Prosecutors: Former N. Aurora man sexually violent, dangerous
If Daniel P. Stage Jr. was a regular prisoner at the Illinois Department of Corrections, he'd be free Tuesday after serving a four-year sentence for aggravated criminal sexual abuse.
But authorities believe Stage, a 37-year-old former resident of Aurora and North Aurora, is far from rehabilitated and is a serious threat to others.
So much a threat that the Illinois attorney general's office wants Stage declared a sexually violent person under a 1998 law and committed to custody of the Illinois Department of Human Services at the Rushville Treatment and Detention Facility, according to court records and state officials.
He is being detained while his case is pending.
Since the law went into effect in 1998, the attorney general's office has had 331 people committed to the Rushville Treatment and Detention Facility, which is operated by the state's Department of Human Services, until they are deemed fit to re-enter society.
Of those cases, seven were defendants in Kane County cases. There also are five other Kane County cases pending, said Scott Mulford, spokesman for the attorney general's office.
In a court-ordered evaluation, Stage gave a psychologist a chilling account of a pattern of sexual abuse of preteen girls and mentally disabled males and females dating back to the early 1990s in Elgin, Bloomingdale and an unspecified hospital, court records show.
The evaluation is the most significant piece of evidence as authorities attempt to show that Stage is preying on the weakest and most defenseless people in society.
“The petition speaks for itself,” Mulford said. “We've done a number of these. It is our contention they pose a danger to society. That is part and parcel with the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act.”
Kane County authorities charged Stage in 2007 with predatory criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse of a toddler during several months in 2000.
He eventually pleaded guilty to aggravated criminal sexual abuse, got credit for 164 days in jail while his case was pending, along with four years probation and sex offender treatment.
But he violated his probation by failing to register as a sex offender and was given a four-year term.
In a three-hour interview last May with a licensed clinical psychologist, Stage gave a “matter-of-fact” account of sexually abusing at least 10 other victims and said his behavior began at 15 when molested a 9-year-old girl that he was baby-sitting, court records show.
“While Mr. Stage accepted guilt for his sexual offenses and evidenced a grasp of the wrongfulness, he offered matter-of-fact accounts of the offense and did not seem remorseful with regard to the victims of his offenses,” wrote psychologist Deborah Nicolai in her evaluation.
Stage said he worked as a teacher's assistant from 1993 to 1997 at a Bloomingdale school for students with disabilities and assaulted a 10-year-old girl with Down syndrome and a 15-year-old girl who was severely disabled, according to court documents.
He also said that he later obtained certification as a nursing assistant and worked at a hospital where he molested two male patients, ages 15 and 21, while he bathed them and even had sex with a 13-year-old girl who was hospitalized because she had a tracheotomy, according to court documents.
Stage said he worked in 1998 at an Elgin nursing home and molested a 17-year-old boy who had profound developmental disabilities.
Stage has not been charged with any of these offenses.
Leigh Ann Davis, and Project and Information Specialist with The Arc, a Washington-based group that advocates for people with intellectual disabilities, said research has shown that that children with any type of disability are nearly 3½ times as likely to be abused as children without disabilities.
Davis said it takes special training and more resources to prosecute these types of sexual abuse cases.
While on probation, Stage said he fantasized about little girls he would see at the grocery store, the report said.
“There is significant evidence that Mr. Stage has serious difficulty controlling his behavior as a result of his mental disorders,” wrote Nicolai, who concluded Stage has pedophilia and is sexually attracted to people who can't consent to sex.
In order to be committed into the care and custody of the Department of Human Services, a person must have been convicted of a violent sex crime and diagnosed with a mental disorder that is “a congenital or acquired condition affecting the emotional or volitional capacity that predisposes a person to engage in acts of sexual violence.”
The final step is for a judge or jury to agree that the mental disorder makes it “substantially probable” the defendant will commit another crime of sexual violence.
That decision will be made after Ari Telisman, assistant Illinois attorney general, argues the case in front of Kane County Judge Allen Anderson. Telisman could not be reached for comment.
Stage, who was ordered last month to be held by the Department of Human Services while his case is pending, is next due in court on July 25.
Kane County Assistant Public Defender Brenda Willett, who has been assigned to Stage's case, could not be reached for comment.