Jail phone talk leads to sex charges in McHenry Co.

Mark Seranella should have heeded the warning on the McHenry County Jail’s inmate phone.

It says that authorities may record and listen to conversations made via the jail’s telephone lines.

And that’s exactly what Crystal Lake authorities did to find out that the Oswego man had a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old before his arrest in May 2010 and had propositioned her for more sex after his release from prison, authorities say.

“Fortunately, for the police and community, criminals make mistakes. Obviously, he made a huge mistake,” said Crystal Lake Deputy Police Chief Eugene Lowery.

Authorities have charged Seranella, 22, who is currently serving a 4-year prison sentence — after pleading guilty in January to involuntary manslaughter — with five counts of indecent solicitation of a child.

Seranella is due back in McHenry County court on April 25 and faces a maximum five-year prison sentence.

Lowery said authorities listened to recordings of Seranella’s phone conversations with the 13-year-old Oswego girl that were “extremely sexually explicit.”

Seranella was arrested last May and charged with drug-induced homicide in the Jan. 26, 2007, death Ryan A. Maxwell, 19, of Crystal Lake. Seranella was accused of providing the fatal dose of heroin in exchange for a guitar.

The drug-induced homicide charge carried a sentence of up to 30 years in prison.

However, police didn’t find Seranella until after the three-year statute of limitations expired, so he pleaded guilty to the lesser involuntary manslaughter charge.