Gacy nephew gets 24 years for sex assault of girl
A nephew of serial killer John Wayne Gacy was sentenced Thursday to 24 years in prison after being found guilty in July of numerous charges of sexual abuse and sexual assault of a girl he knew.
Raymond M. Kasper, 49, formerly of Algonquin and most recently of Marengo, was found guilty of assaulting the girl at her Algonquin home between June 2011 and October 2011. He was convicted on three felony charges of predatory criminal sexual assault and three charges of sexual abuse.
Kasper faced between 21 to 120 years in prison; he will be eligible for parole in more than 19 years, McHenry County Assistant State’s Attorney Sharyl Eisenstein said. “He did not get the minimum, and he will not be able to re-offend. Hopefully other children will be safe from him and the victim will safe,” Eisenstein said.
Kasper read a statement in court proclaiming his innocence before Judge Joseph Condon, she said. He had also maintained his innocence on the witness stand, when he testified that the girl, who is 13 now and was 12 at the time of the abuse, was angry with him because he disciplined her.
Jurors had not been told that Kasper, who was arrested about year ago, is the nephew of Gacy, the Chicago serial killer executed in 1994 for killing 33 boys and young men.
Attorney Catherine O’Daniel, who represented Kasper at Thursday’s sentencing, did not respond to requests for comment.
Attorney Michael Barrett, who represented Kasper during the trial, said he withdrew in September after Kasper decided to hire a new attorney. At trial, Barrett stressed the girl recanted on the witness stand what she had told authorities, saying she dreamed about the abuse, but the prosecution argued that after Kasper was arrested he pressured the girl’s mother and aunt in recorded telephone conversations to get the girl to change her story or refuse to testify.