More evidence allowed against man in Naperville child rape case

Additional evidence against a Naperville man charged with raping two preteen female relatives will be allowed at his pending trial.

DuPage County Assistant State's Attorney Enza LaMonica successfully argued Tuesday that state law allows victims of sexual and physical abuse to give accounts of those acts even if a defendant isn't charged with crimes specifically related to those attacks.

"It's important for the jury to hear the pattern of abuse," she told Circuit Judge George Bakalis.

Christopher A. Carter, 40, is charged with predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and criminal sexual assault. He has been held without bond at the DuPage County jail in Wheaton since his arrest in May 2008.

The girls lived with Carter at his Naperville apartment when the attacks occurred, according to court papers. The girls had moved there from St. Louis more than five years ago after their mother was murdered.

Prosecutors allege the attacks occurred when the girls were 10 or 11. One of the girls, now 15, said Carter first began assaulting her in 2004 and told investigators she had been raped between 30 and 40 times. The other girl, now 13, reported 15 separate attacks that began in 2006. The girls told investigators that Carter also beat them with a paddle and belts and threatened them with more violence as well, according to the court papers.

The court records also indicate the attacks were first reported to a Naperville middle school resource officer in 2008 and an investigation was immediately launched.

Prosecutors sought the inclusion of the evidence of additional attacks and physical abuse to help show why it took so long for the girls to report the abuses, LaMonica said.

"Jurors are entitled to know why it took three years for the kids to make these allegations," she told Bakalis.

No trial date has been set yet.