Elgin sex offender admits he's a pedophile, will get treatment
A 39-year-old Elgin man who served prison time for molesting a boy in August 2010 in a restroom at an Elgin shopping area has admitted he is a pedophile and will be sent to the state's Department of Human Services for treatment.
Daniel Dawson and prosecutors agreed he is a danger to society and should be committed indefinitely under the state's Sexually Violent Persons Act, according to Kane County court records.
Dawson's attorneys and prosecutors from the Illinois attorney general's office stipulated last week to two reports from clinical and forensic psychologists that Dawson has a form of pedophilia and it is substantially probable he will commit more violent offenses in the future.
"Dr. (Deborah) Nicolai would also testify that this mental disorder is a congenital or acquired condition that severely (affects Dawson's) emotional or volitional capacity and predisposes him to engage in future acts of sexual violence," read part of what prosecutors and Dawson agreed to.
Under the 1998 law, a person could be committed to the state's Department of Human Services after prison release if the person committed a sex crime, if he or she had a mental disorder, and if a judge or jury concludes it's "substantially probable" the person will reoffend.
Dawson was sentenced to four years in prison for sexually abusing a 6-year-old boy in August 2010.
He also was sentenced to 180 days in jail after his arrest for hanging around Channing Elementary School in Elgin in 2009 asking moms when school got out. Disturbed, they called police, who found a note in Dawson's pocket that planned to ask a girl to lift her shirt and expose herself to him.
In 2003, he got probation after trying to lure a 9-year-old girl into a men's restroom at an Elgin park, records show.
Dawson's treatment duration will become clearer after a hearing Nov. 12.
More than 330 sex offenders have been committed into the state's care since the 1998 law went into effect.
Dawson also is the second person in Kane County to admit he was a pedophile instead of fighting the attorney general's office.
Daniel Stage, a 39-year-old former North Aurora man who was sentenced to four years in prison for violating probation in a 2007 sexual abuse case, admitted he was a pedophile in May and was committed for treatment. He had been held since his release from prison in 2012.