Elgin man accused of sex assaults, abuse in 1990s, 2011

A 76-year-old Elgin man has been charged with repeatedly raping and sexually abusing a girl he knew beginning in the early 1990s and another victim in 2012.

William R. Ahrens, of the 0-99 block of DuBois Avenue, was arrested this week after one of his accusers filed a report, Elgin police said.

Ahrens is charged with felony predatory criminal sexual assault of a victim younger than 13, along with two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault and two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, according to police and Kane County court records.

Records show that Ahrens assaulted a girl from May 1990 through May 1996 and a second girl from February 2011 to February 2012.

The person who made a police report Sunday told authorities that Ahrens abused her in the summer of 2011.

The woman who says she was assaulted in the 1990s went to police in August 2016, saying she was assaulted and abused on a weekly basis at Ahrens's residence.

Years earlier she told her mother of the assault but did not tell police, according to a police report. Ahrens was not charged at that time.

Ahrens was being held at the Kane County jail on $100,000 bail, meaning he must post $10,000 to be released while the charges are pending.

If he does post bail, he is to have no contact with his accusers or any minors, nor possess any firearms.

Ahrens is due in court Feb. 2. If convicted of the most severe charge, he faces six to 30 years in prison and lifetime registration as a sex offender.