DuPage judge to rule on sexual assault charges next week

A Bellwood man who was once a subject of a nationwide manhunt and billboards featuring his mug shot now faces between 30 and 60 years in prison if convicted of criminal sexual assault.

The bench trial for 30-year-old convicted sex offender Albert Scott concluded Friday afternoon. Judge George Bakalis will rule on the case at 8:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 14.

Prosecutors say Scott sexually assaulted a Willowbrook woman, with whom he had previously had an on-again, off-again relationship, in her home on the evening of Jan. 18, 2004.

The woman testified Scott came to her home that afternoon to retrieve some clothing and personal items but became angry after seeing a photo of her with another man.

She said he chased her around the bedroom and pinned her arms down with his legs but she was able to calm him down and defuse the situation. Evidence in the case showed she then texted a friend the message "send police here."

By the time the friend got the message and police arrived, Assistant State's Attorney Jennifer Lindt said, Scott had forced the victim to perform oral sex before he fled.

"Once you drag someone down the hall, chase them around the hall and they give in to the threat of force, that's not consent," Lindt said during closing arguments. "That's rape."

Scott, however, took the stand in his own defense and said the woman invited him to her home to get his stuff and suggested and initiated the sexual conduct by kissing his cheek and licking his ear before she performed the sex act, which he maintained involved a "tub of Cool Whip" on the victim's nightstand.

"In my mind this was consensual," Scott said. "I loved her."

Scott's attorney, Robert Smith, said it's true the woman wanted to move on from Scott.

"She saw an opportunity to get him out of her life and she took it," Smith said. "But the Cool Whip is evidence of consensual sex."

Scott testified that as soon as the act was finished, he left to catch a taxi and a train back into the city where he was staying at the time.

Prosecutors, however, say Scott fled because he was in the early stages of a nine-year probation sentence after being convicted of the 2008 rape of a co-worker in Tennessee.

"He knew what was at stake," Lindt said.

During cross-examination, Scott admitted to knowing that police and federal authorities were looking for him. But, he said, he didn't think it was for anything important because they only wanted to talk to him about a "domestic dispute."

Scott has been held on $1 million bail since his March 2014 arrest by sheriff's detectives and the U.S. Marshals Great Lakes Regional Task Force.