A year of home detention for Batavia sex offender

A Kane County judge has ordered a sex offender to spend a year on electronic home monitoring after he served as a head coach of his son's youth baseball team in Batavia last year.

Jeffrey Wiedemann, 38, of the 800 block of First Street, Batavia, also must undergo 24 months of specialized treatment as part of his sentence and pay $2,030 in fines and court costs.

Judge T. Jordan Gallagher did say he would consider in October removing the remaining six months on Wiedemann's sentence if he stayed out of trouble, Justin Sather, Wiedemann's defense attorney, said Wednesday.

“If he does everything he's supposed to do, the judge will stay the last six months,” Sather said, stressing his client wanted to be involved in his 9-year-old son's life and was recruited to serve as a coach. “This was simply (Wiedemann) trying to be a part of his son's life and making a poor decision.”

Wiedemann had been banned from unsupervised contact with minors after he was convicted in 2006 in Kane County of possession of child pornography and sentenced to probation.

He was arrested last August after the parent of another player on the team learned of Wiedemann's background and called authorities.

He pleaded guilty in November to a charge of unlawful association by a child sex offender, a felony that carries a sentence ranging from probation to three years in prison.

He was not accused of doing anything inappropriate with players on the team.

“This is probably his last chance at probation,” Sather said, noting that his client's evaluation showed he was not a risk to young boys. “There was no ill will toward any other children.”

Kane County Assistant State's Atty. Pam Monaco pushed for a 180-day sentence in the county jail.