Antioch man gets 12 years in prison for sexual assault

An Antioch man will spend 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to one count of predatory criminal sexual assault in Lake County circuit court.

After serving his sentence, Mark Sandfox, 50, of the 1700 block of Centennial Drive, will spend three years on probation and will have to register as sex offender for life, under the terms of the agreement reached Thursday.

Sandfox was arrested in January and charged on 23 counts of varying degrees of sexual assault for molesting two children in Antioch and Wauconda between 2003 and 2005, Lake County Assistant States Attorney Steve DeRue said.

Had Sandfox been found guilty of the harshest of those charges, he could have spent up to 30 years in prison and been fined up to $25,000.

However, Lake County Judge John T. Phillips said in court Thursday that some of the witnesses involved in the case were being uncooperative with prosecutors.

DeRue added that the best way to resolve the case was to reach a plea agreement with Sandfox.

Phillips added that Sandfox had no prior criminal past, and showed extreme remorse to the acts committed.