Palatine man gets 10 years for molesting 7-year-old

A Palatine man who used a Popsicle to lure a 7-year-old girl into his care and then molested her was sentenced to a decade in prison.

Pedro Bartolo, 23, pleaded guilty Monday to predatory criminal sexual assault for the May 29, 2007, incident.

Prosecutors say Bartolo, who could have received six to 30 years, was an acquaintance of the girl's family.

On a trip to a Laundromat with the victim and her mother, Bartolo suggested taking the child for a Popsicle. Instead, prosecutors say, Bartolo brought her back to the apartment he shared with the family and molested her.

The girl told her mother, and Palatine police arrested Bartolo three days later.

In exchange for the guilty plea, prosecutors dropped other criminal sexual abuse charges and the victim's family was spared of a trial.

Bartolo has been in custody since his June arrest. A request by his defense attorney the following month to reduce his $150,000 bond backfired when Cook County Judge John Scotillo upped it to $200,000.