Teenage girl with special needs testifies in Rolling Meadows sexual assault trial

Prosecutors acknowledged a few things Tuesday about the teenage witness who accused a Rolling Meadows man of sexually abusing her several years ago when the girl and her mother lived with his family.

The now 17-year-old has special needs, Cook County assistant state's attorney Jaclyn Lantz said in her opening statements as the sexual abuse trial of Pablo Herrera, 36, got underway in Rolling Meadows.

The girl has trouble with time, said Lantz, and “functions at a third- or fourth-grade level.”

But her testimony revealed she knows the difference between a “good touch” like a hug or hand-holding and “bad touch,” which is how she said Herrera touched her beginning when she was 14, Lentz said.

Prosecutors say Herrera sexually assaulted the teen several times between October 2013 and October 2014. They say he threatened her, telling her if she told, no one would believe her and he would kick her and her mom out of his house.

“If only it were just that simple,” said Cook County assistant public defender Daniel Naranjo in his opening statement during which he suggested jurors “won't hear any credible evidence to support this charge.”

“Cramped” is how Naranjo described the small apartment where Herrera, his then-wife and their four children shared a bedroom while the girl and her mother occupied bunk beds in the living room. He wondered how, with eight people living in the apartment, no one observed the abuse the girl said occurred.

“Does it make sense in this cramped apartment?” he said. “Did this take place?”

The girl testified she was scared and told Herrera to leave her alone. She also recalled a time when another Herrera relative walked in on them. The girl said Herrera told the woman the girl wanted him.

“I told her it wasn't my fault,” she said.

She and her mom moved out shortly after that.

On April 1, 2016, the girl — who did not know she was pregnant — gave birth, one day after she told her teacher and a counselor about the alleged abuse. Prosecutors have not claimed Herrera is the father and the girl did not testify to that. Several days after the birth, she identified Herrera as her attacker from a photo lineup which Lantz entered into evidence.

If convicted, Herrera faces up to seven years in prison.

Testimony continues Wednesday.