St. Charles teaching aide acquitted of sex abuse

A St. Charles teachers aide was acquitted Tuesday of charges he molested a 10-year-old family friend at a sleepover nearly two years ago.

Robert Swanson, 57, of St. Charles, was found not guilty of predatory criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse after a bench trial in front of Kane County Judge Timothy Q. Sheldon.

Sheldon cited conflicting testimony and a lack of physical evidence in delivering his verdict. "This court cannot convict on a hunch or a guess," he said. "There are only two people in the world who know what happened and why."

The allegations stemmed from a March 2007 sleepover at Swanson's house on the 700 block of South 10th Avenue. The next day, a girl who had stayed over told her mother that Swanson came into a bedroom and fondled her as she pretended to sleep.

The girl was not one of Swanson's students.

Defense attorney Todd Cohen argued Swanson only tucked the girl into bed after noticing she was uncovered. He said the girl who made the allegation had a history of "false reporting" at school and that she gave conflicting details of the incident throughout the investigation and trial.

"Maybe she was mistaken about the entire allegation," said Cohen, who noted there was no physical evidence to corroborate her claim.

But prosecutor Christine Bayer said the girl explained details of an assault she was too young to understand, let alone fabricate, and noted that she reported it to an adult within hours.

"She has no reason to lie about this," Bayer said.

Swanson, a married father of three, had been a special education aide at Lincoln Elementary School in St. Charles for five years at the time of his arrest. He was put on paid administrative leave in April 2007.

After Tuesday's verdict, School District 303 officials issued a statement saying they plan to meet with Swanson and his attorneys to "determine what his future may be in regards to District 303.