34-year prison sentence for West Chicago child molester

A West Chicago man convicted of sexually assaulting two young girls in an apartment where he rented a bedroom will likely be in his 70s when he is released from prison.

Judge Robert Miller sentenced the 42-year-old Obdulio Lopez-Gomez to 34 years in prison Thursday after Lopez-Gomez pleaded guilty to one of the four counts of predatory criminal sexual assault he was initially charged with. Prosecutors had agreed to cap their sentence request at 40 years.

Assistant State's Attorney Jennifer Lindt said Lopez-Gomez assaulted the 9- and 7-year-old sisters on multiple occasions from February 2013 through July 2015 while he was at their West Chicago home.

Lindt said, during Thursday's sentencing hearing, that the sisters witnessed the "stomach churning" abuse the other endured, but both were to afraid to say anything.

"This defendant used the trust and vulnerability of these girls to serve his own sick sexual desires," Lindt said. "And his behavior is likely to occur the second he gets his next breath of fresh air."

The abuse came to light when the victims disclosed the behavior to a summer camp counselor, who in turn contacted the West Chicago Police Department. Police then contacted the DuPage County Children's Center.

Carmen Easton, an investigator at the children's center testified that both girls trembled in fear and embarrassment while recounting the abuse.

"I did a lot of reassuring them that they did nothing wrong and that they were in no way at fault," she said. "But they were afraid."

The girls' mother, in a victim impact statement read into the record Thursday said both girls are struggling in school and are no longer the loving, carefree girls they were before the abuse began. Lopez-Gomez, who prosecutors say is in the United States illegally, must serve 85 percent of the sentence before being paroled and must register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. He receives credit for the 989 days he's spent in custody.