Sex offender get 24 years for 'despicable' crimes

Calling his crimes the most despicable imaginable, a McHenry County judge today sentenced a Mount Prospect man to 24 years in prison for repeatedly raping a boy over a nine-year period starting about the time the victim was entering grade school.

The sentence is in addition to a 12-year-term Gillis L. Martin, 41, already is serving out of Cook County involving similar allegations and the same victim, meaning he will spend about 30 years behind bars before becoming eligible for parole.

Martin pleaded guilty in July to two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault stemming from the allegations that surfaced late last year when the victim, then 15, raised the claims with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services. The report prompted an investigation by Woodstock police, eventually leading to an indictment accusing Martin of 13 counts of predatory criminal sexual assault.

"I cannot imagine any more despicable conduct than what you have engaged in," Judge Sharon Prather said while handing down the sentence. "I can't think of anything worse."

Martin also is serving a seven-year term on his conviction earlier this year on an aggravated criminal sexual abuse charge alleging he had sexual relations with a 14-year-old female friend of his male victim.

Those allegations arose last September, a Cook County Sheriff's sergeant said, when a patrol deputy found Martin and the girl alone in a car parked at the Busse Woods North Forest Preserve.

Martin, in a brief statement to the court today, blamed his behavior on his battle with drug addiction.

"I would have never done it if I wasn't on drugs," he said. "I'm not using it as an excuse, but things happened that shouldn't have happened."

Prosecutors, however, said there was no excuse for Martin's actions.

"The defendant's crimes are cruel," Assistant McHenry County State's Attorney Ryan Blackney said. "This defendant robbed (the victim) of his childhood."