 and June 2006 beginning when the girl was 12. His crimes were reported in 2009 when the girl sought help. He was arrested in May 2009 and admitted to the crimes to a therapist, according to court papers.

The court records show that Willard allowed his therapist to release his treatment notes to authorities despite his attorney's protests. He told the therapist he remembered little about the attacks because he was drinking at the times they occurred. He said that his drinking escalated after he lost his job and struggled to find a new one. He reported that he was an engineer by trade.

In addition to prison, Willard must register as a sex offender and submit to DNA indexing. He is scheduled to be paroled in December 2013, but prosecutors urged that he serve the full sentence. Assistant DuPage State's Attorney Demetri Demopoulos wrote that Willard has tried to "minimize his conduct" despite his guilty plea.

"Do not be fooled, he is a smooth talker and very intelligent," Demopoulos wrote. "He should be monitored for the rest of his life."

The girl's mother also urged the harshest penalty against Willard in a letter included in the court papers, saying that her daughter would have to spend the rest of her life coping with the crimes Willard committed against her.