Alzheimer's patient charged with molesting girls

An Alzheimer's patient facing charges that he sexually molested two 5-year-old girls in Hanover Park was sent to a department of corrections hospital Saturday after his family couldn't post the $10,000 needed for him to be released on bail.

Ruben Perez, 59, suffers from dementia, is unable to make decisions, needs round-the-clock care and, after an evaluation at a suburban mental hospital, was granted a court-appointed guardian in September, testified Amy McCarty, an attorney specializing in guardianship cases.

Perez, a husband and father who worked as a salesman at a car dealership for 30 years until he developed Alzheimer's disease, now lives with a son in Chicago. Between June 15 and 17, 2008, Perez "enticed" two girls into his Hanover Park home "ostensibly to play with his dog and cat" but then molested the girls, said Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Matthew Medina.

Because of the girls' ages, Perez would face a mandatory prison sentence of between six and 60 years if convicted, Medina added. Defense attorney Alan D. Blumenthal submitted documents asking that Perez' medications follow him to Cermak Health Services, which is near Cook County Jail. Perez is scheduled to be back in court Monday in Rolling Meadows.