Man gets 7-year prison term for relationship with minor

Frank D. DeLeon insists he is a changed man.

But the 25-year-old Aurora man's criminal past came back to haunt him Friday when he faced sentencing for having a consensual sexual relationship with an underage girl.

DeLeon was sentenced to serve seven years in prison and ordered afterward to register as a lifetime convicted sex offender. He is eligible for parole after serving half the prison term.

DeLeon pleaded guilty June 23 to aggravated criminal sexual abuse for having a romantic relationship with a 14-year-old Aurora girl for several months in 2005 when he was 21.

The two met on MySpace, the Internet social networking site. The girl's page said she was 18. She told DeLeon her real age after they met, but he continued their romance.

"He stole her innocence," prosecutor Brian Perkins said. "There's a reason the laws of this state prohibit that kind of a relationship. A 14-year-old girl may think she's in love, and on the surface she's consenting, but she simply can't at that age completely understand what she is doing and what type of manipulation and control the defendant is exhibiting over her."

DeLeon also provided the girl with alcohol. The relationship ended after her parents became involved.

The parents obtained a protective order, which DeLeon violated, and eventually moved their daughter out of the area.

Perkins described DeLeon as so controlling, he even burned an ex-girlfriend's apartment in Skokie when he was a juvenile after igniting a letter between her and her new boyfriend. No one was injured in the fire, which was contained to one apartment.

Besides the arson, DeLeon also had a prior felony as an adult for breaking into cars.

He was arrested in November 2006 for the inappropriate relationship. DeLeon faced three to 14 years in prison but, in exchange for his plea, prosecutors agreed not to seek more than 10.

The defense attorney, Scott Brower, said there was never any physical force and the girl, despite her age, was a willing participant. In fact, it was she who showed up on DeLeon's doorstep after her dad obtained the protective order barring further contact.

Neither the girl nor her parents participated in the sentencing hearing.

"He knows what he did was wrong," Brower said. "He knows he should have walked away. He didn't stop because he cared about her. He's done things in his past that he's not proud of, but he is a changed man today."

DuPage Circuit Judge Peter J. Dockery noted DeLeon's remorse, but the judge said he could not ignore the defendant's criminal history and serious nature of the charges in declining to hand down the minimum sentence.

A tearful DeLeon apologized and spoke of his remorse. His mother, who is a single parent, and his brother sat behind him in an otherwise empty courtroom gallery. They and a handful of other supporters wrote letters to the judge urging leniency.