Willowbrook supervisor gets 4 years for sex assault
A former maintenance supervisor at a Willowbrook nursing home was sentenced to four years in prison Tuesday for sexually assaulting a female underling 12 years ago.
Marco Campos faced up to eight years in prison as part of a plea agreement that ended the lengthy court battle that included one mistrial in 2002.
The 47-year-old North Aurora man who used to live in West Chicago denied any wrongdoing despite pleading guilty in August. He pleaded guilty because he feared being found guilty of the multiple sexual assaults he was accused of by four former housekeepers at the nursing home, Campos told DuPage Judge Blanche Hill Fawell.
Campos contended that the women who accused him were only seeking money. Some of the women received more than $100,000 each as part of a sexual harassment settlement against the Chateau Village Nursing Home in Willowbrook, his attorneys said.
“All the motivation was money, Campos said. “None of my accusers have a single shred of evidence. They saw a way to make a lot of money off me.
But Prosecutor Anne Therieau argued Campos' claims didn't hold water considering his accusers appeared in court Monday and Tuesday to testify against him again, despite having already received their monetary judgments.
“They have nothing to gain at this point, she said. “They got their money, but they care and they want to see justice.
Therieau and fellow Prosecutor Steve Knight painted Campos as a selective predator who picked his victims based on their economic and immigration status. Many of his victims did not speak English and later told police investigators they didn't speak out when the attacks occurred for fear they would lose their jobs.
“He acted like a piranha with his own personal bowl of victims he could choose from and victimize, Therieau said. “He chose certain people for his own personal ravishment.
At least two women accused Campos of raping them in secluded areas in the basement of the nursing home. Other women accused him of touching them innappropriately. Most women said they were afraid to fight off his advances, but one testified she repeatedly rejected Campos' advances, but it didn't stop him.
The woman testified that she once kneed Campos when he grabbed her. Another time when she was driving laundry from one area to another, Campos was in the passenger seat and he attempted to grab her again. She told Fawell that to get him to stop she noticed he wasn't wearing his seat belt, so she slammed on the brakes of the van and sent Campos crashing into the dashboard. Yet, those rebuffs weren't enough to thwart Campos, the victim testified. On a third occasion, she said, Campos pushed her into a bathroom in the basement of the nursing home and attempted to touch her.
“When he covered my mouth, I bit him, she said through an interpreter. “I bit him so strong, my teeth were hurting.
Campos had former colleagues testify on his behalf, but Fawell said she believed the victims.
“The behavior he has pleaded guilty to is insulting and degrading, the judge said. “No matter the sentence, I cannot undo what the victims have had to go through.
In addition to his prison sentence, Campos will have to serve two years of probation, submit DNA samples and register as a sex offender for the rest of his life. He has to serve at least 85 percent of prison sentence, which means he could get seven months cut off for good behavior.