Glendale Heights man gets 35 years in prison for child molestation

A Glendale Heights man was sentenced Wednesday to 35 years in prison for repeatedly molesting a child whom he was supposed to protect.

Gerardo Jimenez, 42, also must register for life as a sex offender if he lives long enough to walk as a free man again. He faced a possible 21 to 120 years behind bars for the crime.

Prosecutor Michael Pawl said Jimenez molested the girl during several months in 2007 in Glendale Heights until the child told authorities. She is now 14.

"What other sentence is appropriate for the defendant's ultimate betrayal of trust?" Pawl argued.

DuPage Circuit Judge Perry Thompson meted out the punishment. The judge found Jimenez guilty of predatory criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual abuse during an October trial.

The child's mother read a statement in court Wednesday in which she described the emotional turmoil her daughter still endures.

"Words cannot convey what she has gone through," the mother said. "She will never be the same because of his despicable acts. Every day is a challenge. No matter how one tries to forget or act as if it never happened, the truth finds her at the most inopportune times, resulting in some type of a breakdown. This includes crying, extreme anger, lashing out at others, (the inability) to focus in school or sudden quietness."

She added: "No amount of time will bring back my daughter's innocence. It brings me comfort that he will be sentenced appropriately."

Jimenez, formerly of 98 W. Schubert, Glendale Heights, was arrested in September 2007. He has remained in the DuPage County jail ever since on a $1 million bond. He did not have a violent criminal history.