Palatine man gets three years in Lake County sex case

A Palatine man was sentenced to three years in prison Thursday in Lake County Circuit Court for molesting a 14-year-old girl in Wauconda.

David Wethington, 35, could receive up to five more years if convicted in a Cook County child pornography case involving the same victim.

Assistant State's Attorney Mary Stanton said the victim, from Eastview, Ky., was in Wauconda on July 19, 2009 visiting family.

Wethington, of the first block of Baybrook Drive, was a friend of the family the victim was visiting and was also at the Wauconda house.

That night, Stanton said, Wethington went into the room where the victim was sleeping and molested the girl.

In December of that year, the girl told her mother that Wethington and she had been exchanging text messages and she had sent him lewd photographs of herself.

She also told her mother about the attack in the Wauconda house and the girl's mother contacted police.

Wethington was arrested after police interviewed him and he admitted knowing how old the girl was, Stanton said.

He pleaded guilty to aggravated criminal sexual abuse during a hearing before Circuit Judge John Phillips.

Stanton said Wethington is charged with possession of child pornography in Cook County and is due to appear in court there Nov. 17.