Apologetic West Chicago rape suspect fit to stand trial

Mental health experts have declared a West Chicago man, whose conscience police credit for his arrest on rape charges, fit for trial.

A report from the Elgin Mental Health Center indicates increased medications have stabilized 38-year-old Salvador Alvarado's mood.

The five-page report states that before increasing Alvarado's antidepressant dosage, days of good behavior would be followed by periods of despondency and crying jags. The new dosage also has curbed hallucinations that Alvarado claims had been plaguing him, the report stated.

Alvarado is scheduled to appear in a DuPage County courtroom today to discuss the report's findings.

The news clears the way for Alvarado to return to jail and the case against him for the 2008 rape of a West Chicago woman to resume. He has been housed at the Elgin center since July after his attorney convinced Judge Kathryn Creswell that Alvarado did not understand the legal proceedings he was involved in.

Alvarado has a history of mental illness and underwent voluntary psychiatric hospitalization in September and October of 2008, after the crime. He has been diagnosed with "major depressive disorder recurrent with psychotic features," post-traumatic stress disorder as well as alcohol and marijuana dependency, according to the report.

He is accused of breaking into a West Chicago woman's house in the late evening hours of Sept. 21, 2008, and sexually assaulting the resident. The woman told police she had never met Alvarado.

Immediately following the rape, the victim told police her attacker apologized and asked if she would be his girlfriend before fleeing.

Then, nearly a month later, the man returned to the woman's house to profess his love again and apologize for the attack. Police caught him at the house. He has been locked up since in lieu of a $1 million bond.

He is charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual abuse, home invasion and unlawful restraint.

Alvarado's criminal history includes convictions for theft and battery in DuPage County.

The mental fitness report goes on to state that Alvarado has been taking classes while incarcerated in hopes of earning a GED. There was a note of concern sounded in the report. Alvarado's limited English-language skills have stifled his participation in group therapy sessions, it read.