Rolling Meadows man convicted of sexually abusing teen with special needs
Jurors took less than one hour Thursday to convict a 36-year-old Rolling Meadows man of sexually abusing a teenage girl with special needs who prosecutors say functions on a third- or fourth-grade level.
Eight women and four men convicted Pablo Herrera of four counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. Upon sentencing, which could come as early as Aug. 14, he faces between 12 and 28 years in prison.
The now 18-year-old girl testified she and her mother rented space in an apartment shared by Herrera, his wife, their two biological children and his wife's two children from a previous relationship.
The victim testified Herrera assaulted her several times between Oct. 28, 2013, and Oct. 27, 2014, in the evenings while her mother worked and she was alone in the bunk bed they shared. She said Herrera threatened her, telling her if she disclosed the abuse, no one would believe her and she and her mother would have to leave.
The victim disclosed the abuse to a high school teacher and counselor on March 30, 2016, after fellow students teased her, calling her pregnant. On April 1, 2016, the girl - who did not know she was pregnant - gave birth. Herrera is not the baby's father, prosecutors said.
Defense attorneys argued prosecutors had no solid case against their client and no physical evidence connected him to an assault.
The state wants you "to believe certain parts and disregard the parts that don't fit," said Cook County assistant public defender Rachel Baker during her closing argument Thursday morning. "The evidence is not there."
Pointing out inconsistencies in the teen's testimony, Baker argued the girl - who did not name Herrera as her attacker until 2016 - was not credible. The teen told prosecutors Herrera assaulted her at least twice, Baker said, and then she told a social worker he assaulted her once. The girl told prosecutors the assaults took place only in the "white apartment" she and her mother shared with Herrera's family, Baker said. But she told a social worker the assaults took place in the "white apartment" and in the "red apartment," where Herrera's wife moved after they divorced and where the girl and her mother later stayed.
Baker also questioned the veracity of Herrera's statement to police, claiming he never had a chance to review or correct it.
Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Jaclyn Lantz reminded jurors of Herrera's statement to police in which he confessed to having sex with the girl eight to 10 times but claimed they were in a relationship and were making love.
Holding up the girl's school photo to jurors, Lantz told them Herrera himself identified to police that she was the person with whom he had sex.
"Had she not become pregnant no one would have known what he did to her because she wouldn't have told anybody," Lantz said.