Ex-Lake in the Hills official pleads guilty to sex abuse charge

A former high-ranking Lake in the Hills official admitted Thursday he molested a 14-year-old girl in 2005 after returning home drunk from a party and finding her in his bed.

Robert B. Krause, 49, was sentenced to 60 days in the McHenry County jail and placed on two years probation under the terms of a plea bargain in which he was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

Krause, Lake in the Hills' water superintendent at the time of the offense, also must register as a sex offender and pay a $1,000 fine. In return, McHenry County prosecutors agreed to dismiss four other counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse filed in connection with the Dec. 11, 2005 incident at his Johnsburg home.

Krause declined comment after entering the guilty plea.

Krause, who now lives in Iowa, is being allowed to serve his sentence over several long and holiday weekends during the next two years, with the first not scheduled until August.

Defense lawyer Mark Gummerson said Krause asked to do it that way so he could keep a job.

"That was his choice so that he could maintain support for his family," Gummerson said.

The charges stemmed from an incident that occurred when Krause returned home from a holiday party intoxicated and discovered the victim and his daughter sleeping in his bed.

When the girls refused to get out, authorities said, Krause laid down in bed with them and, at some point during the night, fondled the 14-year-old girl.

Krause later confessed when questioned by police. He resigned from his post as the Lake in the Hills water superintendent a few days later.