Buffalo Grove man gets 10 years for rape

A Buffalo Grove man was sentenced to 10 years in prison Thursday after admitting he raped his ex-girlfriend.

Once he is released from prison, Jimmy Tlale-Valencia, 20, will be on parole and required to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.

Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Marykay Foy said Tlale-Valencia, of the 600 block of Trace Drive, had been dating a 21-year-old Carpentersville woman who was pregnant with his child.

On Jan. 9, about three weeks after the woman ended their relationship, Tlale-Valencia drove to Carpentersville and waited for the woman outside a store. When she came out, he asked her to get in his car and they drove to Interstate 90 and eventually onto Route 53.

As he drove, Tlale-Valencia told the woman she was wrong to have ended their relationship, that he was going to make her "disappear" and that her family would never see her again.

Foy said the woman tried to get out of the car several times as Tlale-Valencia drove, but he stopped her each time.

He eventually turned onto Lake-Cook Road, Foy said, then to a construction site on Shafer Road where he raped the woman.

Foy said the woman convinced Tlale-Valencia to drive her home by telling him she loved him.

She told her employer about the attack the following day. The employer contacted Carpentersville police, who in turn called Lake County sheriff's police. Tlale-Valencia was arrested later in the day and admitted the attack.

Tlale-Valencia pleaded guilty to criminal sexual assault and would have faced up to 15 years in prison if convicted after a trial.

Foy agreed to drop charges of kidnapping and unlawful restraint in exchange for the plea.