Lake Villa man, 75, gets 4 years for sex abuse
A 75-year-old Lake Villa man pleaded guilty in Lake County court Tuesday to sexually abusing a person under the age of 18.
In accepting the negotiated plea, Robert Eberhardt agreed to serve four years in prison for the abuse of the minor and then register as a sex offender for the rest of his life, Lake County Judge George Bridges said in court.
Eberhardt also will serve two years of parole following his release. He must serve at least 50 percent of the four-year sentence before being eligible for parole.
Eberhardt was immediately taken into custody after Bridges approved the negotiated plea.
The deal came about three months after Bridges rejected a previous plea deal that would have seen Eberhardt serve only 30 days behind bars. That proposed agreement also would have carried a sentence of 12 months of periodic imprisonment, and an additional six months on electronic home monitoring.
Bridges said he turned down that deal because a sex offender evaluation conducted by court psychologists determined Eberhardt had admitted to sexually abusing other minors about 30 years ago. Eberhardt had no arrests or convictions on such allegations prior to the case before the court Tuesday.
Defense attorney Jeremy Harter did not comment on the case following court Tuesday.
Eberhardt was charged in November with multiple counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving a victim under the age of 13, and aggravated criminal sexual abuse involving a victim under the age of 18.
Had he been found guilty at trial, Eberhardt could have been sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.