Guilty verdict in St. Charles sex assault

A 25-year-old man was convicted this week of sexually assaulting a woman at gunpoint in St. Charles six years ago.

Carlos M. Lopez of Aurora was found guilty of criminal sexual assault late Wednesday after a three-day trial in which jurors deliberated about 2 hours.

The verdict brought closure to a case that went unsolved until 2006, when Lopez was implicated by DNA evidence matched to him through a national database.

According to prosecutors, the assault occurred after Lopez approached a woman who was getting into her car in Aurora on Dec. 21, 2002, and claimed to be a co-worker from a Batavia business where the woman worked.

After the woman agreed to give Lopez a ride, he pulled a knife and ordered her to drive to a St. Charles industrial park, where he made sexual advances. When she refused him, Lopez pulled out a handgun and fired it toward her, barely missing her face and shattering the driver's side window, the Kane County State's Attorney's office said.

The two then got out of the vehicle and Lopez assaulted her, authorities said. An employee from a business nearby later called St. Charles police.

Lopez remained free until July 2007, when he was arrested in Aurora on an unrelated charge. He has been held in the Kane County jail ever since, with bond set at $1 million.

Lopez faces up to 15 years in prison when he's sentenced Oct. 15 by Circuit Judge Timothy Sheldon.

Assistant State's Attorney Pam Monaco applauded St. Charles police for their efforts in the six-year-old case.

"The St. Charles police department played an important role in the conviction of this defendant," said Monaco, who prosecuted the case with Assistant State's Attorney Divya Sarang, in a written statement.