N. Aurora predator faces life sentence

A North Aurora man faces life in prison after a Kane County judge on Wednesday convicted him of raping two young girls.

Charles E. Granter, 63, was found guilty of two counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and two counts of aggravated sexual abuse of a child in a bench trial before Associate Judge Allen M. Anderson. He faces a mandatory life sentence because the abuse involved two victims attacked on separate occasions, the state's attorney's office said.

Granter was not a stranger to the victims, who were both younger than 13, prosecutors said.

One girl was assaulted over a period of nearly two years, from May 2005 to April 2007; the second was assaulted on March 16, 2007, according to court documents. Granter was acquitted of four counts of abuse and assault charges that alleged similar activity involving the same victims.

Anderson heard the case periodically between March 31 and June 5. After Wednesday's verdict, Granter's $25,000 bail was revoked and he was taken to the county jail to await sentencing Sept. 29.