Round Lake Beach man gets 3 years for skipping treatment

A Round Lake Beach man was sentenced to three years in prison Friday for violating his probation on a sex offense.

Joseph Criel, 40, was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual abuse after a jury trial last April.

He molested a 17-year-old girl during July and August of 2008 at his home in the 1500 block of Channel Drive.

Associate Judge George Bridges placed Criel on probation for 30 months in July, and ordered him to spend 18 months in jail when not working or attending sex offender treatment.

Conditions of his probation included requirements that Criel look for and obtain a job and enter sex offender treatment.

Prosecutor Brett Henne moved to revoke Criel's probation citing a report that stated Criel had not entered sex offender treatment.

Henne said Criel also had not sought employment, despite being released from jail to do so, and he had reported back to the jail late one day he had been released.

On Friday, Henne asked Bridges to sentence Criel to the maximum five years in prison because Criel was a danger to society as an untreated sex offender.

Assistant Public Defender Timothy Macarthur argued Criel should be sentenced to local jail time because his infractions were relatively minor.

But Bridges said he was electing to send Criel to prison because he had given the defendant a chance to rehabilitate himself at the local level and Criel had failed.